# Poll - Cosleeping Breastfed Babies



## Calm (Sep 17, 2004)

f you describe your situation as cosleeping and breastfeeding, you qualify for this poll.







If not, I still left a box for you to check should you protest to discrimination.









"Sleeps through" means whatever it means to you. 11pm to 5 am, or shorter, or longer.

There are two types of cosleeping for this poll, you have to pick which one you most closely fit.

One is *"body contact"*, this is cosleeping with your baby against the *MOTHER*, or near her on the bed.

The other is *"no contact"* and that is for side car beds, baby on DP's side/body but not mama's, or any other description of cosleeping that _isn't_ on *MAMA's* body or very near it.

Any extra info you might like to give, feel free, esp frequency of night feeds, or if your baby cluster feeds overnight.

I am seeing if there is a pattern to contact with mama and frequency of night feeds and how long it lasts.


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## PassionateWriter (Feb 27, 2008)

my babies always slept touching me. i cant imagine it any other way.









its not a poll though.


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## Calm (Sep 17, 2004)

They publish the post before the poll is made. Try it now.


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## frontierpsych (Jun 11, 2006)

I don't have kids yet. I just like polls.


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## Calm (Sep 17, 2004)

I am "does not sleep through, body contact, less than six months".

My DS stays attached from his 12/1am feed until dawn. So I guess that's one night feed







Sometimes he feeds only 3 or 4 times in that period, like last night.

I've got a feeling that body contact impacts sleeping through or not.


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## Nanethiel (May 21, 2008)

Body contact, 6 1/2 month old son - feeds about 2 to 3 times a night. Goes to bed between 7:30pm and 8:30pm. Gets up at 6am no matter what.









Edit: I made a mistake - I did 'sleeps through - under 6 month old - body contact' and it should be under 1 year.. sorry!


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## mommytomahmoud (Jan 8, 2007)

my son started sleeping through the night at 18 months old but still breastfed just doesnt wake up to nurse anymore and he has to touch and rub or touch rub my boobs when falling alseep and then wakes up in the middle of the night but he always goes right back to sleep soo i still count that as sleeping through the night


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## Mandynee22 (Nov 20, 2006)

Thanks for this poll. I'm glad I wasn't the only one with an "older than one, doesn't sleep through, body contact" vote LOL
Love the last answer though- I must say


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## limette (Feb 25, 2008)

I didn't vote because I have two kids who did/do things differently.

Both my kids co-sleep and have from birth. DD1 is 2.5 and slept right snuggled up to me and woke every 2-3 hours to nurse right up until she stopped nursing around 2 years.

DD2 is 2 months and sleeps the same (snuggled up to me) and generally sleeps 6 hours before having a quick 1 minute snack and going back to sleep for another 6 hours. Occasionally she'll nurse more often, sometimes she'll sleep for longer before waking. This really surprised me after the every 2 hour schedule from dd1.

I can also get dd2 to go to sleep without nursing her, which I could never get dd1 to do while she was nursing. After a year her dad started rocking her to sleep, but if I tried to, she'd want to nurse.


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## PassionateWriter (Feb 27, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Calm* 
They publish the post before the poll is made. Try it now.









got it

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mandynee22* 
Thanks for this poll. I'm glad I wasn't the only one with an "older than one, doesn't sleep through, body contact" vote LOL
Love the last answer though- I must say

right there w you


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## pookel (May 6, 2006)

Does not sleep through, body contact, less than 1 year. Although, technically, there's no body contact for the first 4-5 hours, because he goes to sleep way before I do. I put him in our bed, turn on the baby monitor, and nurse him back to sleep when he wakes up. Usually I stay in bed with him after the third nursing session of the night, and then he wakes up once or twice more. He is far from sleeping through the night, but it's not bad either; I think I get a 5-6 hour stretch in there at one point, most nights.


