Purposely tank him up during the day. At least three time a day take him into a quiet, non-distracting environment and get down to the business of nursing. Nap-nurse him at least twice a day. Not only does this get his nursing needs met during the day, but it forces you to take a much-needed nap.

In addition to satisfying the distracted nurser during the day, here's how you can get him to sleep longer stretches without nursing at night. Remember, "nursing" does not only mean breastfeeding. It means comforting. Only mothers can breastfeed. Fathers can "nurse." Honor your husband with his share of nighttime parenting. Just before baby falls asleep at the breast in the evening, hand baby to your husband and let dad "rock baby down" or "wear baby down." Baby can fall asleep on dad's chest while rocking in a rocking chair. Or, put baby in a sling and let dad wear your infant around until baby is fully asleep and then ease him out of the sling and into the bed. Using these techniques, you are capitalizing on the sleep-inducing trick of changing sleep associations. If baby is always breastfed down to sleep, he will expect to be breastfed back to sleep when he awakens. If baby goes to sleep in the arms of dad, he will be more likely to accept his father getting him back to sleep. After one week of "father nursing," baby is likely to sleep longer stretches.

You are obviously a very sensitive mother, since you are unwilling to succumb to the "let him cry it out" advice. It's very easy for someone else to advise you to let your baby cry, since they are not biologically attached to your baby and are not there at 3:00 a.m. in the morning. Also, the let-him-cry-it-out advice keeps you from continuing to work at a method of nighttime parenting which meets your baby's needs for nighttime nourishment and your own needs for a restful night's sleep.