Welcome to the Tenth Carnival of Breastfeeding!
This month we bring you posts on the topic of that elusive quantity: sleep. Be sure to check out the other posts at the bottom of this post.
When people ask me about sleep, I usually look for a quick exit. I don't know much about sleep except the following: You can find a book that will tell you whatever you want to believe about babies and sleep.
Since my husband and I lean heavily toward the attachment parenting end of the spectrum, we read Dr. Sears and Elizabeth Pantley. We followed Dr. Weisbluth's Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child for a while, and while it helped, nothing really worked until our son was about a year old.
Of course it was terrible, but to us the sleep deprivation was better than a screaming, distraught baby. The lesson I learned then, and have since forgotten and learned again with issues like weaning and potty training, is that when a child is ready it's easy. All it takes is a little push in the right direction. When they aren't, it's a battle.
Here is another thing I know about sleep: mastering the side-lying position can make nightime feedings much more manageable. Not having to sit up for feedings at night means that you get to sleep more easily. It's also great for a daytime feeding and snooze.
But for most mothers this position is the hardest to get right. You roll around. You're worried about crushing the baby, and you can't get a good latch. So here are some of my favorite resources for learning the side lying position:, as well as a few other sleep resources:
- Video on how to get settled in this position, from breastfeeding.com.
- A step by step guide to this position from Ameda.
- A study suggesting that early use of lying down positions results in babies showing more natural reflexes.
- A page on kellymom.com on the myth that nursing lying down causes ear infections.
- And here's a page on kellymom.com on night weaning.
- My review of Sleeping with Your Baby.
Be sure to check out these posts from other bloggers (updated throughout the day):
- Mama's Magic tells us why the song "So Tired" brought her to tears.
- Hathor the Cowgoddess shares a comic on sleep in her household.
- Breastfeeding Mums tells us about her sleepless nights.
- Leche, Baby! wonders when her son will night wean.
- Veggie Way writes about co-sleeping and learning to let her baby sleep where she wants.
- Breastfeeding 1-2-3 contributes "why sleep training makes me cry."
- Crunchy Domestic Goddess writes about co-sleeping for sanity.
- Life with Twins writes about how sleep training saved her breastfeeding relationship with her twins.
- The Lactivist contributes "to sleep, perhance to dream."
- Mama Knows Breast stays awake long enough to write about "breastfeeding and sleep."
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