comfort suckling & BF

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pmcheng

Member
My 7mth old son like to suckle to sleep and still wakes up several times for comfort suckling. I've been putting up with these middle-of-the-night suckling sessions as it helped to maintain BM supply. But now I'm wondering if I should still entertain his night sucklings cos my colleagues have either kids who sleep through the night, or stopped BF. They look so relaxed and energized, and I'm looking perpetually tired. Part of me tells me to continue (to the extent that I've turned away overseas work trips to be around to nurse my son), while the other part of me envies these more-well-rests mummies.

Would my son sleep through on his own without me having to sleep train him? I've read books and sought advice from many parents and it seems quite unavoidable that sleep training would entail some crying or fussing in the middle of the night - something I'm a little mindful of as I don't want baby to wake the entire family up while I sleep train him..
 
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ast0212

Member
7 months is still pretty young, some babies still need their night feeds :)

Try not to compare yourself and the amount of sleep you get with other parents as that can add more unnecessary pressure on you if you and baby are not ready to wean of night feeds. Every baby is different and every baby's sleep changes over time. They can sleep through the night for many weeks, and then wake up every 3 hourly for the following weeks...especially when they are achieving milestones this can also affect their sleep.

Also, night wakings actually protect young babies from SIDS, so it is a good thing that they wake up frequently even though it is exhausting for us breastfeeding mothers.

They will get there eventually, and it is only for a very small part of their lives. If you are able to, persevere...we're here persevering with you :)
 
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Tannie

Member
Not true, my friend stop breast feeding but her girl still wake up for night feeding even she is now two yrs old...
 
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Alisa

Active Member
some babies can sleep thru by themselves but some need to be taught/force. We are teaching my son to sleep thru. Last feed around 11-12am then next feed at 6am. If he wakes up in between, we will give him water or just pat him to sleep.
 
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Jode

Member
my pd taught me to feed bb with water if she wakes up in the middle of the night, then after that, pat her to sleep. this is to sleep train her. you may want to give it a go.
i didn't follow her advice as my bb only wakes up once a night to feed, and i didn't wanna spend time patting my bb to sleep. i would rather quickly feed her and i can quickly go back to sleep myself..
when she was about 7 mths old, she began to sleep through most of the nights.
then at about 9 mths, she started to wake up again in the middle of the night..
now she sleeps through again.. at 12 mths..
so my conclusion is... its jus a phase that babies go through..
hang in there, mummy!
 
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pmcheng

Member
comfort suckling & BF

Thanks for all the encouragement mummies! Really helps to know that I'm not the only sleep-deprived one with a slightly older baby :)
 
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