My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler.

Sleep

my 4mnth old only falls asleep attatached to my boob,day & night

4 replies

beansy · 24/09/2009 14:02

Aaah! my lovely 4mnth old will only fall asleep on my boob. she is my second baby and I feel like I'm doing it all wrong. no pattern to feeding, is a snacker, feeds all the time for short periods, is quite sickly & i want to start putting her down in a cot now. any tips?

OP posts:
Report
StrawberrySam · 25/09/2009 14:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

katechristie · 25/09/2009 21:15

Beansy, my DD was like this, she's 5mo now and it's getting better - also have DS 2.7 and he was like this too, so I also felt like I was getting it all wrong - still do some days!

I tried to stretch her out between feeds by taking her out in the pram for a walk, so she'd have a decent gap, and have realised this week that she now goes roughly 3 hours between feeds, altho still cluster feeds in the afternoon a bit. To break the feeding to sleep, again, I've tried to take her out in the pram for a nap, but this isn't always possible with DS (we've got a Phil & Ted's but DS won't always go in it now), sometimes I even resort to the car, just to make that break and get her to have a decent nap. She's slowly getting there - how old is your other DC? - I found that DS always managed to get out a noisy toy when she was going off, but because she wouldn't settle without the boob, I couldn't take her upstairs to try and settle her in the cot as even if I'd fed her, she's wake, get upset and feed off the other side, so DS would be on his own for too long. I started trying to get her to nap in the pram at first, - DS is watching way too much TV at the moment, but I hope to have sorted the sleep out long before it's too much of a problem! at least it keeps him occupied whilst I'm yet again trying to get her to sleep.

I'm still never sure if she's hungry or sleepy or both at times, despite people saying "X amount of time after she woke put her down, or feed her on waking rather than to sleep" - it's sometimes difficult to make this swap. I try now to make a good start whenever we get up (am assuming you're serving at the all night cafe like us or should that be ), so whenever we wake up (anytime between 5.30 (definitly !) and 7.30, then I don't offer her a feed until 3 hours after her last night feed as have realised if I do she'll just snack and take a small amount, then I don't know when she's really hungry and then the snacking would continue all day. What I've found is if I get the first nap of the day right, the rest of the day is a lot easier, so I've found now, that if I feed her in her gro-bag (I use the 0.5 really light summer one for the daytime) then after her feed, I take her to her cot - usually asleep or at least sleepy and then try and settle her without the boob. - It's helped that DH is around at bedtime, so he gets DS to bed whilst I settle DD, so I've started trying to settle her in the cot awake at bedtime first. I rub her back with her lying on her side to begin with, no eye contact, sometimes quietly shushing. If she's being a monkey (adorably so!) then I leave the room and only go back in when she starts to grumble. Once she's quietened down I then leave my hand on her so that she can still feel it there and wait for her to fall asleep. I'm hoping to gradually shorten the process so that she settles without me eventually, but it's getting better. - so the bedtime has helped the naptimes.

I so wish I could say "Oh yes, DD naps and Xa.m and Xp.m." but hopefully that will come over time.

Don't know if any of this is useful, I've rambled somewhat, but I believe 5-6 months is a good time for it to start to come together, fingers crossed.

Report
essenceofSES · 25/09/2009 21:22

I can sooo relate to this.

My DS is 4.5months and only settles to sleep when feeding from me or in the car or occassionally when I'm walking him round in the buggy. At night he will sleep the first hour or two in his cot and then refuse to settle unless in bed with me.

I have recently got a copy of the No Cry Sleep Solution but struggling to find time to read it! That quote was v useful though - thank you!

I've been feeling a bit of a soft touch and a failure on this so it's good to know I'm not alone.

Sorry not to be more helpful but I will watch this thread with interest.

Report
katechristie · 25/09/2009 21:49

should have said, I did NCSS with DS and it helped - even if it was the fact that it's written so differently to a lot of these books - i.e. she's a parent of 4 and has been through this, which is why she wrote the book, and what I found heart-warming was she says - if it's not working, do what you know works, then start again the next night - rather than making you feel a failure like you're making it worse if you can't carry on!

Co-sleeping is lovely if you can both sleep, aand i do think it helps them to become more secure as I do think some babies just genuinely want the contact and comfort for longer than others - and who would miss out on the cuddles

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.