Leaving fed to sleep baby in the evening

[GreyLemur]

My 8 month old will only be fed to sleep and will cry until he gets the boob. He's then awake every hour or so and will only resettle with the boob. I haven't been out after 6pm since he was born and my husband is telling me to just go and let him try and settle him. He says it will be better than I think, but I can just imagine him crying and crying until I get home. Any experiences?

Well it's worth a shot. Just be near so you can ditch the plan if needs be. Until he learns to self soothe he is reliant on you and he might just settle better if you are not there as an option. I feel for you. Eight months is a long shift. Give it a go I say.

Pantley pull off might be worth a try - basically unlatch them, let them relatch and then gently take them off again after 20s or so. The idea is that they don't get distressed because they cuddled and the nipple is available, but eventually get to the point where they fall asleep not latched which helps weaken the association.

@UnaOfStormholdI hadn't heard of that. Thanks, will try!

He’s right - she won’t accept with the boob is in the house. When my daughter refused the bottle I left her with my mum with a variety of bottles. The mix of an experienced parent, a different environment and hotter than normal milk seemed to do the trick.

Might also be worth him leaving the house to go somewhere different.

I think you need to give it a try, your baby isn’t a newborn anymore and I would be trying to break the feed to sleep connection. Then you get your freedom back and the baby will sleep better.

Similar to a previous OP my eldest didn’t much like the bottle until he had no choice but to get on with it when be was 8 weeks old. My mother managed to sort it, I had to be away from him for medical reasons.

He has never had a bottle but he will now have some breast milk out of an open cup or straw cup, so I'm not worried about him having his milk, just the comfort to get to sleep.