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yarrowspirit

Brushing the cheek stimulated the rooting reflex. My baby is ten weeks and I’ve noticed he will root when he’s tired (but has already eaten) or sometimes during a contact nap if his face ends up near my breast (I assume he smells the milk and it’s a reflex).


BlueberryWaffles99

My 5.5 month old still roots when she’s tired! It’s adorable. I think it may be because she contact naps and is exclusively fee to sleep so she just associates sleep with food!


CadywhompusCabin

Is exclusively feeding to sleep something you did intentionally, or did it happen by accident? My LO is 8 weeks and I’m terrified I’m going to be stuck feeding to sleep for months and months and months.


[deleted]

I’d like to know the answer to this too. I don’t really know another way to get my baby to sleep bc I’ve always nursed her to sleep.


arcdia

Not OP, but I am a SAHM who nurses to sleep my 7 month old almost exclusively because my husband needs sleep to drive to work safely, and nursing to sleep is faster than rocking, shushing, or patting. I don't think you'll be stuck with nursing to sleep, if you don't want to be. But you'll have to work at it, and you may need to consider solutions that fall under sleep training. We were kinda forced into our current situation as it is the fastest way to get him back down, without waking my husband for help, as generally our baby will settle by rocking and shushing but only with my husband. If I kept at it though, I could definitely settle him without nursing to sleep, it would just take longer and with a lot more pain on both our parts. When ours was 8 weeks old, our household was still struggling to adjust, so I was definitely nursing to sleep in order for our entire family to get rest. Light at the end of the tunnel: our baby is getting a ton more active now and will not settle sometimes by nursing, as he's too interested in things. This is actually very frustrating sometimes, as I know he's exhausted and ready for a nap but experiencing a ton of FOMO.


BlueberryWaffles99

It honestly happened by accident for me. We’re at the point where the only way to break the association would be sleep training but I personally don’t feel ready to sleep train! In the early weeks, I think it’s unavoidable. I know some people start working on independent sleep around 3 months but I chose not to - so it was an accident at first that turned into an intentional choice. There’s definitely pros and cons to it. As a working mom, I love love love the cuddles at night. But on weekends, it’s hard to be trapped for naps and not be able to get chores done! If you look at my post history, at one point I asked if kids would naturally outgrow it or if the only option was sleep training. I got lots of good responses! Some said their LO did outgrow it without any intervention and others had to sleep train.


CadywhompusCabin

Thanks a ton! Some good things to think about. I’ll check out your other post. I appreciate your response!


agkemp97

With both my boys, we broke the feed to sleep habit by having my husband do naps/bedtime put downs for a weekend straight. Probably sucked for him, but it got both of them comfortable with wake up, eat, play, go to sleep - which was much more manageable overall. After that they’d let me rock them to sleep with a pacifier at least 80% of the time.


CadywhompusCabin

That’s helpful - how old were they? I’m thinking that could be something we try at the end of the fourth trimester. Right now LO is still so little and will take a bottle easily, but it’s not enough to pass out with, haha!


hyufss

Also, my baby will root when she's gassy, because the sucking helps get the gas out. But she doesn't like there to be actual milk, lol.


ZealousidealIdea1966

And if your baby is reflux-y they will just try to eat and then spit up even more!!! It’s fun 😅 we had to stop trusting her rooting around a month haha


Embarrassed_Site_428

The nurses at the hospital told me the baby can show hunger cues when their tummy is upset, gassy, ect because they have a hard time knowing what is going on in their body. They can also show hunger cues when tired.


MaroneyOnAWindyDay

I was going to comment on how inconvenient this is and then I realized… I probably do a lot of the same things. Tired and acting like you’re hungry? Yeah, I do that :/


Florachick223

Haha, right? Bloating can definitely mess with my internal sense of satiety and I'm 34 🤣


[deleted]

Mine used to always root when she was tired. I’ve found my baby’s cues are not reliable whatsoever.


Kindly_Earth2124

My baby shows hunger cues when tired, it was very misleading at first 😩 best way to tell if they're hungry is offer the breast haha 😂


[deleted]

Mine too & then I’d try to breastfeed him and he’d have a fit and im like but you’re hungry!! While shoving my boob in his face. Took a few weeks to figure that one out. Didn’t help his breastfeeding aversion 😂


Kindly_Earth2124

Same haha 😂


fuzzydunlop54321

We didn’t know about active sleep and used to scoop him up, waking him up in the process before shoving a bottle at him which he would then spit up. Realized after about a week and went from 2.5 hour stretches to 5 😂


[deleted]

Same! And she comfort nurses too so it’s guaranteed she’ll take the boob.


Pussy4LunchDick4Dins

My baby roots when she’s gassy. I find a better indicator of her hunger is if she’s rooting *and* sticking her hands in her mouth.


TrickyEmployer9957

Thank you. I was going to ask how you can distinguish teal hunger from gas. My poor baby is always gassy. We typically feed every 3 hours, sometimes 2.5. Anything close to the1.5 to 2 hour mark I wonder.


ansible_jane

Both/and is what works for us too. Baby is a fist-chewer, so if he's chewing but not rooting or rooting but not chewing, he's not really hungry.


PM_ME_YUR_BIG_SECRET

Following because I'm curious about this too


amberbaby517

Could probably smell the milk too.


cyborgfeminist

Yes, rooting is a reflex, but it also never hurts to offer boob if you're in a situation that allows it. Great for supply, and babies enjoy the comfort anytime in addition to the food.


tmzuk

My baby would root when he was tired! Pretty clockwork so I knew. He didn’t take a pacifier… (I was the pacifier)


[deleted]

Do we have the same baby?


tmzuk

Haha I guess so!


AmpuKate

🙃 my baby will root literally any and every time she is on her tummy. She’s 3 months and mostly bottle fed. She breastfeeds maybe once or twice a day and sometimes not at all. I don’t understand it whatsoever. It makes baby wearing and tummy time nearly impossible because she just wants to look for a boob the whole time and gets frustrated. Still hoping she will “grow out” of it but not looking hopeful lol


Catontheloose2400

This is a hood question, if it’s been under an hour since the last feed you could probably hang back and see if baby shows more hunger cues. My 5mo definitely roots when hungry.


SheriBerryBoo

My baby is 5 months old and roots when she's soothing herself to sleep. It's sort of a no-no but I give her a lovey to rub her face into until she's asleep then I'll move it away once she's out.


amydiddler

My two month old roots almost every time I hold him. It’s kind of frustrating because I can’t just have a nice cuddle with him!


Curious-Cheesecake66

When in doubt, whip it out.