She just wants to suck!!!!!!

[morgan78]

DD is at that magical 4 month mark and of course sleeping is now an issue. i can deal with the cat napping, grumpiness etc but the constantly needing to suck ME is getting hard...i cant pop her down without her waking and wanting the boob back. i have tried rocking/cuddling that just ends up with her absolutely beside herself and then refusing even boob . Dummies nope wont have a bar, she does get the thumb in at times but its not good enough for HRH oh and hates slings/carriers.
Can anyone please please suggest something as i need to be able to get at least one nap a day in her bed so my DS gets mummy time

[Snacks]

Will she settle in the pram with some rocking? Or patting? If she'll only sleep on the boob, do you wrap her first? I think for my DD that helped her feel like she was still being cuddled. GL!

[Danni K]

Ah that brings back memories of my DD. She also rejected the dummy (she would dry wretch) but I wish I persisted as my boob was used as a relacement and that set off a vicious cycle of comfort sucking, lots of wind, lots of crying and then of course very little sleep. I wish I persisted with the dummy.
I have just read about dummies in the book Baby Whisperer and the author is all for dummies as she believes babies are natural born suckers. She suggests to try different types/brands and PERSIST - dont let baby win! Also try placing the dummy in with nipple pointing towards roof of mouth instead of on the tongue and hold it there gently. Something she said that I thought was spot on was that when babies are settled with a feed and rocking that is how they will expect to be put to sleep every time and they are clever and will often reject the dummy as they will prefer mummys nipple especially if it's given often when wanted. Perhaps you could keep trying a dummy and maybe she will hopefully give in and take it??!!
My son loves the Nuk dummies and I held off until he was three weeks old but found I couldn't hold or settle him as he just wanted to 'eat' me! It took a little while for him to take it but yay!! thankfully he did!! He went from waking every hour for a feed to 2, 3 and now 4 hours and even 7 hrs at night!! The dummy definately helped stretch out his feeds and helped him sleep better and he has become a lot happier baby and doesn't have as much wind. I can now just wrap him and put him down for a sleep with a dummy and he puts himself to sleep. My DD NEVER did this and didn't sleep until she was 3 so I am so cheering for dummies at the moment, they are a god send. Fingers crossed and best of luck! Thinking of you through this difficult time.
_____________________________
Me 32 DH 30
Our loves of our life:
DD 3 years
Baby Harrison born 19/3/08

[morgan78]

Snacks - we wrap her for every sleep and have since birth.
Danni K - thanks for the info we have tried a few different ones & different ways of inserting them but she wont have a bar of them & honesty i'd rather not use them. I think she just loves to suck...mind you last couple of days she has been great.

thanks girls for your advice

[bigbird2girls]

Mmmm could she be teething early???? Maybe if she likes to suck get one of those net things (sorry i have no idea what they are called) they are in woolies etc and put an icecube in it and let her suck her little heart away with that during the day.

At night well mmmm the only thing i can possibly think of is a dummy or maybe a damp/wet flannel to suck on at night. If it is a sleep issue as in she will not sleep she wants more boobie maybe your partner can put her to bed then she will get the message THE MILK BAR IS CLOSED for now!!!
Otherwise have you thought of maybe only at night time topping her up with formula instead of boobie juice? She then gets the best of both worlds, you still breast feed but at night give her a top up of formula. I had to do that with my 2nd little girl she was an eating machine i give you the tip!

Worth a try....

Good luck

Jen

[Dragonbub]

Hey hun,
We had a similar issue with Caden at 12 weeks. We ended up going to Ngala (similar to Tresellian) over here in WA and they sorted him out for us. We had to teach him to settle himself to sleep, which pretty much involves us observing tired signs (rubbing eyes, grizzly, yawning etc) and putting him to bed awake so he can fall asleep on his own.

It took alot of work, 2 days of crying and lots of tears from us, but we got there in the end. Now he is generally pretty good (except when teething).

I found that although there is heaps of advice out there, it was so hard to let him cry. Ngala taught us the difference in cries, and different techniques to use to settle him in his cot, rather than picking him up or feeding him etc.

Perhaps give your parenting line a call, as it can be pretty hard on you at first. Like I said, it took 2 days before Caden eventually fell asleep on his own. AND he learned how to suck his thumb at the same time which means he sucks HIMSELF to sleep now, LOL.

good luck hun!