Is it a problem to feed to sleep?

[babyboysmum]

I have a gorgeous 4 month old DS. He is very good at night - he goes down about 7pm and normally sleeps until 4/5am, has a quick feed and wakes again about 7.30am. His big beaming smile when I look into his cot in the morning just melts my heart every time

He isn't great at sleeping during the day (something we are working on at the moment so by 7pm he is more than ready for bed. His routine at the moment is normally bath at 6pm, and then I feed him on our bed with the curtains closed. Quite often he will feed for the best part of an hour and probably 80% of the time he will fall asleep on the boob. I just gently sit him up to wind him and pop him into his cot.

Feeding him to sleep is much less stressful for both of us than the other 20% of the time when he is awake and will cry as soon as I try to out him in the cot. And to be honest I love snuggling up with him - I quite often have a quick snooze myself at the same time

On the nights I put him down awake he always cries and I seem to end up doing a mixture of every method going, PUPD, shush/pat, rocking etc - basically whatever it takes to soothe him.

I am very happy to continue with this but I keep being told that it is a bad idea and that I should be putting him down awake.

Is feeding to sleep really such a problem in the long run? I understand the point about him being able to settling himself during the night, but touch wood this hasn't been an issue yet?

Also am I sending him mixed messages by trying all these different methods when he is upset at bedtime.

I just want to enjoy my darling little boy but I've just got this nagging little doubt at the back of my head that I'm getting it all wrong and making it more dificult for him in the long run

[drowninginclutter]

If he goes down at 7 and sleeps until 4/5 then he must be resettling himself during the night. Sleep cycles are only around 45 minutes so he'd need to feed again that often if he wasn't self settling.

If you're happy and he's happy there's really nothing to worry about

[Horton]

I fed my daughter to sleep for nearly a year. One day it just stopped working and she happily went to sleep by herself. I think you know your baby best but be reassured that feeding to sleep does NOT mean you will be doing it forever!

[FagAshLil]

Keep doing what you're doing.
He's doing really well to be sleeping that long stretch anyway so why change it?
Fwiw I fed dd to sleep till she was about 8/9 months when she stopped falling asleep on the boob. She's a crap sleeper,(still wakes at least once a night at 14 months) always has been no matter what I do .He'll probably stop in his own time
He's happy and you're happy so why mess with it?
Enjoy your snuggly time, it doesn't last long

[barbareebaa]

I read somewhere that breast milk contains something or other that makes babies sleepy/ fall asleep and also sends some signal to the mum while baby is feeding that makes her sleepy too (think enzymes/ hormones or some such). So what I'm trying to say is that it seems that this is natures way and is mutually beneficial.
So enjoy I think!!!

[treedelivery]

Hey listen if your happy...

I always look with narrowed eyes at people who do the 'you should be....'

Unless they are totally pissing themselves from lauging with the joy of life they get from their parenting choices, I ignore. I have noticed they can in fact have a more pinched sour look.

Your having a great time and you and ds are having a loved up few months. Its ace isn't it? Enjoy!

[ches]

Follow your instinct. If it works for you, sod what anyone else says.