How do I stop her comfort sucking

[courts&munchkins]

It seems as though she has recently become significantly worse - I'm wondering if she's actually uncomfortable, and using you to soothe an ache. Can you try panadol a bit before feeding and see if she goes back to her usual self?

I did give her some panadol when we had a horror night a couple of nights ago and she did finally settle after that. She's teething but she has been teething for weeks and they are still sitting there right under her gum. I seem to breed horrible teethers. Last night was a better night. She still took over an hour to settle but she only woke once. Tonight its taken me about 90 mins to get her down so hopefully we don't have a bad one.

[Ozziehoffy]

hun... I know that feeling... I remember how tired I was, what a cranky mummy I was and fully understood why they use sleep deprivation as a form of torture! Elijah would only allow me around 3 hours of broken sleep a night until he was 14 months old... a good night was 4-5 hours of broken sleep for me..... I feared hurting him I was that tired! I remember sitting there with boob in his mouth, tears streaming down my face at 2am just wishing and willing him to SLEEP... JUST SLEEP!! When he started walking, he stopped... it was literally an overnight thing... so weird.

With teething, Elijah was my worst by far! After his first 2 teeth, I got him an Amber necklace and OMG what a different baby (mind you he was still waking, but wasn't with the crankiness). Does she have one?

I was going to suggest you sleep with bub, but you tried that last night, so hopefully that works for you again tonight xoxo

[*Danni*]

Yeah I would think its definitely teething that's causing her pain and keeping her up from her sleep. At least in a way you know the reason and hopefully once the teeth come through it should all be over! I was in your situation a few weeks ago when my sons top 2 teeth were sitting under his gums for a week or so and he was keeping us up for hours at a time in the early morning and it was horrible. I can safely say that it did pass and a few days after his teeth popped through he wasnt waking up for long periods anymore - woohoo. I found that brauers teething drops really helped (they are totally natural and you can find them in the chemist) as well as amber beads. Hope it passes soon.


Sent from my iPhone more than likely while I should be doing something else!

[courts&munchkins]

She has amber beads and we use every teething thing under the moon. My kids they just don't work. When I say her tooth has been sitting right there under her gum, it's been like that for 6 weeks. I can feel the bumps of it but it just won't break through *sigh* With my boys once they finally did cut teeth I would only get about a week's relief and then the next one would start, each one taking 4-6 weeks to cut, they would cut a couple at a time occasionally. It took me until my eldest was 4 to get him through how disruptive his sleeping patterns were that started when he started cutting teeth. ds2 at 2 still wakes many times a night. Why do I keep having kids lol.

Last night she was easy to settle but woke every 90 mins so She just doesn't like to sleep. She doesn't nap either which is painful.

[Ozziehoffy]

[JLeigh29]

How's it going? Any improvement?

[courts&munchkins]

We've had a couple of better nights. I'm struggling still with the feeding aversion I am having but she has been sleeping slightly better so I'm not such a complete wreck.

[JLeigh29]

That's a good improvement! It's amazing what a bit of sleep does! For you and her...

[Tilda]

I had the same issue with DD1 at the same age. I would feed her to sleep for all naps, bedtime, and night wakings. I was getting up every hour or more and thank god I didn't have toddlers. What broke the cycle for me was patting her to sleep for her day naps. It took a couple of minutes of grizzling but I couldn't believe it worked! It taught her to fall asleep without my boob and she instantly went to only waking twice a night. But luckily she was quick to settle so I could deal with that. I never did the patting at night because it involved a lot of crying which I hated.

[courts&munchkins]

Well we are having a horrible time tonight. Both she and the 2 year old just won't sleep, waking every 15 minutes. She's currently in my arms crying because after giving her both sides twice I am over it and I've pulled her off.

[*Danni*]

that sounds really tough!! I hope they settle for you soon! I just don't know how you do it - i would probably go crazy if I didn't have the bouncing from his hammock to sooth him once he's had enough booby. Night waking is so horrible - now I'm off to see how long it takes me to sleep! Hope you're sleeping soundly now!


Sent from my iPhone more than likely while I should be doing something else!

[*EJ*]

mumof2boys how are you going? Did your night get any easier? I don't really have any answer as i'm looking for some myself and your post could have been written by myself in many ways also.

I too have a beautful little lady after two gorgeous boys DS1 i got into the perfect routine for us of feed/play/sleep, slept through from 4ish months and i breastfed him up until 13 months. DS2 was a little different. He was more so fed to sleep and was having night feeds up until 15 months of age. We stopped as i fell pregnant, my milk changed, he started biting and attachment made me chringe. I was just not enjoying it anymore. DD has been similar to DS2 in many ways, i can't do much on my own in fear of her waking and not settling for anyone else. Not wanting to put her or anyone else in that situation. DH, similar to yours hasn't the patience and just does not seem to have 'that' effect over her to be able to settle. Probably our own fault but i'm the one home with the kids and have to be able to deal with everything.

I logged on today thinking about asking for some advice also. DD has been pretty good, she had reflux in the early months, cried a lot and fed every couple of hours we have improved but i can't go anywhere or do anything without her. The days are getting easier but the nights are not. She's waking 3-4 times a night and i feed her as it's the easiest thing to do. I have not had the hours at a time inbetween feeds and sleep like you and i really feel for you there. I am at the stage where i want things to change but i want to keep feeding her. Tonigth we have a party to go to and i think we are taking her with us... it's just the easiest thing to do.

You'd think after our 2 one more wouldn't do this to us??!! DD is in a zip up sleeping bag which has been great but i have to figure out how to get her out of it and i need to stop this feeding to sleep also. For us feeding to sleep has worked because she is a cat napper and very easily distracted so when she wakes she is not hungry and i don't know how else to get her to concentrate and have her feeds. I need to make some changes but i just have to figure out what and how.

I know all this is kind of irrelevant to your actual question and i see over the time of you posting this you are still really struggling. Something needs to give for your own sanity. Like i know i need to do, can you think about things in priorty of what you would like to change and how to do it? You dont' want it to cause too much distress so it may be very gradual. It may be that when feeding to sleep as soon as you know she is just comfort feeding take her off, and hold her, hopefuly she may stay asleep. If not put her back on to calm her again and then try it again. Idealy eventualy to have her asleep in your arms would be great and then try the whole transistion to the bed process. It may take some time but hopfuly it will get quicker and easier. I'm not sure if this is what would be reccommended by professionals but to me it seems gentle. The other option is to express and get DH to feed her... Something i could try myself... we'v just never had much luck with the bottle.

With me feeding to sleep i have always tried to not let DD comfort feed too much, once i knew she'd had her feed i took her off. For the most past she has happily gone to bed after this. So while that is what has worked for me up until now i am the point where i'd like to make some changes. So i'm thinking and not really doing just yet but i want to be able to have a night out and know she'll be ok. I'd like to be getting a little more sleep at night. So i might go and take some of my own advice and see if i have any sucess.

Good luck, i'm sure things will get better with some gentle changes. And i also hope that knowing there are others out there with the same challenges right now, tonight and tomorrow, can bring even the slighest bit of comfort. We get there eventually