When we first brought William home, it was swaddling with the shower running in the background that would help him finally fall asleep at night. He was prone to being overtired, which made it too hard for him to sleep. Most of the time Matt would put him down this way, he rarely seemed to sleep when I tried, yet for the past few weeks he’s let me nurse him to sleep.
It’s funny because he tends to fall asleep rather easily when in his car seat especially when we go for car rides.
He can and has happily napped long after we get home, but that’s not for a whole night of sleeping, just for a power nap so to speak.
When put down for bedtime, with very few exceptions, William wakes every night, at least once between when we put him down and when we wake up to start our days.
Since I knew my milk supply had taken a hit for quite a few days I wondered, was it in part as he was getting less milk. I began to wonder if these times were more for hunger than just a desire to be close and comfort nursing.
So I decided to try making a warm bottle of formula to give him to help him settle down. For two nights it worked in part, helping him settle down right away.
Yet, he still woke up for middle of the night feeds. Then for the next two nights, he went down just with nursing. I really don’t know what the answer is, but I’m glad I can still bond and nurse with him at night and for middle of the night feeds even though it does decrease my total amount of sleep per night.
~ Danielle
Over 40 First Time Mom 