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Exclusively breasrfed until 6 months and then poor sleeper - is there a connection?

41 replies

Tinker · 02/01/2006 21:30

What's your experience?

1st was on bottles by 3 months and slept through within 24 hours (am guessing that that was a coincidence) Weaned at 4 months.

2nd = exclusively bf until 6 months, started waking at 20 weeks after sleeping through from 11 weeks.

Does the later weaning = increase hunger leading to more night waking leading to habitual waking?

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
popsycalindisguise · 02/01/2006 21:32

dont know but my ds1 who was mixed fed from ealry on slept through at about 16 weeks
ds2 is 10 monthsn and on a good night wakes 3 times
tonight he has woken 4 times already
grrr

Tinker · 02/01/2006 21:33

Had you in mind for this thread popsy, thought I was spotting a theme.

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hercules · 02/01/2006 21:33

made no difference to dd.

Hulababy · 02/01/2006 21:34

Well DD (who is now nearly 4) was on formula from 6 weeks and was weaned at 4 months but she slept pretty badly from 13 weeks to 20 months, waking in the night regularly. So eaqrlier weaning didn't help us.

beansprout · 02/01/2006 21:34

Not here. Ds exc b/f until nearly 7m, still is at 14m and sleeps fine.

popsycalindisguise · 02/01/2006 21:35

just us then tinker

Tinker · 03/01/2006 10:16

Anyone else?

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tracyk · 03/01/2006 10:25

ds mainly bf (formula or ebm at night) - slept through from 11 wks till about 4.5 mo and then started waking. Had phases of sleeping through and phases of waking due to hunger/growth spurts/teeth/cold etc.
Started sleeping through regularly from about 12mo.

Pidge · 03/01/2006 11:30

dd1 - exclusively breastfed till 6 months - slept 12 hours without waking from 4.5 months.

dd2 - also exclusively breastfed - woke every 2-3 hours until 7 months! Now 10 months and goes 10 hours.

So - both exclusively breastfed - one super snoozer and one insomniac!!

Only tip for cutting back feeds is that with dd2 I started timing nighttime feeds and cut them back minute by minute until I was feeding her for only one minute and then putting her down awake. Amazingly that was enough and she would go back to sleep. And then she started dropping feeds of her own accord.

Good luck!

popsycalindisguise · 03/01/2006 11:35

pidge - how long did it take you to get dd2 to sleep through using your technique?

Tinker · 03/01/2006 11:37

And how old was she when you did this?

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popsycalindisguise · 03/01/2006 11:39

pidge's dd is the sane age as my ds2...so 10 months now...and i seem to rememver her mentioning it on our thread a few months back....

CorrieDale · 03/01/2006 19:13

Ds is 6.5 months and was exc BF until 6 months. Has never slept through, nor even come close!

Tipex · 03/01/2006 19:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bobblehead · 04/01/2006 03:28

Not sure its a case of them not being able to self soothe, its just that they choose not to! Dd is perfectly capable of putting herself to sleep but knows when it comes to a battle of wills, she'll win hands down, so boob it is!

popsycalindisguise · 05/01/2006 19:53

tinker......pidge has describeon the post natal march 2005 thread what she did with her dd2.....
will link you

ParrupupumScum · 05/01/2006 20:04

Mine started waking at that age having previously slept through- they were breastfed but I started solids at 4 months as that was the advice then. I put it down to them having an intellectual spurt and suddenly realising that I and their Dad were either awake or wakeable upable. They would stand at the side of their cots grinning and gurgling and trying to charm us into joining in with their party. When that didn't work would weep like waterspouts and scream like banshees. We were tempted to join them with the weeping and screaming and in the end decamped to the living room (were in 1 bed flat at the time) to make it ultra clear that they had party pooper parents. They did resume sleeping through shortly after.

