Sleep association

[mama-to-be]

My daughter has her main feeds right before a nap and bedtime. I've been reading from books that this will cause sleep association and could be the reason why she is still continuing to wake up so frequent throughout the night (after her 10pm feed she'll wake every 2-3hrs). Baby is 4.5 months old. Then the other day I meet a lady who told me that she did the same though her baby slept thru the night at 3 months. I know every baby is different but are there any other mothers out there who also fed before sleeps and yet baby eventually slept thru?

 

[mintycat]

My daughter is 4 months old now. I BF her on demand since birth up til she was 3 months. Before 3 months, I cluster fed every 2 hours from 5-9 pm and then gave her a bottle of expressed milk at midnight. She would wake at around 3-4 am and then up for the day at 7 am. The cluster feedings were all her cues.

Then starting at about 3 months, with a little encouragement from me, we feed on a 3-4 hr schedule and she has a bath at 5:30 and then I feed her at 6 pm. Her eyes are usually closed while feeding but then I burp her and change her diaper and she is awake. Then I hold her a little bit but put her in her crib awake but drowsy. I still dreamfeed her at 9 pm and midnight but both time she goes right back to sleep until 7 am in the morning.

My point is that she usually becomes sleepy before the nap and bedtime feeds but when I start to burp and change her, she is usually awake again, and then I just put her in the crib when she is drowsy but not asleep. That way, she will not associate feeding with sleeping (I hope).