gabriola
06-07-2005, 01:28 PM
I have been trying for the last month to cut back on the number of time my DS has been nursing at night. He is almost 13 months old and I am finding that the frequent wakings are really taking their toll on my health and life in general. He has traditionally gotten up every hour to 2 hours since birth ( and I have accomodated him)...I have implemented the NCSS strategies...which has helped with daytime naps...but the night time sleeping is still awful. I have been able to get him to sleep longer during the day....sometimes 2 - 1 hour naps....sometimes 1- 1hour 45 minute nap. However, it has resulted in him decreasing the amount of sleep at night. It seems as if he only requires a total of 11 hours - 12 hours of sleep per day. So if he sleeps 2 hours during the day he will only sleep 9-10 hours at night. That has meant a 4:30 wake up call for me most mornings...despite a darkened room, white noise, co-sleeping....the list goes on and on.
My husband is encouraging me to have ds CIO as all of his friends have had thier babies do this and have been getting restful nights sleep since the babies were a few months old. Currently I sleep in DS's room. He sleeps in his crib until his first waking and then comes to bed with me. My husband sleeps alone in our room due to his work schedule. I am the nighttime parent. I feel as if this is taking a toll on my marriage due to our differing opinions.
About a month ago I managed to cut down on DS's night time feeding significantly by singing him back to sleep. When I try to cuddle him he cries harder --so I have found that if I sing familiar song to him he would eventually settle back to sleep laying beside me in bed. I fed him 1-2 times per night...but all the other wakings I sang or talked him back to sleep. That was working well for me and I was anxiously awaiting the night when he wouldn't need the songs anymore. Then he changed the game plan and started waking for 1-2 hours at night...and not wanting to go back to sleep...so in addition to waking at 430 to start his day he was also up from 1-3 AM just bouncing on the bed. :hissyfit
He is a hefty 27 lbs and not suffering at all. He doesn't eat very well at night and I find that he is just using nursing as a comfort at that time so would like to motivate him to decrease these feedings. My sister has said that when her children were completely weaned that that was when they slept through the night. I just can't see DS doing that...but maybe he will surprise me. Do any of you wise mamas have any tricks or thoughts as to how to start night time weaning. DS currently doesn't take any other liquids other than breastfeeding....I have offered a sippy cup of water a few times and he is not really interested. As he eats alot of fruit I don't offer fruit juice as it has little nutrition and a lot of sugar. Should I be "pushing" a cup more so that he can get fluid from other sources ( I must admit I have been lazy about this due to the convenience of breastfeeding). Hoping you can give me some direction...I would like to go back to work soon and would really like it to be easier on both of us...and have me well rested.
My husband is encouraging me to have ds CIO as all of his friends have had thier babies do this and have been getting restful nights sleep since the babies were a few months old. Currently I sleep in DS's room. He sleeps in his crib until his first waking and then comes to bed with me. My husband sleeps alone in our room due to his work schedule. I am the nighttime parent. I feel as if this is taking a toll on my marriage due to our differing opinions.
About a month ago I managed to cut down on DS's night time feeding significantly by singing him back to sleep. When I try to cuddle him he cries harder --so I have found that if I sing familiar song to him he would eventually settle back to sleep laying beside me in bed. I fed him 1-2 times per night...but all the other wakings I sang or talked him back to sleep. That was working well for me and I was anxiously awaiting the night when he wouldn't need the songs anymore. Then he changed the game plan and started waking for 1-2 hours at night...and not wanting to go back to sleep...so in addition to waking at 430 to start his day he was also up from 1-3 AM just bouncing on the bed. :hissyfit
He is a hefty 27 lbs and not suffering at all. He doesn't eat very well at night and I find that he is just using nursing as a comfort at that time so would like to motivate him to decrease these feedings. My sister has said that when her children were completely weaned that that was when they slept through the night. I just can't see DS doing that...but maybe he will surprise me. Do any of you wise mamas have any tricks or thoughts as to how to start night time weaning. DS currently doesn't take any other liquids other than breastfeeding....I have offered a sippy cup of water a few times and he is not really interested. As he eats alot of fruit I don't offer fruit juice as it has little nutrition and a lot of sugar. Should I be "pushing" a cup more so that he can get fluid from other sources ( I must admit I have been lazy about this due to the convenience of breastfeeding). Hoping you can give me some direction...I would like to go back to work soon and would really like it to be easier on both of us...and have me well rested.