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Bedtime or Breast Time
Falling Asleep While Nursing
By Lyn Mettler
However, Sheila Kitzinger, author of "Breastfeeding Your Baby," feels that falling asleep at the breast is natural and should not be discouraged. "All over the world, in countries like Africa and India, where breastfeeding is more successful than in Western cultures, babies fall asleep at the breast when they're satisfied," she says. "When a baby's head gets heavy and she drops off the nipple with a dazed expression on her face, a mother knows she has had enough. Otherwise you cannot be sure."
The only disadvantage Kitzinger finds to allowing babies to fall asleep at the breast is that it may slow moms down and keep them from doing something else. She cautions though, "Breastfeeding a baby gives a lesson in patience, and in trusting the baby's rhythms instead of superimposing a timetable."
Samantha Fewox, of Houston, Texas, allowed her now 2-year-old son Collin to fall asleep while nursing. "Just because he fell asleep every now and then, didn't create a habit," she says. "He didn't always need to be fed to fall asleep. Somehow it all seemed to work out."
Dr. Bennett Kaye, assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, Ill., agrees. "There will be a lot of babies who will continue to fall asleep at the breast and not have sleep problems," he said. Deciding whether or not to allow babies to fall asleep while nursing depends on individual circumstances such as the baby's sleeping patterns and the baby's age. Kaye feels that sleeping at the breast is fine for those with no sleep problems and for babies less than 2 months old. But, if a baby is beyond the age of three or four months and having difficulty sleeping through the night, mothers might want to avoid makig it a habit.
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