BF to get to sleep

[Pidgy]

Not sure if I'm getting my DS into bad habits but it's really hard to get him to sleep any other way than feeding him. He is 3 weeks old and 100% BF. feeding going well and he put on almost 1lb last week, but I know this is going against well known advice etc.
I'm very worried and all the advice i read seems to be conflicting.
What do people advise? Experiences?
Should I how do you 'teach' them to fall asleep on their own.
Btw, I don't mind doing this but not sure it's the best long term.

*Should I and if so, how do I 'teach' ...

Why is it a bad habit, I feed my 3 year old to sleep quite often.

Doesn't mean they won't go to sleep without being fed if your not there, when they are older.

Takes no more time than complicated bed time routines and you can watch the telly while doing it. (with subtitles for an older child or they try and watch too).

At 3 weeks old I really wouldn't worry about creating bad habits.

Your son has had food, warmth and comfort (by hearing your heartbeat) for 9 months; he's trying to create that again by falling asleep on you- he feels safe enough to fall asleep on you

So called 'friends' (or in my case family) will give you the spiel: "creating a rod for your own back feeding to sleep" etc but I just ignored them. It was my choice to breastfeed and by breastfeeding you are offering comfort and snuggles all at the same time.

What I will suggest, and it was only my experience with dd, is during her awake time, I'd put her in her Moses basket to catch up on things: legging it in/out of shower, tidying up after her, sorting washing etc. but she got used to it, used to look out and by about 4 weeks she used to drop off on her own. As the weeks went on she started to develop a habit of waking around 7.30am, feeding and then awake time for an hour, I'd hop in shower, be pottering and she'd go back to sleep on her own by 9.30. But I still feed to sleep at night now (she's 10 months) as its easy. But she will go off on her own too.

I'd love to say that was some magic parenting skill I had who knows, she was fed on demand (or on cue, I'd catch her sleeping cues before crying) and never left her on her own to cry.

Just do what feels right for you. And congratulations too

I don't think you can really develop 'bad habits' at that age, and it's only a bad habit if it's something you don't want to do - don't listen to what other people said! I BFd DS to sleep for about the first 12 weeks, then we got in a pickle where he would only sleep if attached to me, took 1 night to get him out of his 'bad habit' so don't worry!

This website: www.isisonline.org.uk/ is absolutely fantastic for explaining what are appropriate sleep habits for babies. And it's properly research and evidence based from the sleep lab at Durham University. Not old wives tale and hearsay based like most of the things we hear. Just read through and it might make you feel better about some of your LO's sleep habits.

Thanks for the reassurance. I'm going to keep doing what seems to be working for us, and ignore any comments etc.
Thanks for the link too.

No one warns you about the constant worry that comes with a baby! It's so hard to know what is 'right' and there is just too much info/opinions out there!
Going to follow my heart.
Feeding him now and he's getting that drunk/sleepy look about him! :-)

Oh I miss the 'milk drunk' look, it's so cute

Good for you op, sounds like you are fab mum already

We started teaching our son to fall asleep in other ways at 10 weeks. They don't learn bad habits, don't worry. x

Enjoy your baby, going with your heart and what feels right sounds about perfect

I really wouldn't worry about feeding to sleep at 3 weeks. It sounds like you are doing a fantastic job and congratulations! My DD sometimes falls asleep feeding at 8 months and sometimes goes down awake - it's not a problem because that works for us.

I definitely wouldn't worry at this age. When he is older I would introduce another comfort factor to the feeding to sleep to give you another string to your bow..... When DD was about 5mo I started stroking her face while she fed and she learnt to associate the pleasure of having her face stroked with the pleasure of being fed and now I can stroke her face and cuddle her if I'm not feeding her to sleep for whatever reason / DH or GPs are putting her to bed.

I feed my 10 week old to sleep and dont give two hoots what anyone says. Its easy, stress free and comforting for baby and we all get to sleep nice and quickly!