[Rebekah]

I LOVE sleeping with ds. But ... he sleeps so much better in his car seat at night (he'll sleep anywhere from 9 until 2:30-5:30 in his car seat, and then he moves to our bed). I was on vacation this past week with ds and didn't have the infant car seat (he has a regular car seat now), so he slept with me all night. I was HOPING that he'd sleep just as well with me so that I could move him into bed with us all night. No such luck. He woke every 2 hours to nurse. The problem seems to be that he doesn't like sleeping on his back and he gets uncomfortable after a couple of hours on his side (and he doesn't sleep on his tummy yet). Or maybe the all-night snack bar is too fun.

I'm hoping for some comforting stories from you moms who have had the same problem but happily found that your babe ended up sleeping with you all night eventually!! Also, do you have any tips?

 

[Kristine]

I can say that my son even now at 9 months wakes up more on some nights than others. We're in that in between stage of weather now where it's not hot inside, but it's not very cool either. So we have fans running in the bedroom. My son will sometimes get cold depending on what he's wearing and if the covers get moved, or he would get hot in the summer even if he was just in a diaper. So I always take into consideration how the temperature is. Also, sometimes I might sleep more lightly and disturb him. Or other things inside of him out of my control could cause him to wake up. Now that he's older he just rolls if he's not comfortable and we have a bed rail up so that he can't roll off the bed which makes things easy. When your baby gets older and he's uncomfortable on his back, he'll just roll onto his side and sleep better I bet. Don't worry about it too much. It may just take some experimentation on your part. Good luck!

p.s. I'm sure you already know this, but breastfed babies digest milk better and faster than formula fed babies. Which is good, but it means that at first you feed your baby as you do more often. Eventually they go longer stretches. And you'll get so good at just rolling over and nursing your son that pretty soon you won't even fully realize you're doing it and can continue sleeping afterwards.

 

[anjel]

I would suggust getting him out of the habit of sleeping in his carseat as it is bad for thier development to be in such an unatural position for long periods of time. My dd is only five months and does still wake up very frequently during the night, I have noticed that when she gets restless at night and her arms and legs move around, if she touches me she is more likely to actualy wake up fully and want to nurse than if she doesnt touch me. As a result, me and dp are scrunched to one side of the bed while dd has the other half (she often sleeps sideways). I dont know whats better, to be cramped all night or to just nurse her all night...
But, nursing in bed gets a lot easier and sometimes I dont really even wake up all the way until she is done nursing. You will find something that works for you, even if it does take a while. Also, my dd is afraid of the dark, when she half wakes up she opens her eyes and if she can see, sometimes she will just go right back to sleep whereas if it is dark, she will scream and it takes a lot longer to get her back to sleep. I hope this helps some. Good luck!