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FAO mums of breastfed lo's *UPDATE*
How many breastfed little ones are sleeping through?
If yours are, how did you drop the feeds?
Ruby is 6 months next week and is now on 3 big meals a day plus about 3-4 breastfeeds in the day but is still feeding after her 7.30pm feed at bedtime at 11pm, 3am and then 6/7am.
Please help!
I KNOW she does not need it and it is purely for comfort.
Do I just let her cry it out and ignore her till morning?
Has anyone else done this and it worked or do you have any suggestions?
Thanks.
x
Well, last night she cried at 10.30pm. I didn't think she was hungry but fed her at 11pm to make sure.
She went back down and started crying after 2 minutes and wouldn't stop! Hubbie said 'for goodness sake bring her in with us for a bit' (she slept in our bed till she was 6 weeks old).
The next thing I know. hubbies alarm is going off and it's 7am! She slept through!
This shows that a) she does not need a feed during the night and b) she is crying for attention.
So, tonight, I will give her the 11pm feed and then leave her.
it's gonna be tough but i think I've got to, don't you?
x
[Modified by: *Mrs E* on 26 January 2009 13:58:22 ]
If yours are, how did you drop the feeds?
Ruby is 6 months next week and is now on 3 big meals a day plus about 3-4 breastfeeds in the day but is still feeding after her 7.30pm feed at bedtime at 11pm, 3am and then 6/7am.
Please help!
I KNOW she does not need it and it is purely for comfort.
Do I just let her cry it out and ignore her till morning?
Has anyone else done this and it worked or do you have any suggestions?
Thanks.
x
Well, last night she cried at 10.30pm. I didn't think she was hungry but fed her at 11pm to make sure.
She went back down and started crying after 2 minutes and wouldn't stop! Hubbie said 'for goodness sake bring her in with us for a bit' (she slept in our bed till she was 6 weeks old).
The next thing I know. hubbies alarm is going off and it's 7am! She slept through!
This shows that a) she does not need a feed during the night and b) she is crying for attention.
So, tonight, I will give her the 11pm feed and then leave her.
it's gonna be tough but i think I've got to, don't you?
x
[Modified by: *Mrs E* on 26 January 2009 13:58:22 ]
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Replies
She can now drink water from a cup but makes a mess and so cannot do it in the middle of the night!
For that reason alone, I am unable to express and go out anywhere for more than four hours as there is no other way of giving her milk!
I have no clue how I am going to move her onto formula when she needs it.
I am going into hospital soon and have no clue how she's going to be fed!
I know my baby is bottle fed - well if he takes it that is!
But have you tried topping her up during the day? giving her extra BF .. or adding cheese, milk to her food? just thinking if she had those maybe it would be she was 'topped up' then YOU know she doesn't need the extra - so can just re-settle rather than feed? or maybe reduce the amount of feed time at night? I don't know if that works for BFing? but with bottles you can reduce the amount of milk in the bottle over a week say .. so you could time it maybe cutting a min off her time each night?
or maybe just offer her water at night! I know it might be messy for a week - but if it gets her sleeping thru because she thinks there is no point waking up for water - it might be worth a shot?
dont know if its helpfull or not just thought i'd say! x
Lucas slept through quite early being ebf. Before that he would sleep til 3 then wake every 2 hours after. I finally got fed up with this and gave him water when he woke up and he soon slept through (after 2 nights of him being very annoyed)! Never looked back since then and I would do it all the same next time. If you think your LO is getting enough during the day (which it sounds like it) then don't feed them when they wake up! It's hard and you have to stick to it and show no mercy but its worth it and does no harm lol! Makes me sound hard but I'm a big softy really.
I have tried giving her more in the day but she definitely does not want it. That is the thing with breastfeeding, you never know how much they have had or will want. I tend to feed her four hourly and any less that that and she strains away or worse, bites my nipple!!
She definitely doesn't need extra anyway, if you saw the amount of food she was having at her meals! In fact tonight after her 7.30pm feed, she was sick, simply because she was soo full up after her dinner at 6pm but took the breastfeed anyway!!
Reducing feed time wont work either as she has always been such a profficient feeder, never more than 10 minutes at any one time even as a tiny baby (perhaps 15-20minutes in the first few weeks). now that is down to about 5 minutes, even when she has a full feed!
I do know that she doesn't need it, its just having the guts to let her cry it out when i have always fed her when she asks before you know?
She is going in her room on her 6 month birthday next week and I am hoping that will help as she won't wake at every little sound (OH snoring, us turning in bed etc....) which I know she does now.
Thank you so much for you suggestions though.
I may well try the water if this goes on for much longer.
xxx
If she would take a bottle I would gladly try the water......
I'm gonna put another post on for ideas about taking a bottle...
evie is the best, slept through from day 2 and still letting me sleep.yippie!
do u give lo supper? i found giving oliver some porridge for supper got him sleeping a little longer before waking. xx
It is tough not giving in to them, but if your oh is supportive I would definitely suggest trying him being the one to go in during the night for a few days, and see if it works for you!
Good luck xxx
When he woke for food at 5am we left him to cry and he just went back to sleep. Cried on and off until 7.30 when we got him up, but we just didn't feed him, and to be fair he wasnt very distressed, just protesting! He then took an extra feed in the day as a result, and the next night we did the same, he grumbled again but for less time. We've carried on doing this, and he still wakes for a bit of a grumble about 6am, but he usually goes back to sleep until we get him up. The method says that if you absolutely can't settle them back off to offer water (we've not had to do this yet...), and even if you have to stay up with them comforting them until morning when you feed them, don't feed them because you have to break the cycle and the association that waking at night means food, because it's only a habit, and all habits need breaking sooner or later. Gradually she should learn that it's not worth waking.
Sorry to ramble, hope it's some help. x