# 4 month old wants to latch on all night



## Ilena12 (Oct 27, 2015)

My sm4 month old and I have been bed sharing pretty much since we brought him home from hospital. i would start him in his bassinet and when he was around 6 weeks old would go 5 hours, then another 2 hours until 2 am when I would bring him in bed with me. Fast forward to now. The longest he will go now is 2 or 3 hours in bed with me, although the last two night he has only gone 45 minutes. I have started to stop swaddling both arms as he was fighting is. Before I would only swaddle one arm. I know this is influencing his initial sleep stretch. Usually after his first waking now I'll just put him in bed with me and he will sleep from 3 hours to 4, then wake up and want to stay latched on my boob the rest of the night. If his latched he will squirm and cry until he is back on. I have read Pantley NCSS and wondered if anyone has had success with these techniques?

For nap times he will sleep in his swing from 90 minutes to 2 hours and second nap is usually 90 minutes with me in bed. His last nap is usually on the go as I have a 6 year old who does a lot of after school activities. I was originally trying to get him to nap in his bassinet but he would only sleep for 30 or 45 minutes and be massively grumpy until next nap.

Ideally I want to try to move him to his crib which we are going to put in our room with the side off and against our bed. But first we need to try to stop the all night nursing/ comfort feeding. Having lo sleep on my husband side is not an option as my husband is a heavy sleeper. I love bed sharing with LO but this constant waking is starting to really get to me. I know he won't do this forever but would like to start transitioning him from needing this constant nursing.

Sorry for long post but any advice/experience is much appreciated!
Thanks


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## Ilena12 (Oct 27, 2015)

Oh and he doesn't like pacifiers.


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## SecondtimeMama (Jun 15, 2015)

Well, 4 months is right on schedule for waking more at night. So anything you do that takes about a month, including having your dh take charge of him earlier in the evening so you can nap, will likely make it better.


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## Wendybird42 (Oct 20, 2017)

My DD is 4months 2 wks and wants to latch all night as well. I nurse her to sleep for about an hour at 7 than she's up after just 2 hrs and will only sleep if latched all night. Only 2 hrs a day without baby in arms is stressful for me. My house is messier, the meals are waa?ay more simple, and my sex life is non existent. But as far as sleeping, I just sleep with her latched in the football hold with a small pillow supporting my arm. Papa is a heavy sleeper as well so I keep her on the right side only. Than most of the day I nurse on the left leaving my right hand free to eat, read, and phone. It's working out for now but I've had to just accept a temporary messy home. Luckily we aren't crawling yet.


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## Wendybird42 (Oct 20, 2017)

Correction, I'm not doing the football hold. This is what my midwife called it but Google says otherwise. I am using this hold, except my back is flat and a small pillow is supporting my elbow.


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## StephanieHarmon (Oct 26, 2017)

may i ask, your nipples not sore? when i had my boy, he would suck so hard that it would get bruised. i think boys are more like that. he would just stop when already asleep. imagine my boobies hanging out all night since i cant wait for him to go to sleep before i do. lol.


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## Wendybird42 (Oct 20, 2017)

I have really resilient nipples, no cracking or bleeding even in the first week. Sometimes my baby gets this evil look in her face and gives me the most wicked titty twister you can imagine and I barely feel it! Although I haven't had a ring in for years my nipples are pierced. That may have something to do with it.


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## KarenLove (Nov 14, 2017)

I nurse my 7 mo old baby and had her in bed at night with me, but we started needing her to sleep in her crib. Mostly to keep me and my husbands sanity! It's been really tough,  we would give in every time. But then I found this app and have used it only 3 times, the progress is amazing. Each time we put her to bed it get's easier for her to fall asleep and stay asleep, it's WORKING LIKE A CHARM! The app is called "Sleep in You Own Bed, Baby" in the Google Store.  I just wish I new of this 3 months ago! Hopefully, this will help you out!


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## Wendybird42 (Oct 20, 2017)

Update:. I take every thing back that I said about having resilient nips. Night feeding has turned into night biting and it's terrible!! I don't know what to do Im going to make a new thread about it.


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## Klynn22 (Nov 14, 2017)

I read somewhere that when a baby wants to feed all night is probably cluster feeding. They just have the urge to fill up even when they are already full especially when going through a growth spurt. Its probably for a short while.


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