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## KindRedSpirit (Mar 8, 2002)

I'm a disqualified (currently) poller,BUT I have much experience in this!
I found I did not notice how little deep sleep dd2 was getting co-sleeping/nursing. She was tandeming both breast and bed with dd1(23 mo. older),and I would have said both slept thru the night nursing at random,before 6 mo. but not over 1 yr. as I never fully woke to either, but would notice when they unlatched,so I knew they were, and who was how much...good night,bad night,impending growth spurts etc...It was not until night weaning both that I realized dd2 slept MUCH better without the distraction of available nursing, and dd1 slept better with nursing contact.ds2, on the other hand slept better alone, and he weaned me of night nursing and co-sleeping at 18 mo!A shock to me for sure!ds1 I can't remember from the fog of sheer baby love bliss uninterupted until he went on strike and weaned







but co-slept with a bottle for a while longer...
I would add, all our co-sleeping babies were in contact, as we were all on a queen size bed w/ dh.


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## Sharlla (Jul 14, 2005)

Um yeah, DS2 nursed all night long until I weaned him at 2.


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## sunnmama (Jul 3, 2003)

Sleeps through, body contact, over one year.

He is 17 mo, and started sleeping through at just past a year. He will wake at 4 am to nurse and go back to sleep, but I consider that sleeping through (9-4). Maybe my standards are too low?


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## Calm (Sep 17, 2004)

No, sleeping through is whatever a mama feels it is, I reckon. Some people are happy their baby is sleeping through from midnight until dawn, so that counts too.

So far, not sleeping through with body contact is the outright lead. But it's only been up for a few hours so we'll see.


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## D_McG (Jun 12, 2006)

Since we nightweaned DS (2) is less likely to stick to me all night but he's still pretty cuddly. As a baby he nursed and clung to me all night long.


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## ollineeba (Apr 12, 2005)

dd is 4 months old. She sleeps right next to me, facing me. She nurses every 2-3 hrs or so.


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## Lizander (Jun 15, 2008)

we've got a pretty odd schedule due to our work hours, so she falls asleep around 9-11p, happily after breastfeeding if I'm home, not so happily w/Daddy rocking her if I'm not. Either way, sleeps on her own in bouncer till 1-2 am, when we go to sleep (work till midnite!) Then she usually nurses briefly & goes back to sleep. This is her soundest sleep, & sometimes (50%?) I'll put her in co-sleeper for this part, which usually goes till early morning nursing- around 7am. If its 7 or earlier, she'll go right back to sleep- this time in bed w/me. If its 8:30-9am, she may b up for day @ that point. Depending how late she was up the night b4, she even sleeps to 10 or 11 some days. She's been this way pretty much since birth. From what I hear, I'm pretty lucky!


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## justthinkn (Apr 11, 2008)

I defined sleeping through as only half waking to nurse a couple of times - so several good length chunks of sleep









I really think it's going to be different for every baby, though. It took months, but all the sudden DD just doesn't need to be attached to me (touching or latched on) anymore to sleep. I'm sure that happens at different times for different babes... When she does get a little restless, I think my being near enough to bump into is helpful for her, reassuring. I bet it would totally wake some other babies!


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## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

ds is 5 months on monday, and sleeps within arms distance of me on our bed, and on average, wakes to nurse every 1.5-2.5 hrs. *yawn*


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## aschmied (Apr 22, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Sharlla* 
Um yeah, DS2 nursed all night long until I weaned him at 2.

Us too, for DD. Now shes 3.5, and weaned, but still needs the body contact. The babe gets both, but he seems to like a bit of space.


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## LynnS6 (Mar 30, 2005)

Dd is 4, and she still needs the body contact and still doesn't sleep through the night.

At age 18 months, she moved from cosleeping all night to starting the night in her crib and coming into ours when she first woke (usually about 1-2 am). This pattern continued when she moved to a bed at age 2 1/2. She nursed every 2 hours through the night until I night weaned her at age 3. I just weaned her totally at age 4.

BUT she still wakes up between 12 and 2 am and comes and climbs in our bed. And then she INSISTS on body contact -- as in she'll put her head on my pillow, and pull my arm over her.


