Sleeping Babies

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I'm lucky. Elliot is a super easy baby. He sleeps, he eats, he smiles (a lot!) and generally has the sunniest disposition I have ever seen in a baby. He's been sleeping through the night since he was 7 weeks old, and wakes up in the morning with a big smile on his face, always happy to coo and play with his feet until I'm ready to get out of bed. I am very lucky.

But with that luck comes guilt. Whenever someone asks how he's sleeping I actually feel bad about answering honestly. Especially when the person I'm talking to is a sleep deprived new mum. So today I want to share a post that I originally wrote back when Lincoln was around 7 months old.

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Lincoln is now 7 months old and still waking to feed 3 times a night. Nine times out of ten the reaction I get when I tell people this is shock and horror.

But is it really that uncommon for babies to still wake in the night at 7 months?

I've been given lots of advice, everyone from my real life and online friends (who's advice is always appreciated), to my hairdresser, beautician, shop assistants, the ladies at the post office, childless men (always my fave...) and complete strangers.

Most of the advice we've happily ignored - like starting solids early (this has been suggested to me by at least a dozen people starting when he was only 4 weeks old), supplementing his night feeds with formula (I have no problems with formula, Max drank it from 5 months but a lack of milk is not the problem), even adding a few drops of rum to a bottle for him, or ignoring him outright when he cries during the night.

Some of it we've tried - waking him up to feed at 10pm before I go to bed, giving him solids at 6 months, moving him into his own room (which we did a couple of days ago) and picking him up when he cries, hugging him and then putting him back down.

It doesn't matter what we do he still wakes up in the night and wants to be fed.

The thing is, I'm totally ok with it. Sure I complain sometimes, especially after a night where he's decided to feed five times, but generally I don't mind.

I love breastfeeding Lincoln and those night feeds are so special to me. It's just me and him. During those feeds I am the only thing in the entire world that matters to him. And there is something so amazingly wonderful about that.

So next time someone asks me if he's sleeping through yet, I'm not going to let them offer me any more advice. I'll let them know that he doesn't sleep through the night, but that I don't mind at all. I'm sure he'll do it when he's ready.

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My reason for sharing this is that I want to point out to those mum's with newborns that it's ok. Whether your baby is sleeping through now, or still waking regularly (and even if he continues to do so until he's 14 months old like Lincoln did), you will be ok. We humans (and especially us Mums!!) have the amazing ability to cope with whatever comes our way. So relax, enjoy the little moments and know that you can handle anything your baby throws at you.

This post is part of a Nuffnang native advertising series.

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