Denis Hartley writes:
>Richard Ferber's book "Solve your child's sleep problems" is a well writt=
>en book with a lot of useful information and advice.  Successful breastfe=
>eding AND a child who sleeps between feeds in their own bed (if that is =
>what the parents choose) AND sleeps through the night from around 2 month=
>s of age can definitely go together.

I must have missed the thread that began this, but I feel compelled to
respond: It is, in most instances, neither normal nor healthy for a human
infant of 2 months of age to be sleeping through the night.  Two YEARS,
maybe, two MONTHS, no.  Human children are *primates* and have evolved to
expect that they will be in constant contact with their mother's body 24
hours a day for their first year of life at a minimum, and to be able to
nurse often.  You can push the limits of this physiological system (cribs,
playpens, swings, baby holders) with some babies being more adaptable than
others, but to expect a baby to sleep through the night at 2 months is
beyond the adaptive limits of most human babies.

Dr. James McKenna's work elegantly illustrates how this sort of deep sleep
for long stretches of time in a baby who is just learning controlled
breathing, and whose larynx is in the process of migrating down lower in the
chest, may contribute to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

No one ever said babies were easy or convenient, and all members of the
family must change and adapt to meet the very real needs of a young infant,
if they don't want to place that infant at risk.  If you cannot meet the
needs of a young infant for attention, feeding, diaper changing, cuddling,
etc. around the clock, then a house plant might be a better choice.

Breastfeeding and rocking a baby are both behaviors that calm and relax the
baby and send it gently into slumber, the way it was designed to happen.
There are NO higher primate species where babies are left to go to sleep on
their own.
Kathy D.
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