Ok, I know in my last post I said I was going to do nothing about Henry not sleeping through the night and just continue to let him nurse all night long, but I changed my mind. I just can't go on with this any longer. He is nearly 7 months old and is still waking up at least every 2 hours, sometimes more (although at around 3 months old he did have one week where he was waking only once all night long)! I really enjoy the closeness to Henry at night time, and I would like to continue sleeping with him for now, but I need Henry to stop nursing SO often at night. If he doesn't sleep all the way through, that's fine, but he needs to be able to feel comforted by just my presence and loving touch rather than only the boob.
Last night was the first night of this new plan. I nursed him to sleep as usual. When he woke up 40 minutes later, I went in and laid next to him as usual, but I did not give him the boob. I told him nice things in a soothing voice, patted his back and rubbed his tummy, and he kept searching for the boob and crying. It was heartbreaking really. I can't imagine how people just leave their baby to cry alone for hours. I guess it depends on the family, but I personally don't have the heart to do that. I don't like to hear him cry, but I was right there next to him the entire time! After an hour of on and off crying and sleeping, he finally fell into a deep enough sleep for me to tip toe out. He woke up many times during the night (a couple of times I did give the boob just to see if he might actually be hungry, but he just wanted to comfort nurse, not drink, so I took it back out) and by 1:30 am I was so exhausted, that I just let him comfort nurse for the rest of the night.
Tonight is night 2 of this. He went to bed an hour ago (nursed to sleep as usual) and he is currently still sleeping. Hopefully tonight gets a bit easier! It's not my goal to go completely cold turkey with the nursing, or else I could risk getting mastitis or something, but I'd like to only give him the boob every 4 or 5 hours, rather then every single time he wakes!
Last night was the first night of this new plan. I nursed him to sleep as usual. When he woke up 40 minutes later, I went in and laid next to him as usual, but I did not give him the boob. I told him nice things in a soothing voice, patted his back and rubbed his tummy, and he kept searching for the boob and crying. It was heartbreaking really. I can't imagine how people just leave their baby to cry alone for hours. I guess it depends on the family, but I personally don't have the heart to do that. I don't like to hear him cry, but I was right there next to him the entire time! After an hour of on and off crying and sleeping, he finally fell into a deep enough sleep for me to tip toe out. He woke up many times during the night (a couple of times I did give the boob just to see if he might actually be hungry, but he just wanted to comfort nurse, not drink, so I took it back out) and by 1:30 am I was so exhausted, that I just let him comfort nurse for the rest of the night.
Tonight is night 2 of this. He went to bed an hour ago (nursed to sleep as usual) and he is currently still sleeping. Hopefully tonight gets a bit easier! It's not my goal to go completely cold turkey with the nursing, or else I could risk getting mastitis or something, but I'd like to only give him the boob every 4 or 5 hours, rather then every single time he wakes!
1 comment:
Good Luck, I know it is really hard to listen to babies cry, I hate when my daughter cries!! Let us know how it goes and I hope you get to have a little sleep :)!
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