Nighttime nursing - 12 months

DS has always been a crappy sleeper. He was finally doing well and then he got high fever and then an ear infection. Needless to say to soothe him, I'd nurse him when he woke up in the middle of the night. Biggest mistake ever! After he got better, he'd still wake up occasionally and I'd nurse him since he'd be back to sleep in 5 mins or less. Now any time I send DH in to care for him in the middle of the night, he will cry nonstop. If I go in there and won't nurse him, I get the same reaction.

Tonight, DS woke up at 10:20 and DH went in there and was able to soothe him back to sleep. 10 minutes later and he's up again and will not settle for DH. I try to soothe him without nursing and he won't calm down even a little bit. At this point, I'm letting him cio for a bit to see if he can self soothe.

Any advice? I really do not want to continue nursing him at night as I think it is more out of habit than need at this point.

Nighttime nursing - 12 months

I think (from my limited experience) CIO might be your best option for now, to see how it goes. How long ago was his ear infection? If he was doing well before it, you might only need a few nights to get him back into the swing of things.

Nighttime nursing - 12 months

We had this issue with DD. She was an awful sleeper (and still at 2.5 is awful at going to bed and napping). What we found worked for us was I stopped going into her room completely. DH would go in, not say a word, lay her back down (because generally she would be standing in her crib), and then he'd leave. If she didn't calm in like 5 min, he'd go in and do it again. It was our version of cry it out and after a night or two, she'd stop waking. Until the next time she got sick....good luck!!

Nighttime nursing - 12 months

Thanks! He stopped crying a few mins after I posted this. I heard him again around 4:30 but that was for only a couple of minutes. Let's see how night 2 goes...

Nighttime nursing - 12 months

It's so hard when they get sick!!! It affects them for so long after. Hope he's feeling better!!!

Re: Nighttime nursing - 12 months

cio is the only thing that has worked with dd2. she was the same looking to nurse to sleep.