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Infant feeding

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

How do I stop breastfeeding dd to sleep?!

4 replies

elkeskelter · 06/06/2013 21:12

Hello. Dd is nearly 9 months old and bf and on solids (no formula won't take a bottle). She has been co sleeping up until 4 nights ago where we lowered her cot (kept waking up in the night and finding her on the edge of the bed!) and put her cot by the side of our bed. So what happens is I bf her to sleep until she drops off and then try to gently put her down in the cot. She often wakes up and won't stop crying until I bf her back to sleep again... And so it starts again. This happened 3 times in the night last night. This was ok when she was co sleeping but now I have to get out of bed, lean down, gently put her down its a bit much.

Any ideas out there?

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flipflopson5thavenue · 06/06/2013 21:45

I could have written this post!! DS is 10mo and I've always bf him to sleep, at bedtime, nap time, and whenever he wakes at night. A few months ago he stopped always going back to sleep, and if he did, he would always wake and cry when I put him back down in his cot, and was inconsolable. He was waking about 3 times a night almost every night since birth basically.

I tried some of the suggestions in Elizabeth Pantley No Cry Sleep Solution. Been doing it about a week/10 days. First couple of nights DS took 1.5hr to fall asleep with help from me (but not bfing). A few nights in he was down to 30 mins, now he falls asleep in minutes. I'm still in the room with him when he settles himself, but he now comes off the boob on his own, as if he knows whats coming and he's ready to put himself to sleep in his cot.

Basically you do as normal - feed/rock/cuddle/sing to sleep, but just before they drop off, you put them down. If they cry, pick them up and do it again, putting them down again just before they drop off. The next stage is you put them down more awake, and stay with them til they fall asleep, picking up etc when they cry. Eventually you should be able to get to the stage where you put them down awake say goodnight and let them fall asleep on their own, and if they wake you can just comfort them without picking them up. We're not quite there yet...and I still feed him to sleep when he wakes in the night. However, now that he basically puts himself to sleep at bedtime he wakes up less frequently at night time, we've gone from waking every 2-3 hrs to now sleeping 4-5 hours and going straight back to sleep when I feed him. I still feed him to sleep for his naps during the day because I can only deal with one bad habit at once ;-)

Good luck!

KatAndKit · 06/06/2013 23:36

Pff I was in the same boat for ages. To be honest not much worked here till 12months. Then we worked out what the usual sleep time was and put the breastfeed well ahead of it. It is near the start of the routine now - PJs, boob, brush teeth, book, cuddle and kiss, in cot. then I lie on the mattress next to the cot and eventually, after some protesting, he goes to sleep.

Lion5711 · 07/06/2013 14:54

I had a very similar thing when my son was 11 months In the end we slept on a mattress so there was a bit more room and was a bit safer as he was a bit of a night crawler! I have to admit feeding to sleep worked for us well, it's not for everyone and when your doing it every hour it gets tiring but it was still easier than getting out of bed! 6 months down the line from that once he was walking heaps he was so tired and slept through, and now its me pacing the house making sure he is ok and secretly really missing those moments!

elkeskelter · 07/06/2013 20:21

Thanks for all the advice! It's very useful. She's just gone to sleep after an hour of picking up/putting down/hand on her chest with head turned away (basically anything I could think of/remember had been suggested). I think in the end she was just too tired to fight it. Lets see what tonight holds... If she's as tired as me she'll sleep all the way through (if only!)

I think they need to invent cots with ledges so you can gradually lower them down in stages... It doesn't half give the arms a workout!

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