feeding to sleep

[pipnchops]

My DD is 3 months old and I've got into a routine of going to bed at around 8 with her and breastfeeding her until she falls asleep, then putting her in her crib, she then wakes up and I feed her again until she falls asleep and then put her in her crib, she wakes up and I feed her again... I basically repeat this process until it works and she goes to sleep in her crib. This takes at least 2 hours. She is clearly not hungry and I know she's just comfort sucking to get herself off to sleep, but she won't take a dummy and I'm just wondering how long this phase lasts or if it's something I need to work on changing and if so how! I miss my evenings and was hoping with time it would get easier.

[mrsmugoo]

Mine did stop doing this around 3 months - you could try feeding lying down?

[GEM33]

Mine is 3 and she still co sleeps. She was ready to self settle about 3 months ago. She always fed to sleep. Unless you have the willpower to just let them cry it out I don't know how you get over not feeding to sleep. At 3 months old I think it's good for them to suckle as often and for as long as they want to keep up supply and strengthen your attachment. Relax and enjoy. Time flies. Stick baby in bed with you and feed away. (Read up on safe co sleeping)

[nottheOP]

Once she has fed can you ask your partner/parents/cat to take over? It'll be hard to settle her without the Boob for you because of the strong association but a week without you at bedtime would probably do the trick.

[nottheOP]

Gem, ds self soothed from 3 months. We used Shhh - pat. Cio or feeding to sleep aren't the only option.

[FATEdestiny]

"she won't take a dummy"

The dummy is The Answer, it would solve all that you suggest. It is not unusual for some babies to need perseverance to accept the dummy. You have tried a dummy so I assume you are not adverse to it.

My DD used to gag, spit out and refuse a dummy. It took 7 weeks of perseverance to get her to realise she could suck on the dummy and ain comfort.

As soon as we established the dummy she was self settling and within 1 week was sleeping through 11-7.

[pipnchops]

Thanks for your replies. After considering all the great advice I've decided I'm going to ride it out for a bit longer as it's not really distressing for me and if she's trying to build her supply for the next day then I don't want to get in the way of nature! I just didn't like the niggling thought that by doing this I am encouraging a bad sleeping habit, but it sounds quite normal. I'll address it when she's moved on to eating solids as then there won't be the building supply reason! Thanks. This has really helped me to make my decision. I do miss my evenings with my husband though and am just lucky he's so understanding. Having a baby really is all consuming!

[AntiHop]

My dd is 4 months and we've had exactly the same issue. The cycle could go on for hours. It got a bit better when we moved her to the cot from the moses basket as it's easier to put her down without waking her. I still feed her to sleep but she now often stays asleep after one feed. I really enjoy this time with her in the evenings. Occasionally I'm able to settle her with just a cuddle but that's rare.

[Missingcaffeine]

My 4 month old after a long time of refusing a dummy has suddenly this week decided to take one and it is really helpful for getting him to sleep.

[ampersandand]

My 5 month old still feeds to sleep, it is the most natural thing for a baby to fall to sleep suckling on their mother.

He has eventually stopped waking after the first initial put down of the night, (after months of wake ups after 5/10 minutes of being put down for up to 2 hours) like you said just ride with it and build the bond between the both of you. Don't be worried about creating a bad sleeping habit.

[Lazymummy2014]

We were doing exactly what you describe OP except that we feed lying in bed - it makes transfer to the cot easier. At 7 months we introduced controlled crying to get her back into self settling after Xmas knocked her completely out of routine (she'd been pretty good at self settling before this so hadn't needed it before). The controlled crying works great, we still feed to sleep because it is what she is used to, I know that she's going to bed with a full tummy which is important as she sleeps through for about 12 hours, and because we like it! But if she wakes up on transfer we use the controlled crying so that she's not coming back to me over and over. The two seem to work together very well for us.