Hi all,
I'm looking for mums experiences of getting a very Wilful BF baby of 11 months to stay or go back to sleep without the comfort of breast milk and or cuddles.
My LO was doing OK at 10 months waking around 11pm and 3am for a feed which I didn’t mind. But we then tried controlled crying to get her down at bedtime by herself, which worked initially. She was then poorly so I went back to feeding her on demand including comfort feeds and now she’s very reliant on me to put her back down, even more so than before. It's got to the point now though that on some nights she's waking 7 or 8 times and instantly screaming for comfort. She either lunges towards my breasts or just wants to sleep in my arms! Because the Controlled crying did work and her daytime naps are great, I know she can put herself back to sleep. Trouble is she has always got a sniffle or is teething or there seems a reason why I should be night feeding still.
I want my husband to be able to settle her back to sleep if needs be as I need to go to London for work overnight every few months. I feel terrible if I just go cold turkey. I’m not keen on introducing bottles at this late stage and she doesn’t take a dummy. What's my best option in your experience, does night weaning equal better sleep? Should I leave her to cry (I mean scream the house down!)
She sleeps in her own room and goes to Child-minder 2 days a week where she goes without milk all day, which is another reason why I thought she might be making up for it at night!
I spoke to a BF expert but she said I should just feed her on demand, that she must need it, she feed her LO until 3 years and I’m not willing to do that, it’s to knackering and because of work unrealistic.
I also spoke to a Dr and she was very much of the opinion that I should stick her on a bottle at night and that I can’t expect to get any sleep if she’s dependent on the breast! Neither of these opinions was very helpful, there must be a middle ground?!
Sorry to ramble but could really do with a good night’s sleep, even just 6 or 7 hours!!