advice please

[metaphortunate]

The past week or two, the Junebug has been waking up four to six times a night wanting to nurse. I have been reluctant to move him into his own room because:
- at that point I will nightwean him
- he's pretty clearly reverse cycled, so if I stop nursing him at night, he will eat much more during the day
- what I can pump is already only barely keeping up with demand
- so at that point he will go on maybe half formula?

And not that that would be the end of the world, but I figured that to keep him on the boob I was willing to be woken up twice a night, which was what he was doing for the longest time. But five times a night - no. This cannot go on, he's 7 months old and I am getting less sleep than I did when he was a newborn, he is no longer cute between the hours of midnight and 7 am and that is VERY DANGEROUS TO HIS HEALTH.

Thoughts? Preferred sleep training techniques? How did you nightwean?

Comments

[boxofdelights]

Probably he's having a growth spurt and he'll go back to twice a night after your supply catches up with his demand, but in order for you both to survive until that day, you need at least one full four-hour sleep cycle at night.

Fortunately, you have a partner. Arrange with him which hours the boobs will be offline. When Junebug wakes up during those hours, his other parent has to take him out of the room and do his best to comfort him without food.

Wishing you all some sleep.

[snippy]

Thoughts: approaching growth spurt and/or learning spurt can cause this.

Nightweaning: I used Ferber with both of mine, when I was ready to stop getting up in the night. It was hard on all of us but it worked. The book also came in handy later-there's a terrific chapter about metabolism issues that interfere with adolescent sleep patterns and how to work on them.

[thefourthvine]

I WISH YOU WELL. No, seriously, I nightweaned with the time-honored "waiting until the kid gets done wanting to eat at night" technique. I think the earthling was two or something. Obviously you cannot wait that long.

So I am the WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD to give weaning advice, is my point. But! I hope it all goes smoothly, with more sleep for all.

[loligo]

Hmm, it's interesting that despite my daughter's extreme sleep problems, I never faced this particular issue, since she nearly always had a five-hour chunk of sleep in the middle of the night.

What I would probably try in your situation is give him ALL THE CALORIES during the day (yes, including formula, and whatever solids he's ready for), and see if that cuts back on the waking.

[lovepeaceohana]

I wish I had advice. Instead, I am typing this from my couch next to KK, who is 18 months old and has decided that bedtime is whenever he damn well falls asleep, thanks. Normally that is prior to this time! Normally that is about 8pm! But tonight it isn't. And he still wakes at least once a night to take a bottle, or to at least beg halfheartedly for one.

I will say that, as anecdotal evidence only, Lulu did go through a phase like this at about the same age. It was a growth spurt that he grew out of, fortunately, although he did continue to nurse at night until he was 12 months old, and then after that he still took a bottle in the middle of the night until he was about 18 months.

[metaphortunate]

Good to know, thanks!

[metaphortunate]

Thanks. :/ Trading off time is keeping everybody alive, for now...

[metaphortunate]

The thing is, we do that already! I mean, when he's hungry, we feed the little dude! And when he's not hungry, he is not into it. I hear about babies who get comfort from the boob. This little guy, if he is not hungry, he makes this >X( face and you cannot pry his little mouth open.

[metaphortunate]

Nooooooo...

[thefourthvine]

We did that a LOT. Every growth spurt, and for all the time that the earthling was still relying on breastmilk when he really needed solids (like, after he turned one, his diet was still 90% milk because of his food aversion, so he nursed all the time), BB and I switched off every night. I still remember the awesome feeling of, okay, now is UNINTERRUPTED SLEEP TIME when I fed him for the last time at three in the morning and made the official handoff to BB.

Yay for everyone being alive! And, I hope, mostly sane!