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## SheepNumber97245 (Apr 20, 2007)

My son sleeps in the bed with me, we're usually touching. He's either on my chest, or next to me with my arm around him. Though i move a lot when i sleep so we're not constantly touching.

He sleeps through the night for the most part, only to wake once or twice to nurse but he doesn't even open his eyes so i just clicked that he sleeps through the night.


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## KimPM (Nov 18, 2005)

Not sure if/how we qualify for this one anymore. Not sure how to answer the poll, but here's my answer. DS is now at 30 months and nightweaned at 27-28 months. He always has craved body contact during sleep, even when he was in the sidecar (first 6 months) it seems he wanted to be next to me.


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## mammal_mama (Aug 27, 2006)

I checked the _sleeps through - body contact - older than 1 year_ option.

My girls sleep on either side of me ... well, except that lately, my 3yo has sometimes been coming to sleep next to my 8yo, which Big Sis encourages because she loves snuggling next to Baby Sis. So, when that happens, I'm technically only next to my 3yo, but am still very near my 8yo (and she's between Baby Sis and Daddy ... well, sometime Big Pup inserts himself between Big Sis and Daddy







).

Both girls came into the world sleeping for their longest chunks at night. At first, they'd nurse down at around 9pm, with the whole family falling asleep around them. After about 5 hours, I'd wake, and soon after that they'd start stirring and rooting for the breast. So I'd pop it in, and they'd nurse back down for a few more hours of lighter sleep, interspersed with some nursing. I think of it as sleeping through, since they usually didn't fully wake up to nurse.

Over time, each would go through phases of more frequent night-nursing, interspersed with phases of less frequent night-nursing. Now both girls usually sleep solidly for approximately 10 hours, but occasionally my 3yo will nurse in the middle of the night.


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## Llyra (Jan 16, 2005)

I'm not cosleeping right now. But neither of my breastfed, cosleeping babies slept through until they started sleeping in another room. They both slept part of the night in contact and part not in contact, since I moved back and forth between them all night.

My DD1 coslept, in body contact, and slept through very early-- by two months old, or maybe earlier I can't remember. But she was only partially and intermittently breastfed, so she doesn't fit your poll.

So I picked the last option.


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## violafemme (Oct 18, 2004)

body contact under 1 does not sleep through the night

ds still wakes about every 1 to 2 hours and then nurses back to sleep. we've had lots of food issues so i think that's why he still nurses so often.


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## DreamsInDigital (Sep 18, 2003)

My DD is 16 months. She sleeps either next to me or between me and DH. She is *always* touching one or both of us and we like it that way. She does not sleep through the night.


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## dex_millie (Oct 19, 2006)

Not sure how to vote when it came to body contact. We start off no body contact as he goes sleep before me and then I go to bed w/ no body contact. Then when he wakes up there is body contact as a fall asleep nursing him. Sometimes I wake up and he is close by other times no body contact.


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## Mama Poot (Jun 12, 2006)

Fleur is just 10 days old, only wakes 2-3 times between 12am and 6am but obviously doesn't sleep through the night. She spends most of the night right next to me in bed. I put her next to us in her co-sleeper when we first go to bed, then bring her next to me when she wakes up. It hasn't seemed to have any effect on her nursing habits (I was actually hoping it would increase her night feedings but it hasn't)


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## baileyandmikey (Jan 4, 2005)

no longer nursing mine, but both of my dc slept attached to me, really nursed most of the night, i barely ever woke up... until they were at least two and a half.


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## ledzepplon (Jun 28, 2004)

Both my kids woke up at night despite contact until we nightweaned around age 2.


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## pianojazzgirl (Apr 6, 2006)

I'm not sure whether to vote for "contact" or "no contact". Ds sleeps next to me in the bed (not in a side-carred crib, on the other side of dh or anything like that), but we are not all snuggled up all night. We often don't touch or just his feet or something might end up against me.

He is less than 1 yr old and does not STTN, BTW.


