Hi! My LO is 15 weeks old and he’s a sweetheart.
For context: he is and has been exclusively breastfed and I think he entered the 4 month sleep regression so his sleep might be a bit off these days however he was always a difficult sleeper. Most of his day naps have been contact naps and, in the first weeks, even some of his night naps.
Issue: Recently he started to sleep better during the day, albeit sometimes still in short 40 minutes stretches, and he can sleep through the night from 8-9 pm to 6 am. The catch is that he requires 4 - 6 feedings through the night. He starts sucking his hands like obsesively and if I don’t nurse him he will start crying and then wake up. Last few evenings he asked for hourly night feeds. We try to use rocking or other methods to get him to sleep but when he’s in my arms he will cry to get a feed before dozing off. So I may have created a nursing sleep association. However, he does eat 5-10 min in each night feed (I wake up at 6 am w breasts quite emptied) so I don’t think nursing through the night is just a sleep association.
I’m exhausted from waking up so frequently and don’t know how to break the feed cycle. I tried using other methods to soothe him (shh, pacifier, rocking) but they don’t seem to work, at most they delay the feed for half an hour or so.
Day feeds are and have always been as frequent as every hour and he now eats 5 - 10 min at a time. He will end most of his day feeds crying though appearing to still want to feed but wouldn’t latch again so I stop.
I would like to extend the time between feeds both during the day and the night but don’t know what to do. Any tips from anyone who experienced this?
Thanks a lot!!
P.S. parents with more than 1 child, you rock!
For context: he is and has been exclusively breastfed and I think he entered the 4 month sleep regression so his sleep might be a bit off these days however he was always a difficult sleeper. Most of his day naps have been contact naps and, in the first weeks, even some of his night naps.
Issue: Recently he started to sleep better during the day, albeit sometimes still in short 40 minutes stretches, and he can sleep through the night from 8-9 pm to 6 am. The catch is that he requires 4 - 6 feedings through the night. He starts sucking his hands like obsesively and if I don’t nurse him he will start crying and then wake up. Last few evenings he asked for hourly night feeds. We try to use rocking or other methods to get him to sleep but when he’s in my arms he will cry to get a feed before dozing off. So I may have created a nursing sleep association. However, he does eat 5-10 min in each night feed (I wake up at 6 am w breasts quite emptied) so I don’t think nursing through the night is just a sleep association.
I’m exhausted from waking up so frequently and don’t know how to break the feed cycle. I tried using other methods to soothe him (shh, pacifier, rocking) but they don’t seem to work, at most they delay the feed for half an hour or so.
Day feeds are and have always been as frequent as every hour and he now eats 5 - 10 min at a time. He will end most of his day feeds crying though appearing to still want to feed but wouldn’t latch again so I stop.
I would like to extend the time between feeds both during the day and the night but don’t know what to do. Any tips from anyone who experienced this?
Thanks a lot!!
P.S. parents with more than 1 child, you rock!
