possible to train 5 week old BF DS to sleep alone ?

[smk84]

Hi ! DS has only been able to sleep when held recently. When we put him down he wakes up. When we try to persist with putting him down, he will eventually want to feed to settle back, and this really upsets what little of a feeding 'routine' we have, because when he does sleep it gives me a break from feeding and means a little milk builds up and he has a more contented feed. Have more to ask but need to feed again now .... (p.s. mainly owrries about the safety aspect of holding him asleep rather than not wanting him near)

His 5 weeks old. Much too young to train.

I know what you mean, but surely not everyone goes against the guidelines for babies to be sleeping in something like a moses basket, feet to foot etc... My DS1 slept in his basket from 2 weeks old, we didn't need to really train him, apart from put a hand on his back a few times. So we don't really know how to approach getting DS2 to sleep on his own

At this age I found it helped to wrap my ds in his sheet while feeding then put him in the Moses once he was asleep still wrapped up. I think this stopped him from feeling the transition to the 'cold' Moses from warm mummy so much. If you try this it's safest to have them wrapped up under their arms.

I think some babies are happy to sleep on their own, others need the comfort of a parent's warmth and movement. They are too young to train but it's quite possible he may naturally start to feel ,more comfortable being put down so don't stop trying.

Putting an item of clothing you have just been wearing in with the baby can sometimes help because it will smell of you.

Would it help you if you carried him around in a sling while he sleeps until he gets a bit older? With my ds, I did much the same as Jenji when I could. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. I found if I fed him to sleep lying down on a sheepskin I could them just transfer the sheepskin to a cot very carefully and it would buffer the inevitable impact from putting him down much better than a cuddly blanket.

Interestingly, there was a study that came out about six months ago showing newborn babies' heartrates were much more even etc. when sleeping next to/with their mothers (sorry I don't have the link) so there is a perfectly understandable reason for him to wake up and grizzle when you put him down. Babies have anxiety about being eaten by predators hardwired into them from many thousands of years of evolution. Safe cosy environments for them have only been around for a pipsqueak in time. (A newborn won't just learn he's ok if he's repeatedly left to cry, just that you won't come to his rescue so there's no point calling for you, which is not the same as training him to be content. Sure you wouldn't leave him to cry at this age anyway).

Some babies are much clingier than others.

As everyone else has covered the sleeping thing I just want to say a little about the BF.

You really don't have to worry about giving your milk a chance to build up.

The amazing thing about BF is that the more your baby feeds, the more you make.

Someone explained it like this once, and I thought it was perfect.

Imagine you are drinking a glass of water through a straw, while you're drinking, someone else is filling your glass up from a jug. When you stop drinking, the other person stops pouring.

At this age your baby will be feeding constantly to help build up your milk supply. In a week or so this should settle down and your supply will be pretty much fully established and the feeding will settle down.

Please don't worry about him feeding all the time at this age because it is actually a really good thing for both you and him.

Good Luck.

Yes, Minerva is right.

Your body only stores a very small amount of milk. The majority is produces straight from your bloodstream as the baby sucks.

thank you everyone, i have just bought a moby wrap sling, so hoping for some sleeps in that during the day. about feeding, he was feeding constantly until a couple of weeks ago (and still does sort of every other day), but on the other days, he tends to feed for 2 hours on and off, then sleep for 2-3 hours if held, but if we put him down he only sleeps for 20 mins. As I have a 3yo DS, I was hoping to spend DS2s sleep time actually spending some quality time with DS1, hopefully the sling will help (and I will just have to keep saying no to my DS1s requests to go on the trampoline hehe).

The sling will be your best bet. I have a 3 month old and a 3yr old and that is how I survived until a few weeks ago. I had a Close sling as the wrapping of the Moby stressed me out! Ds2 would nap most of the time and ds1 got the much needed attention.

In the last couple of weeks things have all clicked into place and ds2 mostly naps in his cot, occasionally in the pram or sling.

whispers he also sleeps 10-11 hrs overnight so please don't worry that by holding him he won't learn to settle.

i wouldn't even consider it.

we used to put dd down to sleep in her moses basket and she'd be awake again and crying within minutes (seconds)

it's safer to sleep with a BF baby than a FF one
it might save your sanity...

Not sure how easy it would be to 'train' him, but certainly lots of babies do sleep happily on their own at that age, so no harm in persevering a bit and seeing what happens. With my 3, towards the end of the feed when they were beginning to lose interest and get sleepy I would do a nappy change and then swaddle tightly and put back to the breast a bit longer until they started to drop off. I would then put them into a carry cot / moses basket / pram so I could move them around and keep with me. If they were a bit unsettled I might pick up and cuddle and pat and rock, but probably not feed any further. They usually dropped off fairly quickly. I did also use a sling a fair bit if out and about, but at home they pretty much had all naps in moses basket from day one.

Along or co sleeping will help. But the feeding all the time thing is good and necessary. It will settle down soon x

thank you so much - have had a little progress with a few short spells in the basket :)