[LongLiveLife]

Any advice for an extremely sleep-deprived single mama of 2???
My 4 month old is waking every hour or so at night, nearly every night. I'm not expecting her to sleep through the night. As a matter of fact, I schedule it so I'm in bed for 10 hours a night, just so I can get about 7 or 8 hours of sleep.
But it's been months since I've had that deep, still, undisturbed sleep that you need, you know, to KEEP FROM LOSING YOUR MIND.
I'd be thrilled if I could find a way to get down to 3 nursing sessions a night!!! HELP HELP HELP!!!

 

[PadmaMorgana]

Big big breath. And another.

Is she actually nursing every hour or is it a case of suck, suck, snore? Do you co-sleep? can you try having her suck on your finger or pat her back until she goes back to sleep? And then nurse her if the other stuff is not working.

Obviously if she is wanting to nurse every hour, I have no advice except nurse her, knowing that she is probably going through a growth sprirt.

My story....when DD was that age, she only wanted to suck on my finger.....all night. If I tried the boob, she would scream. I learned to sleep with my finger in her mouth (and how to mix up fingers every night so they could heal)

The only thing that can help is....repeat after me....."this too shall pass"

 

[soccerchic21]

My DD nursed like that as well. We co-sleep so I adjusted to latching her on and then falling back asleep. It definitely kept my sanity.

We took the sliding rail off of her crib and made sure our mattresses were the same height and then pushed the crib right up to our bed. That way I wasn't ever worried about her falling off the bed. Also, when she started sleeping longer at night I would just move her into her crib which was a foot away from me and I had a little more room in bed.

 

[SEEPAE]

DS went through a growth spurt at that age and nursing increased only at night. He was already sleeping all night but went back to waking hourly, he also grew a bunch, sat up his first time, pulled to standing and crawled all in his 5th month, he was still nursing hourly then, so he must have been hungry from all the hard work.

 

[Momtwice]

This is normal.

It may be a growth spurt.

What is going on during the day? Do you have work to do inside or out of the home? (Ha, of course you do!) Would the baby nurse like that during the day if allowed, if you took a sick day or three from work in home or out?

Does it only happen when lying down? That could be ear infection or teething pain, or it could STILL be a growth spurt, but what does your intuition say? Or is your intuition too sleep deprived to know?

 

[marisa724]

The last three nights have been like this for my 11-month old. We're starting to see tooth #4 breaking through the gums, so I assume that nursing all night makes his mouth feel better. I'm totally trying the Hylands Teething Tablets for naptime, though... and maybe even a little Tylenol before bed tonight (gasp!

)

I've gotten to 'doze' for 8 or so hours a night these past few nights, but I'm starting to feel like microwave death... so a little more than an hour of solid sleep in a row would be most welcomed.

 

[LongLiveLife]

Hahaha... I should have been been more specific. This is no growth spurt; it's been this way since she was a few weeks old. She was actually beginning to sleep through the night, waking only once or twice, as a newborn. Now she wakes constantly.

Yes, we co-sleep.

Yes, I am good at sleeping with my nipple in her mouth.

Yes, it's the same during the day. I work part-time from home, and she's never out of my arms. When we leave the house and she has new things to look at, she will go several hours without "asking" to nurse.

No, I don't believe she is really nursing for the milk. I've tried to stroke/tickle her to keep her from falling back to sleep, hoping that if nursing sessions were longer, there would be fewer of them. But it doesn't work that way...
she is simply one of those babies who cannot fall asleep unless she's nursing (well, occasionally in the sling or in the car, but only occasionally). And since she's such a fitful sleeper, she needs to nurse back to sleep again and again.

I used to be a big coffee drinker, but no more. I have a one mug maximum and I drink it first thing in the am. Many days I have none at all.

This just seems to be the schedule she has adopted. Is there any gentle way to encourage baby to change her schedule?
-or does that fall in line with "training" our babies?

Thank you for your advice!

 

[lauraess]

I think it sounds like you are the lucky mama of one like my first. Yep constant nurser, basically for the first 6 months i guess. so yeah you could try to gently change things if you think a few make sense--- some ideas already seen here i tthnk-and then you could just get used to it. Acceptance, get help around the place if you can so you can stay healthy.
It's tough, but it does get better. would you try the pacifier again if you did try already( i forget)?
I never thought i'd get thru it some days but I did. Maybe if you want to attmept trying to wean her into her own "space" in order to see if she will sleep better without you--- You Never know, she could change afterall, she's just "becoming"---- otherwise, lots of water for you and eat healthy, take your multi and remember this will pass

~L