Re: Co Sleep to Sleeping in own bed -Baby bottle tooth decay

[Guest guest]

I'm having the exact same problem with Gabe. He's nearly 11 months old now. He's

always been a side-sleeper. He nurses practically all night... I started trying

to give him phase 2 baby food about 3 months ago, and while he enjoys what I can

actually get him to eat, I can't seem to get him to eat enough before bed time

to keep him from wanting to nurse all night... Oh, and to compound the problem,

about 6 teeth are coming in all at once! He already has 5 teeth now.. I'm

preparing myself to have one toothy child soon.. and he's a biter. It's been

really hard to stick with the breast feeding bit. The problem with trying to

move him to his own crib is he's such a light sleeper! Most babies I've seen,

when they're out... They're out! Not Gabe, it seems that if I even move a muscle

those first hour after he's fallen asleep, he wakes up lips a-pucker:) It's

driving me nuts. I can't seem to get anything done because I have to take naps

with him and go to sleep when he does... 'Cause Lord

help me if I don't, He's up all night!Anyway, my biggest concern lately, not

that I've seen any sign of it... Baby-bottle tooth decay. Any thoughts on this

and breast feeding at night????

kitaki m_kitaki@...> wrote:I agree with Kori that 9 months is a tough

time to try to wean from anything - its just a very needy time. Having said

that, there are two approaches you can take that won't really get her weaned,

but can give you some much-needed space.

The first is to start trying to get her to sleep the first part of the night in

the crib. The brace WILL NOT get stuck in the slats, but she will likely wake

herself up in the middle of the night whacking the brace against the slats.

This way, you still end up getting up in the middle of the night and with baby

sleeping with you part time, but you DO get at least a little time of " me "

space. We just had the crib right by the bed where I did not have to actually

get out of the bed to get the baby.

THe second approach is to try to night wean, but continue to co-sleep the full

night. Pretty much, when baby wakes up and wants to nurse, you cuddle her close

but tell her " no nursing " . If she persists, nurse for a couple minutes and then

stop and go back to cuddling. The problem with this approach is that you will

get LESS sleep until she catches on.

I did both a different times with Kai - who was my only baby who chose to nurse

past 8 months old. I started out with the get-out-of-my-bed method, giving

myself, and DH, some much needed space for part of the night in our queen bed.

Later, when he was almost a year, I did the night weaning because I was just

tired of nursing ... Arica nursed until I was 3 months pregnant with Kai, and

the Kai was born early, so I just wanted to get some decent, full night sleep

(hadnt had it for a couple years at that point thanks to hard pregnancies).

For what its worth, if you mean to not co-sleep forever then you DO need to

start working on getting her into the crib part time. Arica slept in her crib

for about 2 months, then at 9 months old came back into bed with us and is still

there almost every night at least part of the night. I never worked very hard

at getting her back in her own bed until she was about 2.5 and a year later I

she goes to sleep in her own bed but wakes up in mine. It isnt so bad when it

is just her and I, but when DH is home (he works graveyard) and Kai is having a

tough night that queen size bed feels like a sardine can! Actually, even just

her, Kai and I is a push.

ANgel

At 07:38 PM 3/13/2005, you wrote:

>Hi all,

>

>Just wondering how many of you still cosleep with your child - my daughter

>is 9 months old and cosleeps with us. However, my biggest fear, I guess

>is that her bars would somehow get stuck between the bars of her crib;

>even though I have a bumper all around. I would like to get her in her

>own bed by 1.....I'm still nursing and the intent is that once she's one,

>I can wean her off of me and into her own bed as well.

[Guest guest]

I've always had my kids in my bed with me, but only as long as we

could handle it...in other words, when they reach a certain age,

they don't need to be nursing all night, and it's just making a

tired & miserable mommy & baby. So when it *feels* right to me, I

move them to their crib. With all 3, it has taken about 2 days &

nights of letting them cry it out for nighttime & naptime, and

they're fine. If an 11 month old is nursing all night, and won't let

you move without waking, it could be that he just needs to

be " retrained " (as much as I hate to use that word) to sleep alone.

It's tough, but the alternative is to continue getting nothing done.

And time yourself, I've found that the first time I let a kid CIO,

it takes maybe 20-30 mins. After that, while it may seem like

they're crying FOREVER, it's usually only 5-10 mins. I know this

doesn't work for every baby, my boy was TOUGH--he'd literally cry

until he threw up. But I'd just wait a few weeks and try again,

obviously we weren't ready. And eventually they figure it out. Also,

get a routine going when it's going to be bed/nap time. I sing a

little song, and say a prayer with my daughter before I put her in

the crib. She's only 7 1/2 months, but she ABSOLUTELY knows what

that means. I stand in the same place every time (right next to her

crib) and the whole thing takes about 1 1/2 mins, but when I start

singing, she starts squirming, and by the time I get to " Amen " she's

whining because she knows the crib is next. But each time it gets a

little easier and we've only been doing this about 2-3 weeks. Today

she barely even whined when I put her down for a nap. But an 11

month old really shouldn't have to nurse " all night " ...it's not

really a hunger thing at that point. Maybe once or twice, but beyond

that it's just comfort. If you're fine with it, then that's great.

But you sound like you'd rather get some solid sleep! Like Angel

said, at least part of the night in the crib will help. And you'll

probably find that it keeps getting longer and longer, until they're

going all night in the crib. I just reread what I wrote, and I don't

want you to think I'm some kind of hard-nosed you-know-

what...believe me--it's TOUGH for me!!! I'm a totally hands-on earth

momma! I believe in BF, 18-month pregnancies, the whole 9 yards. All

my kids spent their first few months sleeping ON my chest every

night (especially Ava with her little casts!). But there comes a

point when you have to make that separation and show them night time

is for sleeping. They absolutely can learn to go back to sleep on

their own in the night when they rouse, you just have to let them

figure it out. The easiest thing to do is nurse, for them and you,

but not if you want more sleep. Hope this helps!

, mommy of:

Guinevere, on, Ava 8/4/04 RCF DBB 16-18/7

> I'm having the exact same problem with Gabe. He's nearly 11 months

old now. He's always been a side-sleeper. He nurses practically all

night... I started trying to give him phase 2 baby food about 3

months ago, and while he enjoys what I can actually get him to eat,

I can't seem to get him to eat enough before bed time to keep him

from wanting to nurse all night... Oh, and to compound the problem,

about 6 teeth are coming in all at once! He already has 5 teeth

now.. I'm preparing myself to have one toothy child soon.. and he's

a biter. It's been really hard to stick with the breast feeding bit.

The problem with trying to move him to his own crib is he's such a

light sleeper! Most babies I've seen, when they're out... They're

out! Not Gabe, it seems that if I even move a muscle those first

hour after he's fallen asleep, he wakes up lips a-pucker:) It's

driving me nuts. I can't seem to get anything done because I have to

take naps with him and go to sleep when he does... 'Cause Lord

> help me if I don't, He's up all night!Anyway, my biggest concern

lately, not that I've seen any sign of it... Baby-bottle tooth

decay. Any thoughts on this and breast feeding at night????

>