8 month old baby feeding through the night

[mummamango]

Am planning to BF my 8mnth old son for at least a year but am slightly concerned about the following:

I'm back to work in Oct (when he will be 11 months) and am worried about the lack of sleep - he BFs to get to sleep and currently wakes up 2-3 times a night and generally ends up in bed with me as it's easier to feed him asleep and both nod off at the same time. (he has always spent some of the night in my bed) - can't bring myself to use CC and feel ok with the night feeding whist on Mat leave just worried I am creating probs for later on - any thoughts from more experienced Mums??

Also, he has just grown 2 teeth and am worried the night feeding may be bad for them.

Any advice much appreciated...

I've been back at work for 6 weeks (since DD was 9 months) and she still wakes in the night. Mostly it's just twice but I've taken to dream feeding her too. TBH she's only up for about 15-20 mins so it's easy for me to get back to sleep because I'm not really awake!

Currently we take the path of least resistance (especially on nights before I'm working) as it means we both sleep better. DD does sometimes sleep in our bed and I don't hesitate to do this as invariably she'll sleep better and therefore so do I.

Regarding teeth, I think I read on MN that they're not at much risk from BFing because the nipple is quite far back in their mouth. I've always cleaned DDs teeth morning and night since the first one came through. I don't clean them after night feeds.

I must say that because I work part-time and on alternate days, it is a bit less tiring because I have a work day and a day at home. I don't always get a lie-in but I do get a day to unwind and take things slower if needed.

I have 4 children and I have co-slept with all of them so they can feed through the night without me having to properly wake up! I really don't think that it creates problems later on, that's not my experience at all. At just over a year, when they were on plenty of solids, each of mine started sleeping through the night in their own cots. Now, they all sleep 7-7 in their own beds, apart from the 11 month old who is still in bed with us.

You'll probably find that the night feeds and cuddles will start to tail off as your baby takes more solids between now and when you go to work. But if it doesn't then don't worry -
its a lovely way of parenting, and the way that all mothers and babies slept and fed until very, very recently in human history!

(Read the recent webchat on mumsnet with Helen Dall for some more advice and encouragement on the lovely, natural way in which you're parenting)

here

Thanks Purple and Lymond for your very reassuring messages! I am trying to go with how I feel instinctively when it comes to being a new mum but sometimes the huge amount of conflicting opinions makes me question those instincts. Will read the Helen Dall thing now

This is a different kind of answer, but I just decided one night, when I was feeling so tired, that I wouldn't feed her at night again.

She was already sleeping really well - would generally wake up at 4-4.30am for a feed, than again at waking-up time. And she was a good weight gaining steadily. She also took to food really well when we began. I fed on demand in the day and had fed on demand day and night until this point (about 5 and a half months).

We didn't just leave her to cry, but went in to her room (she went in at about 5 months) and stroked and rocked her back to sleep - luckily she'd never become dependent on this! After three nights of waking up once each night, she now sleeps till about 6am, which is acceptable as she then often has a nap till 7ish and I am up by then for work anyway.

Sometimes she wakes up a bit earlier, but I feed her anyway - I tried to be v strict about it at first, making her wait till 7, but after about a week I realised that she needed it a bit earlier, and it just about works with my working day.

Now I'm trying to work out how I'm going to drop this early-morning feed in the future - though she's only 11 months and I don't mind doing it for the forseeable future anyway.