Can babies cry out and nurse all whilst still sleeping?

[ArkAtEe]

14 week old baby has just got back from being walked about in the sling for over an hour, she slept the whole time. I took her out of the sling and she was still asleep so I set her down and she continued to sleep. She then starts crying loudly and suddenly without opening her eyes, I pick her up and talk to her to try and soothe her. No luck, eyes still closed and still crying. I walk around with her and she goes back to peacefully sleeping. I sit down with her on my chest, she continues to sleep but then the crying starts again, she won't settle and her eyes are still closed. She keeps crying so I decided to nurse her, she latches on and looks like she's feeding for a while (cheeks and jaw is going and she triggers let down in other side) after a bit she pulls her self off and continues to sleep on my chest.

So if she hasn't opened her eyes then has she been asleep this whole time??

This is just an example of what happened today, this happens other times and often quite a lot between 4am and 8am

Yep. They can do this during a light sleep cycle without waking up completely.

Commiserations!

Yes - babies have a natural sucking reflex which helps to soothe them back to sleep, have you tried a dummy if it’s an issue for you? Otherwise if it’s just that you’re concerned, don’t be it’s totally normal x

She hates dummies, I keep trying every now and again but no luck! She has slept through from 11pm-7am before without stirring at all so I don't think breastfeeding her to sleep again is much of an issue for us at the moment, I do try and alternate how she gets to sleep as well so it's not at the breast every time. Thanks for your reassurance x

Feel like she is crying out in her sleep more and more, sometimes I can stroke her head to settle her back to sleep but often now it's a lot harder and has started happening more in the night so my sleep is really poor at the moment.. could it be a part of the four month sleep regression? She'll be 16 weeks soon..