[lilianabyrne]

my only daughter is 5.5 months and my partner, her dad, and I all share a king size bed... so space is not the issue. cosleeping isnt really the issue either, as i have grown fond of cuddling with her at night. the problem i am having now is that she litterally does not sleep with out my nipple in her mouth, we have been side nursing since she was a newborn. and she has never taken a pacifier. Also she seems to be doing the majority of her eating at night. this poses a few problems: she pees though diapers, our sheets are constantly wet (which dh is NOT happy about) and this has developed into a horrible sleep habits for me, I used to be able to sleep through the feedings, now i cant and then my mind starts racing and i cant get back to sleep. Dont get me wrong I dont mind comfort nursing at night, but its hard as she is doing the majority of her eating at night. She hasn't had any solids yet, only breast milk, and I was planning on waiting as long as possible, but maybe that would help her not to be so hungry at night? Also putting her bed, is becoming challeging as I picked up a few nights, am a nurse, and noone else can put her to sleep but me because the only way she has ever gone to sleep at night is side nursing. eventually i would like her to be comfortable in her own bed/crib but don't really know how to transition it. I apologize for the rambling and varied issues, am a new mom, can you tell?

 

[karika]

sounds like reverse cycling to me. if you have returned to work and your breasts are not available for her for hours in a day, she is needing them at night. here is a link about reverse cycling which is totally expected in a wohm situation.
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/reverse-cycling.html

hoping you can continue to give her what she needs and find a way to make it okay for you too.

oh, and for the wet bed.... get a few waterproof pads, put a receiving blanket on top of one or two (depending on how large they are) and when you awaken in the night, change her and change out the pad(s) and blanket(s) underneath her. I do EC, so I use this method but without the diaper, just undies on baby to prevent it from shooting out all over. as for getting enough sleep, try going to bed 12 hours before you have to be up. that way, even with the wakings you can get at least 8 hours.

 

[lilianabyrne]

thanks that was interesting info. my schedule is not consistant, so I will start paying more attention, to see if the nights I am at work is when she eats more throughout the night. I looked into the website, but didnt see any explanation of ec?

 

[SundayCrepes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lilianabyrne I looked into the website, but didnt see any explanation of ec?

EC is short for elimination communication. It is a way to deal with potty issues that involves taking your baby to the potty place to go rather than expect them to fo in their diapers. It's about reading your baby's cues. Both of my kids were/are ec'd both stopped pooping in their pants early (son 9 weeks, daughter about 3 months.) Peeing took longer, but that was fine. For more info, see diaperfreebaby.org

 

[lilianabyrne]

wow thats interesting. honestly, i can say i do instinctively have an idea when my dd is about to go. but how does this work? i have to go to that website. does everything get peed on for a while? how would i start it, i wonder? i wonder if my partner would go for that??!!