[MarineWife]

During the day my 5 month old has slept in our bed for up to 4 hours by himself. Nighttime is different. We co-sleep (obviously) and the longest he goes at night with me in the bed is 2 hours from one nursing to the next. Lately he's been waking to nurse even more often. Last night is was every hour and I got no sleep. He doesn't fully wake but squirms enough to wake me up and if I don't nurse him he cries. I have tried changing his position, patting/rubbing/soothing him, rocking him in my arms. Nothing works except nursing. Sometimes as I'm sitting up to resituate myself to nurse him he seems to go back to sleep until I lay back down. Then his arms start swinging and his head starts turning as if to nurse. He never open his eyes and fully wakes, though. Since he sleeps for longer stretches during the day and I bf him to sleep I doubt he's really hungry. Could I be disturbing his sleep somehow? He won't sleep anywhere else consistently except for our bed.<br><br>
Additionally, although he sleeps by himself during the day, he won't sleep by himself at night. If I get up after bf him to sleep at night, he wakes within 30 minutes. Sometimes I don't feel like going to bed at 9 pm. I've tried leaving him in bed with my dh but he still wakes up. Does anyone have any ideas about what's going on and/or any suggestions about what I can do?

 

[karlin]

Get yourself a copy of The No Cry Sleep Solution. My DS is the same way (9 months old). The last few nights I've worked on breaking his suck to sleep dependence (which I think is going on with your little one) and tried sleeping away from him (same room, different sleeping surface) so *I* wasn't disturbing him..lol. I have had great success, but last night was a bit of a setback (although he only nursed 3 times, which is fine with me). I think I need to add an extra late afternoon nap and push back his bedtime a bit. I've also been trying to nurse him more during the day (coming out of nursing strike number 2, so it hasn't been easy).<br><br>
Good luck!

 

[nicholas_mom]

This happened to me. He started teething around this time. The teeth did not show up until a month and a half later.<br><br><img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/hug.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="hug"> I put up with this then now at 13 months ds sleeps so much better. Once you fix this, I promise you he will change his sleep habits again. "No Cry Sleep Solution" is a good book, otherwise in a month he will change his sleeping habits. Trust Me!<br><br><br><img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/bow.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="bow"><div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">During the day my 5 month old has slept in our bed for up to 4 hours by himself.</td>
</tr></table></div>
My ds has to be in arms for naps with dh or with me to have long naps. Keep this good routine!

 

[BusyMommy]

My 19 mos old used to nurse every half hour all night long. Naps were the same. Pretty much drove me nuts so I started making sure we drove home around naptime so he'd fall asleep in the car. Once he's out for about 10 mins, I can transfer him inside and he'll nap all alone for 2+ hours. WOW Not saying this is the healthiest way, but it sure worked for us.<br><br>
I DO think they wake up b/c of us, but I waited until 18 mos to nightwean him and then it only took 2 nights.<br><br>
Good luck!

 

[sebrinaw]

I just wanted to say that he sounds just like my ds (7months old) I do think that babies sleep differntly at night. Something to do with the moon, I don't now. Don't really have much advise, just a hug. My guy has good nights and bad nights.

 

[MarineWife]

Thanks everyone. I'm not interested in any kind of sleep training so I don't think I'll check out that book. Last night I tried just bf on one side all night rather than flipping and switching. I slept a lot better and felt like ds didn't stir to nurse as much. My dh was yawning like crazy and commented that Ethan had been up every hour and kept him up. He slept between us all night. I just had to laugh because I was just about to tell him that I thought Ethan had slept better. Nananananana LOL

 

[pln]

Hi there,<br><br>
Wow--4 hours during the day. Sounds good to me.<br><br>
Just wanted to mention that NCSS is not sleep training. It is a wonderful,<br>
very AP book about teaching your child gently to enjoy, expect, and feel<br>
calm about sleep.<br><br>
The "no-cry" part of the title should imply that this is not cry it out.<br>
It takes longer to go through the book and use the ideas but the<br>
philosophy really worked for us. Ds finally slept through the night<br>
(for real--8 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.) two nights ago at 9 months old after following<br>
NCSS for 4 months. Patience and persistence are key and have led to<br>
consistently better results as we've gone along.<br><br>
Good luck!

