Mia had her 2nd Dr's appointment yesterday. She has grown an inch and weighs 9 lbs now! She is doing so great. The Dr ask me how we were sleeping, my response was-"umm, ok". As of now, Mia sleeps in her swing next to our bed. She is not a big crier (more of a grunter) so when she starts to wake up and grunt, I feed her. Sometime in the middle of the night, she usually ends up in bed cuddling with me the rest of the night. The Dr told me to wait to feed her until she really starts to cry. She said to feed her, burp her and put her back down. No talking, cuddling, or playing. She said this will help her start to sleep through the night. I hate it. I cried more than she did last night. I am afraid I am going to teach her that she needs to cry to get things. She is such a good baby and I don't want to change that.
Any advise from any moms would be greatly appriciated.
Did you let your baby cry before you fed them?
Did they sleep in your room or in your bed? If so, for how long?
When did they get on a regular nighttime schedule?
Did you swaddle them at night?
Please Help!
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6 comments:
Saylor went from grunting to crying pretty quickly when she was hungry, so at night I think I probably let her cry before I fed her. She slept in a bassinet beside our bed for the first 3-4 months, so I would just pick her up and put her in bed with me to nurse. After she was done (if I hadn't already fallen back asleep with her), I would put her back in her bassinet.
Up until she was about 9 months old, she would wake up about 7am, I would put her in bed with me to nurse and she and I would go back to sleep together until about 10-11. It was wonderful! (the sidelying nursing position was a lifesaver. They didn't show me that in the hospital, I guess because I had a c-section, but as soon as I figured that out, I got a lot more sleep).
And yes, we swaddled for a long time it seemed. Maybe till she was about 4 months old or so.
I know you are doing a WONDERFUL job! But I remember how stressed I felt in the beginning. I questioned and felt unsure about every little thing we did. Hope you get some sleep and have fun loving on your princess.
Our babies are very close in age aren't they? Jared is 7 weeks today. He is a grunter too. The only time he cries is sometimes at bath time and sometimes during the day when he wants to be held. I wake up about every 4 hours when I hear him grunting and change his diaper and feed him and like you were saying...no talking or lights on or anything...and swaddle him tight and put him back in the bassinet next to me. Its working great for Jared and I. I just never let him sleep in my bed because I learned my lesson with Jaden and Kaelynn....they will never leave!
Hello. Mia is precious. The whole sleeping/nursing/schedule thing was a hard one to grasp. Charcey slept in a bassinet in our room until she was 3 months. I would not sleep a wink when she was in our room, because every peep she would make I would be wide awake. Charcey never grunted, just cried. I would nurse her 3 or 4 times a night at first. She did not sleep all the way through the night until she was 1 year. I nursed her until she was 13 mos, so I am not sure if they had anything to do with each other. I did the same as Sarah though, for the first 3 or 4 months I would lay Charcey beside me in bed and we ususally both fell asleep. It is tough, especially since you are already sleep deprived, you just want to do anything to get some sleep. You are doing great...don't stress too much. You guys will get a schedule worked out.
Oh Berkeley:( My advice for you is to go with your gut. I let Briggs cry when he was a newborn because that is what "The books" said to do. It broke my heart so I stopped. He was a very good baby and started sleeping throught the night at 8 weeks. Most breast fed babies don't technically "sleep through the night", usually they gomaybe 6-8 hours when they are older. Mia is still very little. Grady grunts also and I pick him up and feed him after he grunts for a while, but I don't want him to cry at night. I know what he wants when he grunts so I pick him up and feed him. We do rock for a minute after I feed him and then I put him back to bed in the bassinet beside our bed. You know what is best for your baby. Don't worry about spoiling her. Sometimes Grady sleeps on my chest for a little while too. It is so much easier with the second! Hope you have a better night tonight!
I'm a big believe in training. After both of my babies were two weeks old and I knew that they were growing well, gaining lots of weight and getting adequate food, I began training them to sleep through the night.
They slept in our room. Whey they grunted/cried, I would pick them up and lay them next to me and give the pacifier. No nursing. 98%of the time, they would fall asleep without eating. This showed me that they were not necessarily hungry, but possibly just 'used' to waking up. It's amazing how quickly they get into habits.
They both slept through the night by four weeks. And by through the night I mean 11ish until 7ish. That gradually became longer.
If she is really hungry, the pacifier won't satisfy. I know what you mean about breaking your heart to let her cry and nursing and putting her right back to bed. It's hard. But when she is six or eight months, you will be so glad that you don't have to break bad habits.
This is such a sweet time for you! I'm so excited for you.
I am totally with you, unfortunately my child still does not sleep through the night and he is 20 months old. My best advice would be to go with your motherly instincts but do be careful about starting bad habits. Foster woke up every hour to hour and a half until he was 10 months old. The problem was that at the smallest peep I would get up and feed him. He got so used to me putting him back to sleep that he eventualy did not know how to do it on his own. It is hard to listen to them cry and for me it is still not easy. I think it does take breastfed babies a little longer to start sleeping through the night but there is a happy medium. I wouldn't feed her at every peep but like I said, you know your child better than anyone so go with what you think she needs. Hang in there, you will figure out what works for both of you. It will get easier, I promise.
By the way, Mia is way too cute and I would love to squeeze on her
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