Hello,
I was hoping for a magic solution to solve our bedtime battles. My 6.5 month old baby is breastfed and cannot go to sleep from being awake. He needs a boob and won't take a dummy. If I put a dummy in his mouth he may suck on it for a second but self sabotages the whole operation and removes it himself - often resulting in tears. Then he plays with it for a bit. Either way its acting as more of a sleep distraction rather than a sleep aide. I have worked hard to create a lovey which is a smelly bunny thing that he seems to like and perhaps associates with sleep. White noise occasionally works to at least calm him down. Until now I have fed him whenever he wakes in the night even if I know he is full as it is the only way we can help him to fall asleep. He's always been a sicky baby but there is no doubt that he is eating until he is sick now, and would carry on and on if I let him. We have just started solids which he is loving and managing 3 meals a day so Im sure the extra milk is just too much and what he is wanting is the comfort not the milk. If only you could switch a button off! He has recently jumped from the 75th to the 91st centile so maybe he's had a growth spurt but think more likely its the solids and milk combo?
During the day we have a couple of buggy naps that can be up to 1hr15 mins long and a short one at lunch time that tends to be no longer than 1/2hr. We tend to manage 2 hrs at a time.
I am committed to teaching him to fall asleep without the boob as I have no doubt it will definitely be doing him a favour in the long run; I am not doing it to get a full nights sleep and fully accept a couple of peckish night wakings is normal for his age.
My question is, is there a gentle way to do this? My current plan is to change our bedtime routine from:
(Dinner
Play)
Bath
Boob
Bed when floppy
WAKES UP
Rocked by dad (fails)
Boob until pukes
Tears +++
etc.etc. Bedtime at the moment is about 10.30 :(
to
Boob
Bath
Book / song
Bed with white noise and lovey.
We were going to use a cry it out method that involves leaving him to cry for no more than 3/5 minutes which sounds a bit more like pick up put down... We are willing to persevere and know we may be in for a long slog. I would rather do something more gentle obviously but am willing to do whatever works at this point.
Just to mention I'm really not into co-sleeping as wake up with the fear all the time. Side boob works sometimes but often his latch is a bit awkward and its sore for me. He is currently in his own cot in our room after outgrowing the side cot.
Many many thanks for any help. xxx
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Sleep
6 month old can't settle to sleep without the boob
46 replies
Claiiire · 02/04/2017 09:05
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