Posting here for traffic. Thanks in advance for reading.
I have an 11 month old (and an older child with SEN). My baby has needed a bottle of milk to nap and sleep from around 5mo. He was sleeping independetly and through the night until then. He has since woken up numerous times for milk overnight also. Now things have settled with my older child, I want to tackle these habits with the baby. He won't rock to sleep. I cannot stay with him until he falls asleep since I cannot leave my older child alone for long. For the past 2 nights I've been feeding him outside of the cot then placing him in the cot awake but tired. I stay with him for a couple of minutes then leave. He cries a lot and I check in on him every 3 minutes until his crying becomes intermittent. On the first day this took around 10 minutes. Today it's taken 4 minutes.
I've paid for a sleep coach to help with both children but I'm struggling with her advice. She's saying that I shouldn't leave him if he sounds upset? He does sound upset and distressed when I leave. I wish I could stay with him which is what she suggests but it's impossible as a single parent. I did for my eldest child and now I'm stuck with a 2 year old who is addicted to her bottle all day and cannot sleep without it. I really didn't want to make the same mistakes with my son but equally I don't want to harm him, give him an attachment disorder later in life, or dysregulate or overwhelm his little nervous system.
Please talk some sense into me!