 

[sebrinaw]

I have NCSS and although it was a very nice book, for me it just seemed to require too much energy <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/wink1.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="wink1">, it easier for me anyways to just stick a boob in my guys mouth a go back to sleep. BTW Alysia, I nurse only from one breast, I don't really make milk in my left breast, which is nice at night because like you said I don't have to keep flipping from side to side. Zander is my third baby and all my guys have been the same, sleep nice long stretches during the day and then up every 2 hours at night. With Zander I am really enjoying it because he is my last baby, probably <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/wink1.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="wink1"> and I know it won't last that long.<br>
Sebrina

 

[Piglet68]

I can nurse from either breast while laying on one side, so that helps alot too.<br><br>
5 months is very young, and an age of developmental milestones as well as teething.<br><br>
You can't know for sure that your baby is not hungry at night. I can go 8 hours at night without eating, but never that long during the day. Maybe your baby can go longer without nursing during the day, but not at night.<br><br>
Hang in there, and enjoy those long naps! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile">

 

[MarineWife]

<div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">
<div>Originally Posted by <strong>Piglet68</strong></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">You can't know for sure that your baby is not hungry at night.</div>
</td>
</tr></table></div>
Good point Piglet. I tried nursing from both breast while lying on one side but it didn't feel comfortable to me. I was afraid I would roll over on my baby so I couldn't relax and my back got very sore. I've been trying to figure out how to try it again.<br><br>
IMO, anything that suggests the use of any special techniques or tricks or whatever you want to call them to get baby to fall asleep faster or sleep longer is a form of sleep training.

 

[Marsupialmom]

Are you sure he is not too hot?<br><br><i>IMO, anything that suggests the use of any special techniques or tricks or whatever you want to call them to get baby to fall asleep faster or sleep longer is a form of sleep training.</i> But not all forms of sleep training is bad. You can actually argue that anything you do is a form of sleep training. The patterns you set up in the day. Rocking a child to sleep can and is a form of sleep training. Were and how we put our children down to rest. We unintentionally trained my middle child to sleep in a more upright position, she has reflux and that is how she slept better. She still sleeps better this way becasue she was inadvertantly trained that way.<br><br>
IMO, if the poster is fine with the amount of sleep her family is getting she doesn't have a problem. If someone is suffering then she needs to think about how EVERYONES sleep needs can be met.<br><br><i>You can't know for sure that your baby is not hungry at night.</i> I disagree and I agree. I think a child can learn to sleep through some hunger but "starving" hunger will make a child scream and not sleep. I think MOM can tell the difference between the non-nutritive suck verse the hunger one. She can help guide to a sleep pattern that is more benificial to all with out ignoring important cues (and the child).

 

[MarineWife]

I don't think I said that sleep training was inherently bad. I said I am not interested in it. I do have to disagree that rocking a baby to sleep is necessarily a form of sleep training. There is a difference between paying attention to your baby's cues and signals and doing things that will soothe and comfort him and going step by step through a process to make your baby sleep better or longer. For example, if my baby has been up for a couple of hours and is fussy, I may try bf him in case he's hungry, I will may try playing with him in a new way or with a new toy, I may try walking around with him or taking him outside and I may try rocking with him. I try to find what will make him feel better not necessarily what will make him fall asleep. If he happens to fall asleep while I'm doing any one of these things, then I think it is safe to say he was probably tired and ready for a nap. That is much different from picking a time, say 7:00 pm, and deciding that is going to be bedtime and rocking your baby or going through steps like rocking for a while and then laying the baby down and patting or rubbing his back for a while, etc. until he falls asleep regardless of whether or not he is actually sleepy. If that is something that someone feels they want or need to do for their family and they do it in a gentle, non-CIO way, that's fine. There's not necessarily anything wrong or bad about that. However, I do think it's a bit premature to do something like that with a 5 month old who is bf and still needs frequent feedings and nurturing. Even Dr. Ferber, mister CIO, says not to use his method before baby is 6 months old.

 

[Piglet68]

marinewife:<br><br><img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/thumb.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="thumbs up">