Okay, Riley slept through the night AGAIN last night! I might be able to harbour hope here, people! He slept from 10 til 7. Yay! I didn't expect this at all; Ayden didn't sleep through the night til he was 4 1/2, and breastfed babies often don't sleep through until they stop nursing or are intentionally night weaned. I don't make it a parenting goal on purpose, in order not to frustrate myself. But hallelujah, I will take it if it happens on its own! Three nights (interrupted) is getting closer to a pattern....
Brent's grandmas always ask me if he's sleeping through the night, which I find interesting. I guess it was an important goal back when they had babies? One grandma always offers the same advice; "When I had my babies, I put pablum in their bottles to get them to sleep longer at night. You put pablum in his bottle, and you won't have any more problems!" First of all, I don't find it appropriate or important to force my baby to sleep through the night, second of all my baby doesn't have bottles because I'm nursing him [I'd like to see you try and put pablum in my boobs], and third of all pablum in bottles is a choking hazard. But thanks for the sage advice!! I'm sure it worked well for them in their era.
Though I often feel bad for them in retrospect because both of the grandmas who inquire about this were pretty hard up for cash when they were having [7 and 8 each] their babies--think of the money they would have saved by breastfeeding! One family were missionaries and the other were loggers, both poor as stink. And one grandma had 3 babies in two years--breastfeeding would likely have spaced them out more for her, since it delays the return of ovulation in most women (not I, of course. my body LOVES to make babies....I only got 6 weeks off after the birth of Ayden and 9 weeks off after Riley, despite round the clock breastfeeding). Things were different back then! But I think it is sad that a marketing campaign by formula companies, backed up by doctors who didn't know better and recommended formula as healthier than breastmilk because of the added vitamins in it, destroyed the art of breastfeeding in several generations of North American women.
Anyways, here's hoping Riley's sleeping trend continues!
1 comment:
I'm always grateful for the nights they sleep through, but I don't usually expect it to continue. I always figure it's a growth spurt, or we wore them out more. :-)
Yes, what is it with people asking "are they sleeping...?" I usually say they're sleeping fine. I mean, as long as they aren't awake for long periods and just wake up to nurse, they're sleeping through, right?
Oh, and I skipped right over your last post. Ugh. I can't remember right now the one that I had remembered. (What a sentence!) Something had triggered my remembering it that one time.
Wow, do I make any sense this morning?
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