Pure Parents

Question:

Hi, If a baby’s hungry, they’re hungry and there’s not much you can do about it. She probably needs to eat this often even though it’s extremely hard on the parents.  You may want to think about taking the baby to bed with you so the Mom doesn’t have to get up to nurse.  It worked for us.  I barely had to wake up to feed the baby.  I wasn’t worried about getting my son to sleep by himself, and it seems to have worked out nicely for us.  He moved into his own bed without any problem when we (as a family) were ready for him to. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >Hello. >My 9mo daughter (95% breast-fed) wants a meal every 3 hours, even at night >(cries until offered a breast, eats and falls back asleep).  My wife is >totally exhausted.

Response:

How long has this been going on.  My 7 month old slept from 8:30pm to 8:00am every night till about a 1/2 a month ago.  He would want breast every three hours.  I was going out of my mind too.  My husband tried to sooth him, but to no avail.  I had to just go in and feed him. It never lasted more than 10 min.  Anyways,  Yesterday morning while he was chewing on my finger.  There it was his first tooth.  I know it has to be because of this.  He slept through last night and hopefully will again tonight.  I also gave him some tylenol.  Good Luck.  Who knows how babies think or what they may feel. Just try to deal with it as best as you can and have your wife remember those special moments with your baby.  IT may be tiring, but  I finally had to tell myself, this won’t last forever and neither will his baby days. Angie

Response:

> Hello. > My 9mo daughter (95% breast-fed) wants a meal every 3 hours, even at night > (cries until offered a breast, eats and falls back asleep).  My wife is > totally exhausted. > We’d like to cut down on the times of the nightly feedings without making it > too hard for the baby.  Any suggestions on how to approach this are welcome. > Thanxalot, > Clueless dad (TM).

At 9 months you can try to get up with your daughter instead of your wife.  Try giving a bottle of water if you think the baby really needs something, or just holding and rocking her.  My 16 month old still nurses 2-3 times/night, but he doesn’t nurse to sleep anymore–he cuddles up with his dad and gets sung to sleep.  If the baby really isn’t hungry she’ll just go back to sleep. Good luck! Tracy — Tracy Lee Murphy *** Stuff I’m interested in:  retired racing greyhounds  ** homebirth  pregnancy and childbirth ** spirited kids ** attachment parenting   A moderator of misc.kids.moderated–add us to your news reader!

Response:

: Hello. : My 9mo daughter (95% breast-fed) wants a meal every 3 hours, even at night : (cries until offered a breast, eats and falls back asleep).  My wife is : totally exhausted. I assume at this age the other 5% is solid food. : We’d like to cut down on the times of the nightly feedings without making it : too hard for the baby.  Any suggestions on how to approach this are welcome. : Thanxalot, : Clueless dad (TM). This doesn’t sound too unusual.  Our 13 month old still nurses 3 times during the night.  We bring her into the bed for the first nursing, and Monika doesn’t even hardly have to wake up for the 2nd and 3rd.  She gets a lot more sleep than if she had to get up for each nursing. Larry

Response:

Does your daughter sleep in the same bed with you and your wife? If she does, my doctor had told me to leave our daughters sleeping next to their father while I slept on the couch for a few nights. We tried it but neither of us were handling it well so I got into bed with them and just said, "No honey, I’m sorry but mommy needs more sleep. You can have a drink of water now or wait until morning for a nursing." I kept those spill-proof sippy cups full of water by our pillows. It took a long time but we eventually got over the night nursing. (I’m one of those adults who gets soooo thirsty in the middle of the night that I have to have a drink of water a lot of the time). Now I’m dealing with other complaints about them wanting to sleep with us all the time but at least we survived the nursing one ok. *s* Cheri – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->Hello. >My 9mo daughter (95% breast-fed) wants a meal every 3 hours, even at night >(cries until offered a breast, eats and falls back asleep).  My wife is >totally exhausted. >We’d like to cut down on the times of the nightly feedings without making >it >too hard for the baby.  Any suggestions on how to approach this are >welcome. >Thanxalot, >Clueless dad (TM). >– >My email address is intentionally mangled to foil spambots. >Please remove the "—filter—" from the address for replying. >Sorry for the inconvenience.

Response:

<snip: parents wish to eliminate night nursing sessions for 9 month old baby> I am working toward the same goal with my 14 month old.  I have found that rubbing his back and singing a lullabye helps to soothe my son back to sleep without having to nurse him.  Of course, it doesn’t work every time, and I still have to nurse him back to sleep at times. The Sears have addressed this issue in their ParentTime Column.  Here’s the link, hope it works: http://pathfinder.com/ParentTime/Ask/searsnnurse.html?az Good luck. Rose proud Mommy of William 6Aug97

Response:

My son associated me with food.  Maybe it would help if you went to your daughter in the middle of the night and tried to calm her.  It’s going to take time.  Gradually let her go longer periods of time before offering her the breast…even during the day.  Try to distract her with other things…toys, bath, sippy cup, etc. Best of luck. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >Hello. >My 9mo daughter (95% breast-fed) wants a meal every 3 hours, even at night >(cries until offered a breast, eats and falls back asleep).  My wife is >totally exhausted. >We’d like to cut down on the times of the nightly feedings without making it >too hard for the baby.  Any suggestions on how to approach this are welcome. >Thanxalot, >Clueless dad (TM). >– >My email address is intentionally mangled to foil spambots. >Please remove the "—filter—" from the address for replying. >Sorry for the inconvenience.

Response:

Hello. My 9mo daughter (95% breast-fed) wants a meal every 3 hours, even at night (cries until offered a breast, eats and falls back asleep).  My wife is totally exhausted. We’d like to cut down on the times of the nightly feedings without making it too hard for the baby.  Any suggestions on how to approach this are welcome. Thanxalot, Clueless dad (TM). — My email address is intentionally mangled to foil spambots. Please remove the "—filter—" from the address for replying. Sorry for the inconvenience.

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