Argh - stopped feeding to sleep!

[Misty9]

Ds, nearly 6 months, has fed to sleep for naps and nighttime since birth. Until now. Argh! How the hell do I get her to sleep now?! She won't be rocked and comes off the boob before falling asleep and looks around. She will fall asleep in the car seat and (with a fight) in the sling. But these are no good in the middle of the night, and I can't always wear the sling.

Anyone experienced this?

Yes! I pre-empted it before it got too bad but I think my approach and results would have been the same. Fed to sleep for everything, then it stopped working 100% of the time as my LO got too good at drinking! So I bought the sleep lady book, read it, laughed heartily and felt terrible, and bumbled though to our current 'routine'. I try really hard to spot when she's tired, even if it's 'not the right time', and put her in her cot, quiet and dark (for naps and bedtime, the only difference is bedtime has a bath and bottle too). I then stroke her back (front sleeper, rolls to it herself) and shhh. She'll be very angry! Sometimes quite loud, other times just moaning and grumbling. The first night it took 25 min, I had to walk out for parts of it, but us holding/rocking/trying more milk was all just screamed at. Since then, she'll whinge for max 10 min. On occasions she'll really cry, but usually when I've missed just how tired she is and she's super grumpy. I guess you could call it 'cry it out', I do often leave her to it when she's just having a moan and she does nod off within 10 min. I've more confidence with it now and can judge if I need to stay or not. Initially I stayed but not too much anymore. Hope that helps? (Teething... sleep regression recently). Night waking is much the same but it's easier, except at 5am where I once stoked her until 6am after milk. 5am is not morning this close to daylight savings time!!

Stroked! Not stoked! I'm tired, sorry!
And about laughing heartily, that was at the book which said my LO should nap for 1.5-2hrs. She usually naps for 30m!

Yes, my DD did the same at around this age. For us it coincided with her starting to roll and push up onto all fours; she would have a quick feed and then clamber around my bed for an hour before being exhausted and collapsing on my lap. She got really upset if she was left so bedtime took a long time!

Probably not what you want to hear but in the end it just passed, especially when she mastered crawling. She now jus. t lies on my lap until asleep and has started feeding to sleep again in the middle of the night and for some naps...so if you want to continue doing it, you might find it's possible again in a few weeks.

Ds2 stopped feeding to sleep for naps once he started eating 3 meals a day. He is 7 months and although he doesn't eat huge amounts it does mean we have a more structured routine. So he would nap on the way back from taking ds1 and dd to school and then after lunch, without being fed. I was still feeding to sleep at bedtime until last week when I couldn't cope with hourly wake ups anymore and sought advice. The advice was to feed, bath, story and bed. I thought he would scream and fight but I don't know if it's the stricter routine or what but it's worked. He just falls asleep, and I never thought I would say that! So what I'm saying is if you have the daytime routine down then the night should (hopefully) go smoothly as they are tired enough to fall asleep alone, but not overtired and a screaming mess.

This scares me! I fed my DS1 to sleep until he was 2 and want to do the same for as long as possible with DS2. It works for us as both boys make themselves sick very easily when they cry which is a nightmare. My worst fear is DS2 stopping! I'm interested to hear everyones coping strategies in case it happens for us.