I’d posted:
earlier and now I’d like to share how I coped with breastfeeding and getting enough sleep at night. This is especially in the first few months and also when you return to work!
In the first month, I had to get used to caring for a baby, especially one who fed every 2 hours! Because breast milk is 100% digested, baby can’t stay full for long. I counted myself lucky as I met some Mums with babies feeding every hour online!
The best advice: sleep when baby sleeps. This ensures that you have the energy to cope when he wakes up…crying or screaming, in my case 
Be in the best position: See the happy picture above? That’s the down lying position and it’s a well-known secret to getting enough sleep (and keeping off your stitches or Caesarean wound):
1. Lie on your side with your head resting on your hand or propped against two plump pillows.
2. Lay baby (swaddled snugly in a plain, cloth nappy) facing you in a tummy-vs-tummy position. I put the baby’s head on a small, flat, cotton pillow to help him face my breast directly. A pillow behind him isn’t necessary as he’ll turn his head naturally towards the nipple.
3. Once he has the nipple in his mouth, relax and enjoy bonding with baby!
The bond begins here: Breastfeeding encourages bonding between mother and baby through the close proximity of their bodies. Babies are calm when they smell their mothers (their eyes can’t see clearly in the early months but they can sure smell you!).
Each time you enter the room baby is in, if he’s awake, you’ll see his eyes perk up and his little tongue will make a cute pushing motion. That’s because he smells you and knows that his milk “bottle” is nearby LOL.
In this position, I can look directly at the baby when he’s nursing – he would just stare at me as he sucked-sucked-sucked like a hungry wolf. As he got older, he’d put both hands on my boob just like the baby in the earlier post’s photo. At around 4 months or so, he’d play with my fingers.
Bonding is the best part of breastfeeding because I love those moments with the baby. Hubby got to enjoy bonding with the baby when he accepted the bottle at 3.5 months.
Bedtime for baby, bedtime for me: Babies on 100% breast milk WILL get up as they do during the day. The longest they can stay full is 4 hours and this only happens around the 4th month.
I’d started putting him to sleep in his cot but I got tired having to get out of bed, lift him out, breastfeed, change sides, put him back in the cot and then soothe him back to sleep!
Imagine doing that at 11 pm, 3 am and then 7 am…when was I going to sleep?
I decided to put him next to me and then, I enjoyed 5-6 hours of real rest. I slept at 12 am thus, when he woke up at 3 am, I only needed to pop out the boob, pop it in and then close my eyes.
When I woke up a few hours later, he’d fallen asleep and let go of the nipple on his own. Through co-sleeping, he also rarely woke up at night, and if he does, he goes back to sleep faster than on his own in the cot.
Hubby has been incredible about co-sleeping. Initially, he slept curled up in the space at the bottom of the bed. He wasn’t very comfortable but he insisted on sleeping with both his ‘babies’
Later, we adjusted our beds and either had a double mattress on the floor next to the divan (on which he slept) or a single mattress next to the double bed. The baby was in the middle as the natural family planner LOL
By the way, don’t expect to get 8 hours of sleep once you’re a Mother, ok! THAT ‘miracle’ only happens after a year…
*NOTE: Some Mums may be worried about smothering their babies when they fall asleep. I believe this only happens if you’re drunk, on medication or extremely exhausted from lack of a few days’ sleep. Co-sleeping helps you get enough rest to avoid this exhaustion.
Dads, on the other hand, are not advised to sleep next to babies because they seem to lack that ‘maternal instinct’ to prevent them from rolling onto babies. They are exhausted too in the first year!
Coming soon- Going back to work: Bottle feeding & pumping
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
interesting topic…I also support breastfeeding…
hey..thanks for dropping by..
just wanted to put in my 2sen la…
while i did do the b/feeding side by side..i couldn’t continue. too hard to sleep on my side! I got senget after a while.. HA HA HA!!!
plus, i prefer my own bed la… the baby (after awhile…took up about 80% of the bed…and this was a single bed!!!!!)WAKAKAKAKAKA!
Just a word to expecting mom’s out there. Don’t leat c-sect births discourage you from breastfeeding. My 1st was a c-sect and I breastfed her less than an hr after her birth almost 4 yrs ago and I am still doing it till now!
I’m all for co-sleeping. It really helps during breastfeeding. When baby cries for milk, I just prop my pillows up, put baby to the breast and fall right back to sleep. Haha. No need to get up to make milk and wash bottles. Lol!
Chanel – Great! Sigh, wish I was pregnant too and can relive those bonding moments with baby…they grow up so fast
Mott – Single bed??? I would have rolled off the bed already just to make space for my boy! Co-sleeping needs a double bed or the cot next to the bed.
Anonymous – Thanks for the encouraging comment. Yeah, Mums who have C-sects feel it’s harder for them but the lying down position helps a lot! I have friends who’ve breastfed successfully too.
Mumsgather – I hear you, esp about the milk and bottles! That’s why I miss breastfeeding because I’ve got to wash bottles 3-4 times a day now…
*sniff sniff*..you know, I didn’t do ALL OF THESE!! Why? I don’t know. Just didn’t. So many reasons, end up sounding like excuses so I stopped listing them down. Seems like you had a plan and a good one too. So, next round, I face any prob, me come to you kay!!
Blur Mama – Sorry I didn’t reply to your comment earlier. It’s not your fault as there is still a lack of awareness on breastfeeding in Malaysia. No worries…you can try again for your next baby ya? I’ll be delighted to help
In sarawak there is no feeding room in shopping malls. You’d have to feed them either publicly or in your car. Yes kittycat i agree with you there is a lack of awareness on breastfeeding in malaysia.
JC – Not even at the Spring and that other glitzy one in Kuching? We were swept off our feet with the modern facilities when we visited them last CNY. But I know how you feel IF you had to bring baby out in public.
About breastfeeding in Malaysia…we’re slowly getting there. With Mums sharing and encouraging each other, I’m sure breastfeeding will be more popular
that’s exactly what i’m doing now. I put my arms around baby even when not feeding, protecting him from my husband rolling over.
Leona – If your husband is the “sleep like a log” type (like mine!) best to move him to your side so it’s baby | you | Hubby.
I once woke up to my poor baby’s little right hand pinned down by snoring Hubby! After a smack and a scolding, he decided to sleep with arms folded.
Now, Hubby and he are bed buddies with the little guy taking up most of the space LOL
I fully agree with the tiring part on soothing baby back to sleep in cot after a feed. We finally co-sleep after 4 months and all 3 of us get more rest this way.
My 9-month old wraps me up like his private bolster!
“I only needed to pop out the boob, pop it in and then close my eyes. When I woke up a few hours later, he’d fallen asleep and let go of the nipple on his own….”
Hi I thought we have to burp the baby after every feeding? Sorry for asking such a silly question. From a 1st time mommy which EDD on Mar 2012.
Mummy to Baby V – Sorry I missed out this comment
Ya, I’m all for co-sleeping although it has it has its setbacks.
Josephine – Hi! Yes, we have to burp baby each time after feeding and this is especially important in the first 2 months because my baby boy would cry and cry and cry until that burp came out.
When he was about 3 months old, I was back to work full-time and found that:
a) co-sleeping and
b) the side lying position
help me with direct breastfeeding and getting a good night’s sleep.
I was so tired that I’d do like I mentioned above and he was a happy baby
No worries, ok, you’ll experience all this later when you’re a Mom 