Good afternoon ladies,

I've got a question about getting a baby to go to sleep. Right now, Rebekah falls asleep immediately after nursing. At this point, it's the only way that she falls asleep. Should I be concerned? Should I nurse her until she shows signs that she's done and then help her fall asleep another way? I read in a book that nursing a baby to sleep is not a good habit and should be avoided. That way, other people can put her to sleep, and she can get back to sleep on her own in the middle of the night. What are your thoughts and feelings? Thanks!

Megan

03/06/98 - Married DH
10/10/08 - Delivered Rebekah Faith

You shouldn't be concerned at all! Its very normal for a newborn to fall asleep at the breast and completely ok! As long as she's waking up every 3-4 hours to eat and is getting enough to eat at each feeding you have nothing to worry about.:)

So, it's okay if the ONLY way to get her to fall asleep is to nurse her?

Megan

03/06/98 - Married DH
10/10/08 - Delivered Rebekah Faith

Yep. It is ok. :D

Here is a good link with info for you to read.. should answer any other questions about it.
http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/comfortnursing.html

For now, I say yes. If she was 14 months and the only way to get her to fall asleep was nursing, then I'd be concerned. As time goes on and she becomes more aware of her environment and learns more self soothing, then you could try to get her to sleep on her own, but I never even tried that til about 9 months.

I've always let mine fall asleep nursing. That's how they always fell asleep until around a year when they would start nursing well, but then try NOT to go to sleep right away. In which case I just put then to bed anyway and they seemed to 'get' it :p

Sorry ladies, don't flame me here, but I disagree. If she falls asleep at the breast okay, but at night time when you are getting her ready for bed, I'd feed first then maybe do a bath and then baby massage or something. Abby fell asleep at the breast, never learned how to soothe herself back to sleep and I was miserable. She didn't sleep through the night until I quit nursing *18 months and even then she didn't sleep through the night consistently.
I'm doing things different with Josiah and he is doing very well soothing himself back to sleep. I still feed during the night but not every hour like with Abby. I enjoy my time with Joisah, with Abby I was so exausted, depressed and fustrated.

Read up on it. Overall you want to do what is best for you and your child, but I even have a friend who nursed her dd to sleep and her dd is now almost 2, doesn't sleep through the night and still uses her mom as a pacifier. It's hard.

Well I'm the other side of Esther's coin I guess. I have nursed every one of mine to sleep, as I said previously. And every one of them have been able to put themselves to sleep as they got older. I said '1 yr' above but it started around 9 months that they would nurse til almost asleep then I would go lay them down. Sometimes they fell right to sleep, other times they decided to fuss for just a few minutes before drifting back off to sleep. And everyone that I know personally who has done the same, has had the same results. The child has no problem adjusting to getting themselves to sleep and staying asleep and in their own beds all night.

But like Esther said..you have to do what works best for *you* and your family. I'm an on demand feeder, plain and simple. Yes that means nursing every hour some days..and nights. And it means nursing my baby to sleep. And it can mean some less than restful nights...but we deal.

I have also nursed on demand with all of my kids and they have not had problems with sleeping through the night or getting themselves to sleep.

Remember we are talkng about a 2 week old baby here. I don't see any reason to even try to have her fall asleep on her own at this early of an age. She will learn ways of soothing herself eventually and then if you want to start having her fall asleep on her own take the gradual steps to doing so but I think expecting that from a newborn baby is expecting too much.

Didn't read all responses...but both kids started out by nursing and going to sleep immediately...

Then our schedule started to become:

eat
awake/play
sleep
you time (mommy time)

turns out to spell E.A.S.Y.

That's how I can remember it! LOL!

of course in the middle of the night she falls asleep right after eating...

hope this helps?!

The reason 'they' say not to do that is because you are creating a habit for the baby to fall asleep at the breast. Some babies, like Tara's experience, don't have a problem transitioning, others, like Esther's experience, have a hard time breaking this habit. Yours is unique and could go either way. If it isn't a problem for YOU then don't worry about it. If you think it might become an issue I'd take it into consideration down the road but I think right now is too early to be worried. :)

I didn't breastfeed but when Payton was younger he fell asleep while eating his bottle all the time, as he got a bit older he quit doing that on his own and now he has a bottle, I rock him a bit and he falls asleep, no problem, it works for US ;) My theory is I only get this stage for a little while so I'm going to let him lead and enjoy my baby :-D

I do have to add, I don't believe you should let your child go hungry. I feed on demand, I did with Abby and do with Josiah. That being said, I also agree with Ashley at two weeks you can't expect your child to learn how to soothe herself. I remember that Abby did start to go to sleep on her own when she was two months old. I'd feed her and then burp her, lay her in her bed, turn on her little light song thingy, and she'd fall asleep. AT the age of four months I would do that and it didn't work, she would scream, so I went to pick her up and soothe her, thought maybe she was still hungry. So I fed her until she would fall asleep and then lay her in her bed, asleep. After that nothing ever changed. Every time she would wake I would feed her. and she would go back to sleep. but like I said, she would eat for one hour, sleep for one hour, eat for one hour and wake up the next. Personally, for me it was hard. But she didn't take long naps either, so it's not like I could sleep when she slept, dh couldn't help because she screamed when he held her and I couldn't sleep cause I could still hear her. So for me I was spent! You do get use to it, but like I said it was hard.

If you do feed till she sleeps and that is the ONLY way she will fall asleep then do that. It's important that she does sleep , just make sure you are sleeping as well. I think what made it so difficult for me is that I had no body to help me. It was mommy 24/7 no breaks, and not to mention not neglecting my husband as well. So make sure you are getting some rest, ask your dh to help if he can, or other family members if you live close to any. Because it is important for you to be healthy both mentally and physically. JMO

Y'all,

I really appreciate your thoughts and feelings on this subject. At this point, I'll probably continue to nurse her to sleep. If she nurses to sleep and then wakes up, I'll work on getting her back to sleep by other means, rocking, walking, etc. In a few months, I may have to re-evaluate the situation if she doesn't figure out self-soothing techniques.

Again, thanks!

Megan

03/06/98 - Married DH
10/10/08 - Delivered Rebekah Faith