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## spmamma (Sep 2, 2007)

DD just turned 1 on Friday. She still wakes up two or three times after I get in bed for the night (and once or twice before). She sleeps between DH and I.


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## calpurnia (Sep 26, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by **Erin** 
ds is 5 months on monday, and sleeps within arms distance of me on our bed, and on average, wakes to nurse every 1.5-2.5 hrs. *yawn*

nak

this is me, except she's only 11 days old


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## treemom2 (Oct 1, 2003)

There isn't an other option and since I have two children who are very different in their sleeping/bfing habits I couldn't just pick a response. We have co-slept with both our children. DD was sleeping through the night at less than 6 months (she never really nursed during the night. . .even from birth). DS started sleeping through the night around 2 years old (he nursed about every 2-3 hours until that time, as an infant it was every 1.5-2 hours until over a year). Both children slept between DH and me, although not really touching me except for a hand or foot (I'm not a big cuddler).


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## TinyMama (Sep 4, 2007)

Over 1 yr--no contact--does not sleep through

DD hates touching us while she's sleeping. We wait for her to be in a really deep sleep to cuddle her.









She has slept through the night once. She is 13 1/2 mo.


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## birthmommom (Apr 25, 2004)

well I voted does not sleep through, not body contact b/c sometimes I have to put a pillow between us.

ds sometimes will sleep up next to me or dh at naps but at night it seems to wak him more.


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## Eman'smom (Mar 19, 2002)

I voted for my current wee one, sleeps through/no contact/less than 6 months old.

DD is 12 weeks sleeps her first stretch of 6-7 hours in a bassinet next to the bed then comes to bed and nurses twice during the next 4-5 hours.

Given how my other two slept we think this is just amazing.


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## thomlynn (Apr 20, 2006)

oh my I'm in the majority, she's not crazy.

I voted for my oldest, who is almost two (next Friday) and still wakes at least once, but usually more, during the night.

the baby doesn't sleep through, touches me and is less than six months (seven weeks). Just in case you were interested.


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## GoBecGo (May 14, 2008)

I couldn't answer. When i was still feeding it would have been body contact, under six months. Here's the thing though, *I* was sleeping through, but judging by the love bites where she'd gone for the nipple and missed and the sodden nappies, she wasn't sleeping through....


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## Ruthla (Jun 2, 2004)

My kids have all done different things at different times.

Both DDs slept in my bed before 6mo and didn't sleep through the night until age 3 or so. But with 2 people (me and baby) on a queen sized bed, she wasn't always touching me all night- sometimes we had our own sides of the bed and slept "not touching" most of the time.

DS was in my bed part of the time and in a crib a few feet away from my bed part of the time. He slept through the night at about 5-6 weeks old, then stopped at 7 weeks when I returned to work. At that point, I'd nurse him to sleep while I sat in a chair, then put him down in the crib. When he woke at night, I'd take him to bed with me.

His father and I split up when DS was about a year old; at that point I stopped using the crib (as there were no longer any "crowding" issues in the big bed.) He coslept until about 4.5 years old, a few months after he weaned. He woke once or twice at night for most of his toddler/preschool years.


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## notwonamesalike (Nov 13, 2007)

Hey..whaddya know...my kid isn't weird after all.

In fact...he seems to be perfectly normal.

I keep telling my extended family this, but they seem to think he should have been in his own crib, sleeping from 8pm to 8am from day 2. Oh well.


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## josh&davesmomme (Feb 24, 2006)

i voted for my youngest- he's 4 weeks old and ofcourse doesn't sleep through the night yet- most nights he still sleeps in my arms or on my chest...
I'm also nursing and cosleeping with our 2 yo he often sleeps through the night but not always- he's often touching someone, but I'm starting to notice he sleeps better when he has more room to move without bumping into someone.


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## steedj (Jan 11, 2008)

i voted, contact, does not, under 6 mos, but i have to add a caviat---she just cut her 1st 2 teeth Friday (4.5 mos). she's had a screwed up sched. since she started teething 2 mos ago & she's quickly sleeping better again.


