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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

breastfeeding to sleep - when did you stop?

26 replies

badg3r · 11/03/2016 21:01

DS is 15 months and every night I feed him to sleep. He goes to sleep within about ten minutes normally, and I love the cuddles after being out at work all day so no plans to stop. But there have been several raised eyebrows from people I don't know very well when I say I still do this (after the inevitable does he sleep question ).
So I guess I'm wondering, am I weird to still do this?! Till how old did you do this with yours?

OP posts:

Iggi999 · 11/03/2016 21:43

Ah well I'm not sure if this is what you want to hear but my 3.5 year old has only recently stopped feeding, and the cuddle and the feed was a nightly thing (now it's just a cuddle). Was always faster feeding him to sleep than not feeding him! The reason to stop is if one of the of you is unhappy with it.

poocatcherchampion · 11/03/2016 21:44

Oh I wish mine would fall asleep on the boob. They never have.

Ninjagogo · 11/03/2016 21:45

Still feeding to sleep at 22 months here... As long as you both enjoy it, carry on.

Swannykazoo · 11/03/2016 21:50

Still feeding to sleep at 26 months. Don't believe biology would invent something so clever that needs fought against, just snoozing /mumsnetting with it

SliceOfLime · 11/03/2016 21:53

About 2yo with DD1, stopped gradually at my instigation. Still feeding DD2 to sleep at 18mo, will see how it goes but probably stop at similar age just because I'll have had enough by then! Do whatever's right for you

Diggum · 11/03/2016 21:55

I've just stopped BFing DD aged 22 months. Pregnant with DC2 now and it was getting a bit too sore for me. She was only really having one little feed before bed but would often (not always) fall asleep during it.

I think it's a little piece of heaven having your DC fall asleep in your arms. I treasure those moments so so much. One day it'll be the last time and you might not even know it. (Apologies for soppiness.)

Thankfully DD fell asleep in my arms minus boob last night so I know it's not over!

BertieBotts · 11/03/2016 21:57

I can't remember TBH, DS fed until he was 4 but he didn't feed to sleep until the end. (I wish I'd had such an easy sleeping tool!!) he used to have a little bit and then decide nope, he was done. I can't remember how old that was but it was after he was in his own bed so he must have been older than 2.

Underbella · 11/03/2016 22:01

You're not weird at all.

DD1 refused the boob at 13 months old. Our last feed to go was the first one in the morning.

I hope DD2 will go longer. Boobs are great providing food, comfort and warmth all at once!

Original poster

badg3r · 11/03/2016 22:12

Thanks for the reassurance!! I really love it, no intention of stopping. I think I will blub A LOT when I realise he doesn't want to feed any more.

It's so funny how acquaintances went from huge encouragement and back slapping for feeding to a year to looking at me like I was some sort of social pariah for feeding him to sleep a couple of months later! Like we should all sitting at home looking at our watches and counting the seconds till they hit 1 and we can jack it in

OP posts:

Ragwort · 11/03/2016 22:22

Why do people even ask/talk about it? I can't imagine any conversation where I would actively enquire how someone puts their baby to bed .

Original poster

badg3r · 11/03/2016 22:36

Rag neither could I before it started happening. It's not very often, but enough that I've picked up on it subconsciously I guess.

Half the time when people ask "how does he sleep" now I just say "like this", close my eyes, throw my head back and open my mouth. Maybe I should just stop saying anything

OP posts:

shiteforbrains · 11/03/2016 22:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DontBuyANewMumCashmere · 11/03/2016 22:49

My 15mo DD is still fed to sleep at bedtime. She also this morning, for the first time ever, didn't ask (sign) for milk on waking up. I just went with it, gave her some cows milk and an early breakfast.

But I'm not in a rush to stop, per se. I have a wedding in September that I'm a bit worried about but don't really want to stop her feeding just for one night. Obviously she may have stopped by then anyway; great, her choice.

Sorry, just rambling.

I haven't had many odd questions yet but if I do get asked when I'm going to stop I always say I'm in no rush, and that it's a great tool for when she's teething or poorly.

Writerwannabe83 · 11/03/2016 22:57

I stopped at 10 months but only because I had HUGE issues with DS's sleep, one of which was that he wouldn't sleep unless fed to sleep which isn't an issue in itself but it is when it meant he didn't nap and was waking every 1-1.5 hours in the night and only going back to sleep if fed.

He's 2 next week and is still breast fed but yes, feeding to sleep stopped a very long time ago for us. I was worried that it would be a hard habit to break but thankfully it wasn't and his sleep (and mine) then improved dramatically.

I wouldn't have stopped though if there weren't any sleeping issues as I used to love the snuggly bedtime sleepy feed.

Junosmum · 12/03/2016 09:01

This thread has reassured me, I was wondering if I needed to wean DS off feeding to sleep, he's 10weeks! I think we'll carry on a bit longer!

Original poster

badg3r · 12/03/2016 15:26

Yep Juno I wouldn't worry about it!! Thanks for reassuring me everyone that we aren't the only ones.

OP posts:

ispymincepie · 12/03/2016 15:33

26mo here and it was surprisingly easy to stop too.

boobybum · 12/03/2016 15:38

I stopped recently around the time DD turned 4 although by that stage it was literally just a few seconds on each boob. Now we just have a cuddle although she does occasionally ask for booby and if she's unwell I'll let her have it.

MrsHenryCrawford · 16/03/2016 23:24

Writer-do you mind me asking how you stopped? Was it difficult? My 5 month old feeds to sleep, which is fine, but at some point I'd like if someone else could put him to bed. I've tried to pat him off to sleep but he just cries

purplepopple · 17/03/2016 12:42

DD is 22 months and will still feed to sleep if I do bed time, she falls asleep in five minutes if DH does bedtime tho with no requests for boob!

squizita · 17/03/2016 15:37

Mine is 17 months and has started to not fall asleep after her feed very recently.
She wants "Beebee" (Baby room at nursery AKA me rocking her and singing Old Macdonald of all things) now! I'd rather BF tbh!

Heartbreakingly she sometimes doesn't want "Bubboo" at all, just "Beebee". and yet also because ...

LikeCandy · 18/03/2016 20:29

3yo next week and still feeding to sleep!

feeona123 · 18/03/2016 20:50

About 13 months with my first. I then started laying next to the cot to get her to sleep!

My mam told me to stop being silly and I actually listened to her advice for once, after a couple of nights she was straight down herself!

Swannykazoo · 20/03/2016 09:57

LikeCandy I'm quite sure that'll be us too!

BettyBi0 · 20/03/2016 14:44

I stopped the feeding to sleep at night around 11 months and kept the morning feed going a while longer.

Does your DC have many teeth yet? I'd just worry about bathing them in the milk every night for too long. Mind you I'm sure you could be extra careful with daytime teeth protection to make up for it (eg water after all food, restricting fruits to a couple of mealtimes, no raisins etc)

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