BF is the only thing that work's to settle 3 month baby to sleep

[Tmos]

My 3 month old is EBF. In the day he naps in the car, pram or on the boob (if timed correctly)
At night I feed him to sleep. If he wakes the ONLY thing to get him back to sleep is by feeding. Sometimes he will feed for 1 minute so it's not a hunger feed. If he stirs and I put my hand on his chest, shush, pat bum, pick him up, rock etc it won't settle him. He doesn't respond to any.of those techniques for day naps either and never has even as a newborn.
At night he does 3 or 4 hrs to start with and then 2hrs after that and on a bad night every 50mins.

Has anyone been in this situation? Did their baby grow out of boob settling and start to respond to other ways? Is there anything I can do to help him?

The pick up/put down sleep training method just makes him more and more upset with every pick up and I am not keen on the CIO method.

Any help appreciated! Thanks

I had one like that. He's a teen now and has long given up the boob so they do grow out of it.

This is pretty common, especially for this age, but I totally understand the worry of creating bad habits/wanting another option.

Continue trying to settle with patting etc and work on wake windows for his age- put him down just before this- I think about 1 1/2hrs max for this age.

Do you use white noise? We found that really helped, and a love to dream swaddle but he may not get much use out of this at this age.

I’m afraid I don’t have much other advice than to persevere, and don’t step in too quickly and hopefully he’ll start settling in other ways.

Good luck!

I Personally went with baby. So when she was ready she could get herself to sleep. Hang in there mumma it gets easier I promise

@Cakeandcoffeea at what age was baby ready to self settle
@Tmos I have a 7 month old that will only sleep on the boob, it’s our last baby so I am just concentrating on enjoying snuggly cuddles 🥰 and not the sleep deprivation

I fed my second baby to sleep as the quickest way to deal with naps/bedtime/night wakings until she was about six months. She transitioned away from it fine and we did it a couple of weeks after moving her into her own room. We decided to change it when it was taking longer and longer and no longer seemed the easiest thing to do...

It will depend on the child but she turned out to be by far my better sleeper. Did lovely two hour cot naps once a bit older. My eldest would only nap in a pram and was much harder work sleep wise and I never fed her to sleep after the early months due to reading too many books which said I shouldn’t. Wish I’d ignored the books! Eldest is still a pretty poor sleeper at 8...

Just to add, I did try and introduce sleep aids from quite small when feeding to sleep so the tools were there for transitioning away from it when she was a bit older. Sang the same lullaby, read the same book (Goodnight Moon), same teddy/comforter snuggled when feeding. Not sure if it helped but both of my girls still ask for the lullaby if struggling to sleep or ill.

Good luck, and in the early hours and tough minutes remember the Mumsnet mantra I read when struggling which still helps: This too shall pass.

I had 3 and they were all like that. Actually l didn't know there was any other way. I think 3 months was the most exhausting time as they went through a growth spurt and after all weeks if broken sleep l was wrecked. I think using the breast to sleep is very regular.
A very odd time they would sleep with dh walking up and down if l got really desperate. Just go along with him and it won't be for ever. Soon he will sleep longer.

This is completely normal, and baby is far too young for any sleep training methods. She just needs you. It's exhausting and you have my sympathy but your baby is doing what she is meant to do!

This is totally normal, nothing to worry about. I can highly recommend a Next 2 Me crib. You don't even have to pick them up. Flip your boob out, they feed for a minute and settle, no one even has to sit up, job done

Mine wanted feeding every 2-3 hours 24/7 for 11 months. Then one day she slept from 8-8 and has done ever since (she's 3 now). Don't worry.

It's completely normal, this is the simplest way to get baby to sleep. I wouldn't bother with all the other 'sleep aids' most of it is nonsense to sell books.

Both of mine fed to sleep until at least they were crawling, then after that bf was a good way to encourage them to sleep you're doing great, there's no need to change anything.

@JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows I have a 2-month old and a next to me. How on earth do you feed them in the cot?! This would be a game changer

This is normal OP. No need to try to change it.

No such thing as a bad habit where babies are concerned.

Both of mine fed to sleep, DS2 until he was 4!!! Neither of them do now It's great that you've got a sure fire way of getting your baby down for a nap/at night.

Completely normal. Mine wine you twice for a feed (hunger or comfort or both) until 9m. Then just stopped one day. Has slept through since.

I thought you were meant to feed baby if they woke! Especially at 3m! Just follow baby lead! It gets better x

Sounds normal. Have you tried a dummy? I wouldn't do any sleep training yet, too young

DD2 was like this she fed every 45mins for almost a year. I was on my knees but it does pass eventually. She's still not a good sleeper at 4 but I don't have to feed her anymore!

All my babies grew out of it in their own time.

Sounds similar to mine. He’s 22 months. He stopped needing my boobs about 9 months during the day, at about 14 months he lets my husband settle him overnight, but more often that not the only thing that settles him overnight now is my boobs still. But he has gradually woken less and less, and it’s generally only once a night now and does occasionally sleep through.

So it does slowly get better without any crazy sleep training. It’s just sloooooow progress. Hang in there, sounds like you’re doing a great job!