Feeding on demand vs routine

[Willow]

MR - what are the other options? I just don't know what to do with this boy so I'm open to anything right now! The thought of doing these night feeds for another 6 months fills me with dread. I just want to get a bit more sleep. And when I go back to work in Sept I'm going to NEED more sleep. I'm hoping that the introduciton of solids will help but everyone keeps telling me it won't.

I was happy to go with his lead but it just doesn't seem like there's any end in sight!

He's always been a big hungry boy, maybe I just need to accept that that's the way things are and give up on the idea of sleep for now.

Sorry to hijack Ren...

[MantaRay]

Willow, it is hard isn't it. I know I was the same when Tom was waking every night, but at least it was just for a quick feed and then straight back to sleep. Not like Jack when his sleeping started getting out of control!!

Firsly, are you giving him a dream feed? If not that might be worth a try. I used to dream feed Tom and this would mostly cut his night wakings down from 2 to 1. Or, otherwise, the way I see it, you have a few options. You can continue feeding him. Or you can get your DH to give him a bottle/cup, at least every second night so you take it in turns. Or you can night wean - try settling instead of feeding and if that fails give him water and not milk. Sometimes that works best if you go away for the night so they know they can't have mum and her bbs. If you go down that path, I would try and give him an extra feed before bed.

WRT solids, I agree that it is no a magic cure. I found that at first it made Tom sleep worse. In fact 3 of us in my baby buddies group found the same thing at the same time. Tom loved solids and reduced his milk intake, then was needing more milk in the night. I cut his solids back down and he went back to his old sleeping habits.

BUT time does help. At some point - it could be tomorrow, next week or in 6 months, he will not need that feed any more. It's just a matter of whether you can wait that long!

[stacey83]

I just haveto say stick to the demand feeding and co-sleeping, i have been doing that with my DS since he was born and ive enjoyed it so much. I used to feed him on demand, every 2-3-4hrs . He sleeps perfectly and is a very happy and content baby... i never used to let him cry much as i would pop him to my breast and he was happy (as i too had to bump my milk supply up).. Now he has slipped into his own routine and i put him to bed at 8pm and he wakes at 5-6.30am for a morning breastfeed and sleeps a little longer in bed with us! Than we wake up together happy!

So just do what you want to do and dont get bogged down with what other people say!

Enjoy your baby!

[meow]

Demand feeding is definately all I feel comfortable with- I've never let our baby cry.

He's developed a night time routine though which makes life more predictable which is nice. He cluster feeds/naps from 5-9pm then feeds at 1-2am and again at 5-6am. So two 4 hour chunks- I am not complaining!

[Liz]

They do sleep through eventually - just don't limit 'eventually' to a specific time. DS's 'eventually' was only recently - and he's 2! He hasn't fed overnight for a long time now, but he still wakes.

DD is still feeding heaps overnight. She's a distracted feeder through the day tho, so she's probably catching up on feeds during the night. Last night was very tiring.. I suspect we're in for a growth spurt or something because it was more than normal.

DD is in a cot attached to our bed, so I'm not really waking up properly to feed.. I'm doing it in a half sleepy daze LOL. So sleep deprivation isn't hitting me too hard. If I had to get up to go to another room and sit there and feed, I'd probably struggle getting back to sleep.

I agree with Kelly that routines are very tempting during the rough patches. But they seem to be too much work for me LOL. I find it easier & quicker to ride it out. It does pass. It feels like forever in the middle of it, but goodness me, time flies by so quick, they're 2 before you know it! It's such a short time in their lives, try and keep at it where you can, and don't worry about when they will sleep through.