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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Breastfeeding to sleep

10 replies

mummanj · 29/09/2010 11:17

Hi everyone,
I'm new to mumsnet but have had a look on the forums and can see there is some really good advice out there so here goes...
My daughter is 8 months old and I'm breast feeding her 4 times a day although I have been told by my hv this is too much and to cut down to 2 feeds a day. Trouble is the only way I can get her to sleep sometimes is to feed her. I need to break this habit as am returning to work in 3 months.
Does anyone have any experience of breaking the feeding to sleep habit...
Help! xx

OP posts:
jaggythistle · 29/09/2010 11:30

Don't worry too much, my DS is 1 year old and feeds to sleep quite a lot, he can settle himself if he wakes up in the night though and will go to sleep ok for his Dad for example. I work shifts so am not always there to get him to sleep but I get a wee cuddle when I am Grin I have never trained him to self settle so he seems to have just got the idea himself over time.

Also your HV is talking crap, your daughter is getting lots of nutrition from your milk so can have as much as she wants/needs. I think HVs panic about how much they feed vs how much solid food they eat. Even at my bf group the other day one was talking about discouraging people from feeding older babies/toddlers too much. Hmm

I like to think of it as weaning on to food rather than off of milk if you see what I mean.

DS was feeding about the same amount at that age, he is now feeding morning and night and occasionally an extra one during the day if he is struggling to get to sleep for a nap for example. (or at night if he is poorly for example - I have always fed him at night if I needed to but he sometimes just needs a cuddle, so I don't think he is dependant on it to get back to sleep)

There are techniques I think to gently break the feeding to sleep habit I think if you need to, hopefully someone knowledgeable will be along to help with that.

Hope you get on ok going back to work, I have been back since DS was just under 6 months and the time has flown past!

CompetitiveChutes · 29/09/2010 11:40

Well my one year old feeds at least four times a day (and endlessly overnight, yawn) and if I saw an HV who told me this I would smile nicely, thank them for their advice and ignore it. I would have thought that an eight month old still needs a fair bit of milk, more than two feeds a day?

I feed to sleep, and have never thought it to be an issue. My son is needing me to do it less as he gets bigger, I've noticed. What would cause the problem when you are at work? Are you worried she won't nap? Have you tried getting someone else to put her down for a nap? She may surprise you, DS did me when I left him for the first time convinced he wouldn't sleep without a feed. Will you be home in time for bedtime? As you can still feed her to sleep then. I guess it's whether you perceive feeding to sleep as a problem. If you don't, then carry on!

Original poster
mummanj · 29/09/2010 11:59

Thank you both so much. I have enjoyed feeding her to sleep and don't see it as a problem as such but yes worried she won't nap without a feed unless out and about in the buggy or car when I return to work.
Haven't tried anyone else putting her down for a nap as not left her really yet.
Yes, I will be home to feed at bedtime so it's during the day that is more of a worry.
HV made me feel awful - I thought 4 feeds a day was fine!
xx

OP posts:
AngelDog · 29/09/2010 19:42

4 times a day at 8 months is well within the normal range. My 9 m.o. feeds around 7 times a day, and I don't think that's that frequent. The WHO says you should bf 'frequently and on-demand' until the age of 2. I'd ignore your HV - many seem to think babies 'should' take less milk at this age, which is rubbish.

Can you try rocking to sleep - as other people have said, try getting someone else to do it. Otherwise, can you get whoever's looking after her to rock her in the buggy for naps?

The No-Cry Sleep Solution / No-Cry Nap Solution by Elizabeth Pantley has some ideas for stopping feeding to sleep.

I sympathise as my DS often doesn't sleep in the pushchair and doesn't really sleep in the car. Sadly, feeding to sleep has more or less stopped working (he's 9 months), so I now rock him to sleep in the rocking chair before putting him down, as he can't self-settle yet.

cupofcoffee · 29/09/2010 22:24

My dd is same age and breastfeeds several times throughout the day and wakes for feeds in the night. I agree with what others have said, this is normal. My dd also feeds to sleep unless in buggy or car.

hellymelly · 29/09/2010 22:28

My DD is three and still breastfeeds to sleep,I would ignore your HV and just do whatever suits you and your baby Smile

moajab · 29/09/2010 22:49

My 20 month old still has at least 4 feeds a day. Your HV is talking nonsense! He also still feeds to sleep, but I do find that if he's with someone else at bedtime he will be happy to just snuggle up and drift off.

YanknCock · 29/09/2010 23:02

13 month old here, and when he's with me he does like to feed to sleep for his naps. He goes to full time nursery and at 8 months still had two bottles of EBM at nursery plus 3-4 feeds with me at home, so I reckon the HV is talking nonsense.

At 10.5 months he was able to go the whole day at nursery with no bottles, but on the weekends he still likes to feed more (at least 4x a day even now).

I've been trying to get him in the habit of going to bed awake, so just before 7pm he has a little feed and then we read his book (same one every time). It took a few weeks I think, but now he seems to understand that the book means he is going to bed. I'd say 5 nights out of 7 he doesn't cry when I put him in his cot after this, so I wholeheartedly recommend a copy of 'Goodnight Moon'!

Morloth · 30/09/2010 08:13

I have BF both of mine to sleep and DS1 was at nursery from 8mos.

They don't expect it from anyone else so they don't look for it. I like to go out some evenings and DH puts DS2 to bed. He just gives him a bottle of EBM and then does the bedtime routine as usual but just lies down with him and gives him a cuddle until he drops off.

Many times I have come home from a night out to find the three of them DH, DS1 and DS2 still snuggled up in our bed asleep. Grin

beachavendrea · 30/09/2010 13:22

I breastfeed my ds1 who is 5 months to sleep but I was keen to gently break this habit as I needed a bit of freedom and when he falls asleep after a feed he is hard to burp and gets terrible wind which wakes him and me up.
We used the no cry sleep solution and started
with putting him down at night. After about 2 1/2 weeks he now goes down awake and settles himself with very little intervention from us. It is an exercise in paitence though and we were very consistent, I defo needed my husbands help, but we had no tears from him

Next I am tackling the morning nap which I think is going to be a lot harder but one nap at a time!

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