Expert: ruth kraft - 2/4/2011

Question
I am a co-sleeping breastfeeding mom of a 9 month old who nurses a lot at night. I have recently been diagnosed with a health condition and advised to get more sleep in order to heal. I am committed to co-sleeping and breastfeeding at night but I would love to figure out how to get at least 5 hours uninterrupted sleep so that I can heal. I tried holding my baby and not letting him nurse for three nights and the crying was too painful so I stopped. Any advice on how to take care of and honor both of us would be great!

Answer
Typically when  mother holds a baby in hopes he wont want to nurse, it backfires. Babies are not going to fall for it. they are much smarter than that. If there is someone else that can hold the baby for that 5 hours while you sleep or take care of him while that periods comes when he wakes, you can try that. Exhaustion can be horrible on your health, but adding the crying and frustration can even make it worse. You can try things like "rescue remedy" ( a tincture you can get online or at health food stores. ask for dosages when you purchase it )  before he sleeps, feeding a bottle at that time instead of nursing, try to wean him from the lease needed feed etc so you can get more sleep. there is a great book called the no cry sleep solution. I also have a baby who would not sleep at night and by 9 months I was so done.. but would not give up co sleeping and nursing as well. That book can help walk you through night by night what you can do to help. There is no easy fix to this without going into great detail on a daily basis on what to try unfortunately. If you want to do personal menoring through it, email me privately at Ruth@honoringwomen.com and I can let you know what the charges would be.

Best of luck!