dandycandyjellybean · 05/01/2006 20:32

Just wanted to add my own experience here. I mix feed my babe, and I have to say (and I hardly dare coz I imagine I may be shot down in flames) that my experience is that as soon as he stopped being exclusively b/f, ds became a much more predictable and lengthier sleeper. I had to switch to mixed feeding for reasons which some of you may remember from earlier posts. I have to admit that I don't have a lot of other experience of babies, my sisters two who were both excl. b/f and a mates two who were both excl. b/f and all of these babes were terrible sleepers. My sister eventually 'sleep trained' her two (another really touchy subject I am daring to venure into, must be the two glasses of wine!!!) and now has two extremely well slept dd's. My mate can't get her head around the idea that maybe kids need to be taught how to settle themselves (and fair play to her, I'm not saying she should), and still struggles (valiantly) with both of hers, youngest ds still waking every two hours at 6 months. I'm not advocating either way, just adding the facts that I know of. Also, and I know that this maybe my final crime of the posting, I just wanted to say that I have just 'sleep trained' my own ds, who is 12 weeks old tomorrow. I know that it is not advocated before 6 months, but although he was sleeping extremely well during the night (from his dream feed at 10 until somewhere around 5 or 6), he was not napping at all during the day, except for tiny little ten minute fresheners. This made him extremely fractious and in my opinion very stressed, he kept wringing his little hands and screaming. As I had no experience, I imagined that if he did nap during the day, this might interfere with his sleeping so well during the night, and so was not trying to make him nap. If he fell asleep in the day, within ten minutes of putting him down he would be awake again. However, when woke up at half two in the morning a few nights ago, I suddenly found myself in the position of having to choose whether to get him out of his cot and soothe him back to sleep, something I haven't ever really had to do since he was a few weeks old, and that I knew could start habits I would have to continue, or whether to check all his 'vitals' and then put him back in his moses basket and soothe him but not rock him back to sleep. I chose the latter, and it took nearly an hour of blood curdling crying and going into him at regular intervals before he would settle, but the next day I put him down, wide awake, for naps in his moses basket, and now, just a few days later, he is settling himself from wide awake without a murmer not just at night, but in the day too. Today, I had to wake him at nearly 8am for his morning b/f and again from his post=lunch nap after two hours. I'm not saying that 'sleep training' at this age is right, or for everybody, I just wanted to let you know what my experiences have been. Sorry to have rambled, just chuffed to finally have a happy, settled ds. Hope it might help someone else who might be in similar position.

beatie · 06/01/2006 08:58

I currently have one of those exclusively breastfed frequent night waking babies. She slept through the night until about 4 weeks ago and she is getting worse. She's 15 weeks old.

DD1 slept badly from day one and at 15 weeks I caved and gave her formula. At the time all my antenatal groups babies slept through the night and I felt much pressure to be there too. The formula did not help in our case, at that time.

I often wonder if anyone has an exclusively breastfed babies who do sleep through the night of their own accord. What's the secret?

I'd be happy enough with one wake-up in the night. At the moment it's 3 or 4. I'm sure it would seem fine if I was co-sleeping but my bed's not set up for it and I don't sleep well with a baby in the bed.

I love how the advice is to exclusively b-feed until 26 weeks but there's no getting your baby to sleep advice which accompanies it. Should we just not have the expectation of a baby who sleeps through the night?

Dinosaur · 06/01/2006 09:47

My exclusively breastfed DS3 was by far the worst sleeper of my three boys. However, DS2 started sleeping through (well, from 11 pm until 5 am) while he was still exclusively breastfed, so I don't honestly think it's got anything to do with breastfeeding. My little nephew (now four months) is also exclusively breastfed and he's been sleeping through for a couple of months now .

Tinker · 06/01/2006 09:48

beatie - agreee, if we didn't have the expectation of sleeping through the night baby (or one who teased us by doing it for 10 weeks!) it wouldn't be so bad. Tbh, I wouldn't be so bothered about it except that I've got to return to work. If I was still off, I could live with it relatively easily.

popsy - I'll have a look on teh thread - thanks.

Scummy - standing up in the cot? Now you've set me off on lack of reaching developmental milestone paranoia

cubby - I'm not wholly averse to sleep training, think I've done it by default re daytime naps ie had to get other stuff done do couldn't keep running up to cot

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Tinker · 06/01/2006 09:49

Ah, dino, the definition of "sleeping through" arises now doesn't it? My definition is go to sleep when I want them to and wake up when I want them to.

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popsycalindisguise · 06/01/2006 09:54

someone said to me that 'they' define sleeping throgh as 7 hours.....
hmmmmm

I think I am going to venture to The Baby Clinic today (argh) someone stop me

Tinker · 06/01/2006 09:56

Gulp. I went on Wednesday, was all very pleasant, lots of my stereotyping challenged.

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popsycalindisguise · 06/01/2006 10:00

I havent been since he was 4 months.......dare I mention the Sleep Problem.......

Then have to talk about all these friends I have who suggested I do this that and the other....