I feed the night away

Our six month old baby is sleeping with us. Usually she woke up one or two times a night to get a breast. With this, I could accept, but now she wants to suckle the breast the night away. I feel like a living pacifier. I have no more strength.

You are right. Your baby uses you as a dummy, that is, as a means to calm down. But a living dummy can get tired, and it is necessary that your child understand that at night there are other means of calm, and not just the breast. First of all, let's look at this with the eyes of your child, to understand why he does so. For six months your child had a familiar, hilarious picture: when he was ill, he was reassured. When he experiences hunger, thirst, suffers from loneliness, worries when his teeth are chopped - a pain-relieving remedy is called "chest."You reflectively give the baby a breast in a matter of seconds after his awakening. Perhaps your child needs a few minutes to fall asleep again without breast.

First, you feed your daughter more during the day. At the age of six to nine months, children are often so addicted to the game that they forget to eat. But at night the famine overwhelms, and to have dinner the night away is so convenient and pleasant. During the day at least every three hours, take her to a quiet, devoid of particularly interesting things room, and get to work - feed. Two or three times a day, offer solid food. The child needs help to understand that the day is for games and food, but the night is for sleeping.

Then it is time for the child to understand that at night there is not only breastfeeding - and the breast at night sleeps. When a child wakes up, instead of reflectively giving him a breast, lull him without applying a breast. Use sedative techniques that produce results almost without noise and awakening:

• Put your hand on the child and pat them on the back rhythmically.

• Take the baby in your arms and shake a little.

• Let him touch your chest.

• Try to sing a lullaby, accompanying it with the above methods.

One of the ways to ensure our survival, when from time to time there were periods of frequent awakenings - is the use as a nanny father. Marta temporarily disconnected from the night calls, and I myself took our child in my arms, shook it or even walked with him on the bedroom, holding it in a position "pressed to my chest."A few nights later the child returns to his normal regime - one or two awakenings.