This post is part of the Breastfeeding Blog Hop hosted by The Slacker Mom and co-hosted by Happiness Redefined and me, The Gnome's Mom. This week's topic is "Reverse Cycling" Scroll down to see more posts or even better, link up and join the fun!
Jaxon loves it. He prefers to sleep in the crook of my arm anyway. He likes to have a little milk to lull him back to sleep whenever he wakes during the night. I don't love it. I don't like to sleep with him in my arm now that he's so big. It makes it so that I have to sleep in a certain position that sometimes I just don't want to sleep in! I'm also not a fan of him sucking on me all night long.
I have tried to break this pattern by feeding more during the day. I breastfeed on demand during the day, and even offer nursing to him as a distraction when he's trying to get into things or when I know it's been more than 2 hours since he last nursed. He generally has 5 long nursing sessions (when he wakes up, late morning, early afternoon, late afternoon, evening before bed), plus several mini-sessions each day (5 minutes or less, usually when he gets upset, falls, or is bored). So he's definitely nursing during the day, but he's nursing more at night.
I also tried feeding more solids so that he's not as hungry at night. However, Jaxon mostly eats solids for amusement/fun, not for nourishment. So it's hard to get him to eat enough to make a difference in his hunger levels. Nothing I do seems to change the fact that he wants to nurse more at night than he does during the day.
So there you have it - Jaxon is a pro at reverse cycling. Does your baby reverse cycle?
He just loves his mommy! You know, at one point with my first son, it helped to actually BEGIN to schedule his feedings during the day. I didn't do it until he was maybe 6 or 7 months old, but I tried to make sure I didn't give him the "snacky" nursings, and I tried to limit nursings to every 3 hours. That helped bring him from waking up every 20 minutes at night to waking up every 3 hours. I wouldn't do it with a very young baby, but it might be something to consider at some point.
ReplyDeleteJaxon is 11 months old so he is definitely old enough. That is definitely an easy thing I can try. At this point, waking every 3 hours would definitely be preferred to waking every 15-20 minutes! Thanks for the idea!
DeleteMy youngest baby is now 14 months & until I weaned her at 1 year, she nursed this same way. It cool to hear that it has a name & that other mommies have gone through it too. I read somewhere that the baby continues to wake & nurse all night long because the mom has trained the baby to think that its ok to do so. The source {I can't remember if it was online or in a baby book} said you have to just just let them cry through a skipped night feeding so they stop. The first night was pretty bad, she cried for like an hour, but the second night she cried for about 20 minutes. Then, the third night she just made a little fuss noise & went back to sleep. She has been good {and I've been sleeping COMFORTABLY and all night} ever since.
ReplyDeleteShhh...don't say it's the mom's fault! LOL. My husband already thinks I'm a softie because I can't let Jaxon cry it out. In the middle of the night, I'm usually so tired that I just want him to go back to sleep. And obviously, it's easiest right now to just nurse him. I just keep hoping that when all this teething passes, he'll stop waking so often.
DeleteOh my word, I just remembered that Emma did this to me as a baby! Must've blocked it before... except she was younger. I was very frustrated because she used me as a pacifier. So I got her a pacifier. lol I remember putting my finger gently on her throat to see if she was actually nursing or just sucking, and many times it was just sucking.
ReplyDeleteI don't really have any answers for you, Isaac has been waking more often at night lately to nurse, too. Most mornings I wake up to find him in bed with me and think, "Where did you come from?" - lol. I hope things change for the better for both of us soon!
Isn't it funny how we block things out? I think God gave moms that ability to ensure that the human race continued! LOL. I wish Jaxon would take a pacifier. We tried to give him one! He could really use one. He is all the time just sucking in his sleep, even when he's not sucking on me.
DeleteAnd lol at waking up to find Isaac in bed and wondering how he got there! That has happened to me before, too! It's amazing what you can do half-asleep!
I was laughing when I was reading your co-sleeping/nursing situation. Grady used to nurse a lot during the night, but also a lot during the day, so I'm not sure if that's really considered reverse cycling. Anyway......like your son, he loves sleeping soooo close to me that it's impossible to move. I'm usually stuck in a postion where my arm falls asleep! I love our co-sleeping arrangement, but sometimes it's a little frustrating to not be able to turn over! :)
ReplyDeleteThe worst is when my husband is on one side, and Jaxon is on the other, and they are both right up next to me...and I have to pee. Getting out of the bed is hard enough. Getting out of the bed without waking Jaxon up is next to impossible!
DeleteThis is happening to me right now - what did you end up doing? Did you continue to nurse him at night? My LO is 9.5m and I'm not sure I'm ready to let him cry it out yet (or ever). Thanks!
ReplyDelete