World breastfeeding week is upon us, August 1st- August 7th, and I thought it would be a great reason to share that breastfeeding & healthy sleeping skills, can co-exist.

I struggled terribly, with my first child, when it came to breastfeeding so I knew I really wanted to the journey to look differently, when it came to my second… so here are a few things our family did to see that we implemented safe & healthy sleeping skills, but also, encouraged & sought out a healthy nursing journey, too!

Newborn Life:

Functional Room set-up:

Safe sleeping space
Dark room
Sound machine

Having all of the safe sleeping arrangements already prepared encouraged my husband and I to continue with our wants.

In regards to nursing, I had the Hakka already beside the bed and the pack n play, reachable. My goal was to not have to get out of the bed to nurse, but would actually, pull my little one out of their pack n play, without ever leaving the bed.

Though it is extremely hard the first 6-8 weeks of a newborns life to keep them wide eyed, during a nursing session, my husband and I, made it a mission to keep our little one wide awake during majority nursing sessions.

Yes, some nights & days I caved and would let her fall back asleep while nursing, but majority of the time we kept her wide awake during nursing sessions so that she could receive all the calories & associate food with nourishment.

How did we keep her awake?

Kept her awake by un-swaddling her
Kept her awake by keeping her naked
Kept her awake by tickling her
During the day - fed her at the beginning of the wake- window

First 6 Weeks:

I always woke my little one up every two hours and fed her during the day, and night. I knew that my milk still needed to regulate and ensuring that she was eating every two hours allowed me to know, that she was filling up on calories and could soon enough, make longer stretches at night. My husband was very involved in the process and would take all hakka milk to the fridge, rinse the hakka and bring it back.

My husband would take-over burping and placing her back in swaddle & bed space for more sleep.

8- 12 Weeks:

This is when we stopped nursing to sleep, during nights, and really focusing on our little one falling asleep independently at bedtime, and majority of naps.

We listened to her cues, and let her lead the night. We followed some sleep techniques, not sleep training, and these steps (can be found on my newborn guide) helped us implement an amazing sleeping foundation, that also allowed us to nurse during the night while she was wide awake and being put back down, fully awake.

12- 16 Weeks:

This is when we stopped nursing to sleep, unless an occasional exhausting overtired day, and it was the only thing to calm her.

We had implemented a flexible routine and by this time she was falling asleep independently for all naps & bedtime.

We let her sleep through the night, without waking her and we did not have to wean her. We let her take charge in this.

When she began sleeping through the night I would pump at 10pm and then again, at 6am. She was sleeping 8-8.

4-12 Months:

We waited to introduce solids until the 6-month mark, and she was sitting unassisted. We nursed every two hours still during the day, and more if she wanted. When she needed to be bottle fed we followed the pace-feeding recommendation to not promote nipple confusion.

We always nursed before, and after feeds, so that her main nutrients were still coming from my milk.

I continued to pump at the 10pm & 6am mark all the way up until her 9-month mark when I knew I would be weaning around the 12-month mark.