Self settling and breastfeeding

[harverina]

Hi,

My DD is 18 months old, EBF till 6 months and we have continued to breastfeed pretty much on demad, although now she really only asks in the morning as soon as she wakens and in the evening before bed. She will go to sleep without a feed if I am not there - she may take some soya milk (allergic to milk) or may not!

Regardless of whether she has a breastfeed or not, my DD will not go to sleep unless she is in someones arms. She sleeps pretty well once she falls asleep - mostly all night every night, so I know that its not a huge deal, but I am just wondering how to go about encouraging her to self settle in bed? For example, at what age is she likely to go to bed and have a story read to her, rather than her sitting on our knee until she falls asleep?

My DD rarely falls asleep on the breast anymore apart from some naptimes - I used the pantley pull off meth0d around 9/10 months and still try and take her off the breast when I sense that she is no longer feeding but is sleepy and she seems quite happy with this BUT if I put her in her cot awake, no matter how sleepy, she will scream.

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated - I know its not a massive deal given that she sleeps pretty well but I am just wondering how to move on to this next stage without too much upset?

Thanks :)

If it helps at all, I took the approach that DS would deal with this in his own time. He went from only going into his cot when he was fast asleep, to going in when dropping off, stirring, making himself comfy and going back to sleep (oddly, this happened for the first time when I gave him his pillow and duvet, so his cot is just as snuggly as our bed) now he often prefers to be put down in his cot and have his back rubbed, when he is already sleepy. He used to try and get up, but he has stopped doing that now, and will lie quietly, as long as he is ready to nod off, and I am still in the room with him. So now our routine is: feed in our bed until he is nodding off a bit, pop him in the cot, sit with him and sing, pat his back or hold his hand until he goes to sleep.

The timing of the cot transfer was trial and error (although I always try and sooth him lying in there if he cries when he is put in, I only pick him up if he is getting increasingly distressed rather than just grumbling) and he makes it very clear to me when he doesn't want to be cuddled/rocked to sleep, he pushes me away and tries to climb into the cot from the bed . He's getting more and more happy to just lie down and rest now, so I expect we are getting close to the time when I can feed him, put him in the cot and leave him to it.

Thanks...what age is your ds?