Feeding to sleep

[Softlysoftly]

DD2 wakes anything from 3-10 times a night, she has a total inability to self settle or stay asleep.

I've always fed to sleep but think thats a big part of the problem, If I put her down awake she calms but then on the edge of sleep becomes hysterical like she doesn't know how to sleep without boob.

She already has a dummy but slaps my hand away if I try to substitute with that when she wakes .

Any advice from those who have successfully stopped feeding to sleep? How do I teach her to get herself to sleep? Am getting desperate!

[Softlysoftly]

She's 7m btw

[ElphabaTheGreen]

I'm trying Pantley pull-off at the moment (google it). 6.5mo DS did manage to actually fall asleep in his cot a few times this week after a few days of using it, but so far it's done nothing for the frequent wakings. I also managed to get him to sleep quite easily with pat-shh after his first waking since trying this (which he has NEVER done) but subsequent wakings are another matter entirely, and need increasing amounts of boob, especially towards morning.

Might be worth a try, anyway.

[smk84]

Softly you could try white noise just as she becomes hysterical. It really worked for ds1 with hairdryer.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Yes the pantley pull off can work, its from a book called the No Cry Sleep Solution. If you google askdrsears 31 ways to get your baby to sleep that has some good tips too. Have heard good reports about a book called Helping Your Baby to Sleep: why gentle techniques work best.

Hope Santa brings you some good sleep

[Softlysoftly]

Thank you I'll look at that book, she has always had white noise playing sadly to no effect :(

[lookout]

I fed ds2 to sleep for 13 months and then couldn't take it anymore and called a sleep consultant. We just went cold turkey, jigged the bedtime routine around a bit so feeding wasn't the last thing he did before bed. It only took 3 nights but he was substabtially older than your lo. No other advice apart from to say I sympathise. Being torn between wanting to offer comfort and wanting a full night's sleep is so hard!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

The no cry sleep solution did help us upto a point but looking back I think DS had an undiagnosed tongue tie, he's now older but has a cracking gap in his front teeth.

Do you honk there may be some reverse cycling going on too? There is some good info on this on kellymom. Really sorry hat I can't do links at the moment but the askdrsears and kellymom ones are really worth googling and your library might have one of he 2 books if you are lucky

[feekerry]

I think they grow out of it tbh. My dd is 8 months and ebf and fed to sleep and last couple of weeks she's fed both sides then stayed awake. So i put her down and to my mega surprise she fell asleep front being totally awake. Gob smacked!! I can now put her down awake! I miss feeding her to sleep. My.dd stopped feeding to sleep about 7.5 months