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Infant feeding

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

How to stop feeding to sleep

35 replies

LavalavalavaLamp · 30/09/2014 18:50

Has anyone come out the other side of feeding to sleep? Did it take effort and techniques or did your dc just start going to sleep without it?
I've been lucky so far in that patience has been an acceptable technique and my dd's night wakings have improved with no effort, really hoping the feed to sleep habit will fall away too.

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LavalavalavaLamp · 03/10/2014 08:57

It's not practical if it is a requirement for every single sleep and you can't or don't want to be present for every bedtime. At the moment I can't feed dd to sleep in the living room then transfer her to bed, I feed her in her room with only the nightlight on then put her in her cot. Dh has got her to sleep with rocking or taking her out in the pushchair but then she doesn't transfer so that's not ideal.

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ElephantsNeverForgive · 04/10/2014 00:20

You don't say how old she is?
DD2 got hugely better as soon as she was eating a decent amount of real food.

She'd never ever had her night time feed upstairs without the TV on. I'm not that kind of martyr. Also there were no comfy chairs upstairs and DH was reading bedtime stories, nosily to DD1.

Also I hadn't realised, since our stairs are in our living room, I don't have to go through doors and Ito a cold hall, so baby stays asleep much more easily than in some houses.

LavalavalavaLamp · 04/10/2014 06:25

She's 6 months so have only recently introduced solids. I didn't start feeding her in her room in the dark for fun! She'll get very screamy when she's tired so I just took the path of least resistance to get her to sleep and make us both happy. It works ok for now as I barely leave her, but I would like to have the option of the odd evening out without the guilt of her being upset and a handful for dh.
A bit of topic and quite personal so please feel free not to answer... Did you extended bf your dd1? Did you tandem feed them both?

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ElephantsNeverForgive · 04/10/2014 07:11

No, DD1 was never really exclusively BF. She never knew what to do.

We mucked about mixed feeding until she was 4.5/5 months old, then one day she just decided to just scream and throw a massive tantrum every time I tried, so we gave up.

DD2 obviously knew what she was doing from the first time I held her to my breast, just after she was born. Second time I tried, she just fed.

As she got older she still seemed to know instinctively what to do. She worked out how to position her self to breath as she lost her babies snub nose, she learnt very quickly not to bite (except as she feel asleep, which need a quick unlatch when you felt her relax, for a bit).

She seemed to instively understand that mum would continue feeding you if you went back to your own bed easily in the night and replaced night feeds with a drink of very week squash from a cup by your bed.

She instinctively never asked in public when she was older.

I just wish she was as thoughtful and reasonable about everything else in life Grin

Also non of this would have happened if DD1 hadn't been total understanding and not in the least jealous of her sister.

She liked me feeding her when she was small because I read to her and paid attention to her Duplo creations. She got Daddy to read to her at night and he's much better at bed time stories than me.

DD1 is 3years older which meant she was at preschool 3-4 mornings a week and also old enough to understand babies were different.

I'm incredibly lucky, the DDs are total opposites in a 1000 ways, they ought fight, but they don't!

DD2(13) was telling me last night how much she loves her big sister despite her being quirky and a bit of an embarrassment. (Totally fair assessment, DD1 is dyslexic and her social skills are a bit like her spelling).

Good luck and here's to an peaceful evening off, had DD2 not let DH put her to bed by 7/8 months I wouldn't have been impressed. You are totally right there comes a point when mum needs some time off.

ElephantsNeverForgive · 04/10/2014 07:14

Oh and not waking up at 6am on a Saturday because DH and DD2 are off doing their hobby and need to be miles away by 9.30

LavalavalavaLamp · 04/10/2014 09:50

What a lovely post. It's nice when you can appreciate your lot.
I'm trying to do the same and appreciate that I'm very lucky with dd in many ways.
Unfortunately I'm just a little too neurotic to entirely go with the flow, that's why I'm starting threads about feeding to sleep when it's not strictly an issue yet. Thanks for responding.

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ElephantsNeverForgive · 05/10/2014 16:59

And sometimes you simply can't go with the flow. Both DDs were potty trained by 2 and 9 months because preschool won't take them if they weren't.

Both would have taken a bit longer given a choice

Oly4 · 06/10/2014 09:39

I never did controlled crying as I think it's cruel but I found shush pat really good. Never left his side for a minute

mrsmugoo · 06/10/2014 11:12

When I did sleep training with mine he wouldn't settle at all if I was in sight or contact with him - it was too much of a distraction and he thought I was there for a game.

All babies are different. Every mum knows what's best for her own baby.

LavalavalavaLamp · 06/10/2014 17:22

Couldn't agree more Mrs

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