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## Jannah6 (Aug 29, 2007)

DS is 9 months, sleeps close to me and wakes 2-4 times to nurse. He used to wake about 2 times, but now that I'm pregnant it's more often


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## lyttlewon (Mar 7, 2006)

Neither of my kids wake up they dream feed. They stir, I nurse, we sleep. I don't sleep through the night but I would say that they do. I didn't vote because I wasn't sure what you considered "sleeping".


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## Carlyn (Jun 11, 2007)

My current nursling (16 months) sleeps right beside me, usually touching the whole night. She nurses several times, but doesn't really wake up. Every so often I roll her over to the other side. If she's in the middle of the bed she'll sometimes go cuddle DH for a while before heading back my way. I don't know for sure, but I don't think she often goes more than 3 hours between snacks. I sleep great, though, since it's dark and we're cosy. (I voted doesn't sleep through, body contact, over 1)


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## GMum (Apr 25, 2008)

We are 'less than 1 yo, sleeps through, body contact'

DD ;oves to sleep with most of her body touching me







and a hand touching DH







and usually sleeps right through.


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## mamadelbosque (Feb 6, 2007)

My DS' 15 months and generally doesnt STTN but occasionally does.. I chose does not over one yr, body contact. He USED to STTN most nights... but somethin happend a month or so ago and that all went out the window


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## crunchymamatobe (Jul 8, 2004)

I didn't get a chance to reply when I voted in the poll yesterday... I voted sleeps through - no body contact - older than 1 year.

My son sleeps the bulk of the night without waking and without touching me. Asleep around 7:30, wakes somewhere between 3 and 5, nurses, then falls alseep cuddled up next to me, usually till about 6:30 or 7. He's 19 months.


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## mommy2abigail (Aug 20, 2005)

I define sttn as a 6 hour, uninterrupted stretch. Since I can't sleep through nursing, I am fully awakened every time a kid needs to nurse.

DD1 slept through the night after I night-weaned her at 20 months.

DD2 has not slept through yet, she is only 4 months. However, we are working on a 5 hour stretch, just trying to get her back to sleep without nursing, in the hopes that she will eventually sleep 5 hours at a time...


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## Romana (Mar 3, 2006)

I work so my baby reverse cycles and at 3 mos is waking every 2-3 hrs to nurse. Finally, FINALLY he'll let me remain lying down for at least 1 or 2 of those feedings. For a long time he refused to nurse lying down, but he's getting the hang of it now.

Mama don't get much sleep. :yawning:


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## mariel0419 (Apr 13, 2007)

Yay - I see we're in the majority for now!

We're nowhere near sleeping through the night at almost 20 months, with very deliberate body contact







. For the past 2 or 3 months, when DS unlatches (or if I unlatch him) at night, he will turn away from me and back into me and put one leg on top of me to make sure I can't get away! It is cute, but I do wonder if maybe all the body contact contributes to the multiple wakings/nursings.


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## GardenStream (Aug 21, 2007)

DS is 2 months old and sleeps next to me. He gets fed when he wakes up vs. always having the boob readily available. We go to bed at 11 and he wakes to feed somewhere between 3 and 6. I would guess he only wakes up once about 70% of the time.


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## earthmama369 (Jul 29, 2005)

My oldest nightweaned at 16 months and has slept through the night since then, barring the rare illness or teething. She prefers full contact when sleeping and I've woken up with a toddler across my face more than once. (She's 3.5 now.)

My youngest just nightweaned a couple months ago and sleeps through the night under the same circumstances as above. (He's currently cutting a molar AND getting over a bug, so sleep is nonexistent at this point.) He sleeps next to me but prefers a few inches of space most of the time.

Both nightweaned without losing contact with me, i.e., they didn't start sleeping in a different position or location when they nightweaned. My eldest nightweaned on her own; I encouraged my youngest because of health issues (mine) and a recently developed bad habit of waking up to nurse 12+ times a night (his).


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