The Tenth Carnival of Breastfeeding: Sleep

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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