How did you stop feeding to sleep?

[LucyB1]

Just wondering...

Watching with interest. DS rolls off the boob after he finishes, but still yells for me when he wakes. Would love to find a way for DH to do some night settling.

How old are your babies? Mine just stopped falling asleep whilst feeding around 4 months but he then used a dummy to go to sleep.

6 months. It's not really a problem now but I foresee it will be soon.

I never really understand how I was supposed to avoid feeding to sleep. I usually slightly roused my baby by putting his sleeping bag on, but I definitely wasn't going to deliberately wake him up to put him to bed. He now rarely falls asleep on the breast, except during the night, it just happened naturally from about 8m. I just put him in his cot and he usually settles down to sleep after a few minutes. All those months of milking to a coma don't seem to have hampered this ability!

For both of mine it was after weaning and they rejected the post-lunch/pre-nap feed. Took a little time to get them used to napping without being fed to sleep but not too bad, easier than evenings or during night. Meant when they were older and didnt feed to sleep at bedtime they knew what to do...
Must confess tho, with DC2 used feed to sleep during the night for longer than I should have as it meant being back in bed within 10mins. Switched to water when it stopped working!!

I had to do controlled crying with mine at 5.5 months because he was having a 15 minute feed and then spending the next 90 minutes faffing about waking up every time I took him off and then going to sleep as soon as I put him back on, and I got sick of being tied to him for 2 hours every evening when he wasn't actually feeding. Also I couldn't put him down asleep because he'd got bigger and heavier. It worked well for us and now he goes down awake. I did try some supposedly gentler methods but anything which involved me picking him up without feeding him just caused him more distress as he couldn't understand why I wasn't feeding him. I can see they might have worked if husband could have done it for a bit but this wasn't possible because of his work hours.

Dd learnt to self settle at about 9 months. She'd been drifting off on boob but then waking when I put her down and then mucking about for ages til she was crying with tiredness and then I'd feed her again and she'd drop off for good. Bit of a pain. Anyway one eve she fell asleep face down on the bed whilst mucking about. So the next bedtime I fed her then put her down and told her to go to sleep and walked out. She cried on and off for 10 mins but never hysterical just I'm cross and then went to sleep. And that was that.
I was so pleased when she learnt to settle because boob just wasn't working anymore.

I had to use controled crying as well. It was painful to hear her cry but eventually i got my sleep and sanity back.

Dd was 20 months before I stopped feeding to sleep. She got a bad cold and went off feeding so we used that opportunity to put her in her bed awake and did gradual retreat. No crying and it only took a week.

Mine stopped falling asleep whilst feeding by himself. Was over a year, and I actually found it quite annoying, as feeding was the easiest way to get him to sleep!

What is gradual retreat?

Gradual retreat is where you put them down awake then sit next to the cot until they are asleep. Then after a couple of nights of that move a little bit further away from the cot. Then a bit further etc etc until you are by the door then out of the door can take as long as needed and the idea is baby doesn't cry as you are still there and only move away gradually so they get used to it.

watching with interest...feeding to sleep at 13months!

Same as daluze, unfortunately. Mine is 14 months now and has just stopped all by herself. Really annoying as was the best way to get her to sleep.

I worried I was doing wrong feeding her to sleep for so long, but now she won't feed to sleep I wish she would!

I think with breastfeeding whatever you choose to do is fine, but I'd recommended keep feeding to sleep while you can cos its a blinking nuisance when the stop! :)

18 months. Waiting for the final teeth to come through before night weaning as it's going to lead to some horrible sleepless nights otherwise. Gradual retreat sounds the way forward - he can get out of bed so controlled crying will not work. I am toying with the idea of a Sun clock and saying "no milk during sleep time". It's the only advantage of his age!

Dd is 21 months she still feeds to sleep most of the time (for daytime nap and bedtime).

She started asking for 'cot' lately after feeding, so I lay her down and she asks me to 'rub' her back. Sometimes she drifts off, sometimes she doesn't! Don't see it as a problem to be honest as I'm here all the time, however I'm due number 2 in August so I'm a bit anxious about that!

She still feeds in the night too, but that's a whole other thread!

I fed to sleep until about 19 months, then I just stopped offering and he stopped asking - there wasn't really a transition, I just put him into bed and he went to sleep! Needed a dummy and a favourite teddy for comfort but it was very smooth. I think he was just ready.

Instead of feeding for naps I used the buggy up until about 14 months when he just snapped into a routine of napping in the cot. It helped that he had a rigid routine at the cm and was used to napping in the cot there.

Sorry I should make clear that I probably fed for naps up until 8 or 9 months. Going back to work knocked that one on the head though so he would go for a ride in the buggy and get off to sleep that way.

Past the age of 1 and sat next to the cot holding their hands instead. It wasn't as bad as I expected and both of them slept a bit better as a result. Also had the cot right next to the bed so I could hold hands through the bars in the night.

Dd was about 21 months I think. Dh just started putting her in her cot awake, instead. There were no problems, it worked straight away - never had to do any sleep training techniques or anything. She self-weaned altogether shortly afterwards, so I guess was just ready to stop.