nursing bb to sleep

[happymom2006]

hi, my bb boy is 6mths old and i've always nursed him to sleep. is this normal for breastfeeding mothers? how else do you put him to sleep - he always wants to have a suck, but i read somewhere that it's no good to have milk in the mouth when sleeping. he sleeps at around 7 to 8pm, and would stir and grunt maybe 6 or 7 times throughout the night till next morning, which i then would nurse him in bed next to me, then roll over and fall back to sleep. is this normal and should this be the way?

 

[Dal]

Hi Happymom2006

Your practice of nursing baby to sleep seems to be what many mums are doing, at least in the case of my friends and I during the early days of my motherhood.

But I shall share with you my friends' experience for doing so even when their kids are more than a year old.
Their kids still wake up in the midlde of the night wanting to suckle.
It has become a habit otherwise they can't fall back asleep on their own. I believe that toddlers need not be fed anymore in the middle of the night, unless they are not well fed during the daytime.

I understand that when mums sleep on the same bed with their babies, there is a temptation to nurse their babies every time they fuss as this is the easiest and fastest way to make them fall back to sleep. Sometimes we failed to realise that the baby fusses not due to hunger. There is also a tendancy for us to react too fast whenever the baby fusses, as we are just beside him/her, and the natural reaction is to attend to them in a split second.

I personally feel that such convenience in the short term may bring long term problems for the mums as well as the kids.
But of course, the most important thing is that you have to judge for yourself what's best for you and your baby.

All the best!!

 

[barbwong_130]

It is very normal to feed your baby to sleep and has been done that way throughout time until very recently. It is estimated that toddlers receive over 30% of their nutrition during the night if allowed to continue to eat at night.

And although our culture tells us this is not required the actual medical research points to the fact that babies and toddlers do better with lots of small feeds through the day and night.

But I think the biggest question is how do you feel about it. If you are happy then continue as you are doing. If you aren?t happy then gently change the situation at a pace your baby can cope with.

I wouldn?t worry too much about creating a habit and doing things now for what might or might not be a problem in the future. If it becomes a problem in the future deal with it then. There is a big incentive to deal with something when it is actually a problem rather than when it is just a possible problem.

Many of my friends warned me about sleeping with my baby and that it would be habit. But what I found was it was a habit for me too. In the end my babies have all wanted to leave my bed and have their own ? where as I?d have been happy to continue to sleep with them.

The same goes for the nursing too. All grew out of needing or wanting to nurse during the night and if they woke up would turn over and go back to sleep. That isn?t to say I didn?t sometimes feel resentment about being woken up. But I dealt with the situation at that time rather than trying to address the situation before it was a problem for me.

Best wishes,
Barb

 

[msmslau]

i used to feed my daughter during the nite when she was about 6-9 mths. not by choice b/c we were in transition and we had to share a bed. so naturally she could smell mommy's milk! she is now over 1 yr old and no longer wakes up during the nite.

the only precaution about nite feeding is bb's teeth. if your bb already has teeth coming out, i will try to limit nite feeding as much as possible to avoid possible tooth decay. (my friend's 15 mth bb experienced that and almost needed a crown!) if you must feed her, try to wipe her teeth with water right away. she will cry, but better than having tooth decay later.