6.5 month old will only fall asleep on breast or in buggy

[Gangle]

Getting ridiculous, especially as he has just cut his first tooth which is very painful for me! He just cannot seem to fall asleep unless sucking. He wakes several times a night and won't fall asleep again unless on my breast which can take ages. Any suggestions?

[DLI]

Have you thought about bottle feeding? are you weaning him with food yet? Perhaps giving him rice pudding or something equally as filling for his last fee with his milk, he may be waking up because he is hungry.

as for getting him to sleep without sucking that is a hard one, what about a dummy? I only say this because my ds never had a dummy so he started sucking his sheet/blanket which is even worse! he is now nearly five and still has to suck his sheet to go to sleep. once he is a sleep he doesnt suck it but if he wakes up he starts sucking again!

[Gangle]

thanks DL1. Can't get him to take a dummy. Have tried to get him to take formula (2 different brands) but no joy so far!

[MamaChris]

sounds exactly like our ds!

he's now 8.5mo, and we've had some improvements lately, as he's started to eat more food. He can now go to sleep without being fed to sleep (I feed, put him in cot, and he rolls around a bit, maybe whines a little, but not proper crying, then drops off). did this accidentally - the first time he'd had a really late afternoon nap (5-5.30, with a bedtime of 6.30), and I fed him till really full, but he wasn't overtired, so he lay in his cot quietly and then fell asleep. This didn't happen before 7mo, and we haven't been able to replicate it reliably until 8mo. The late afternoon nap is key for us though.

He still naps only on breast/in buggy/in car, but we've progressed to

• napping in buggy being rocked but not walked
• napping in buggy just stood still (but still outside)
• napping in buggy outside front door but still (get some strange looks from postman!)

we're now working on napping in a still buggy inside house.

Not sure how much this helps, except to say that things can improve, and I understand how hard it is, really. I keep reminding myself it can't last forever - he'll be sleeping all day and night by the time he's 15!

[thisisyesterday]

he'll get better gangle. my ds2 (nearly a year old) would only ever fall asleep on the breast, and up until a couple of months ago was still feeding during the night.

I had a lot of success with the Pantley pull-out technique from the No cry sleep solution book (by elizabeth pantley)

[DLI]

Gangle, what about expressing your milk and giving him it by bottle? i agree with thisisyesterday,he will get better

[LadySanders]

ds2 is 8 months and has suddenly developed the ability to get himself to sleep about 2 days ago... maybe they just do it when ready

[ches]

Teething hurts when the tooth moves through the jaw, when it moves through the gum and continues to hurt after it has broken the gum. DS's first tooth emerged with no obvious teething signs, we counted our lucky stars... every half an hour the next night as he woke up in pain. It hurts a bit on your nipples for about a week when they cut a new tooth as they adjust their latch around the new "features" in their mouth. If he's waking excessively it does not hurt to give paracetamol or ibuprofen at bedtime.