Parents of older children who fed to sleep when they were babies

[darksideofbuttonmoon]

DD is 6 months and has always fed to sleep. When she was a newborn it honestly never occurred to me to get her to sleep any other way, and now it's a habit that she doesn't seem in a hurry to break.
She feeds asleep for naps (which she takes on me), she feeds asleep in the evening and then goes into her cot asleep, and she feeds back to sleep if she 'wakes' at night. I say 'wakes' because she doesn't wake fully just kind of whinges in a half sleep that turns into a cry if she's left.
I keep reading that it's a bad habit but the thought of trying to break it makes me feel a bit ill! DP has tried to settle her, for example, but she screams the place down and it's difficult to listen to when I know she'll settle with a feed. Likewise, I'm not loving the idea of pacing up and down with her for hours when a five minute feed will see her (and me!) back to sleep.
Can anyone offer reassuring stories of their own feed-to-sleep babies who just grew out of it on their own, or am I REALLY going to have break this habit myself [has a little tantrum] ?

And ds has the music he went to sleep to after he stopped feeding to sleep on his iPod and uses it if he can't sleep when he's away or wakes in the night. So brilliant sleep associations!

DS stopped feeding to sleep of his own accord - he was about 1 I think. He continued to bf till 23 months when he self weaned.

Once he stopped needing to feed in the night (18 months) he was, and has consistently been, a fabulous sleeper. No sleep props at all, will sleep anywhere, goes off to sleep easily, and nothing wakes him before he is ready.

Hakluyt my daughter cried far less during 'sleep training' (which was nothing of the kind, rather the gradual, gentle withdrawal of night feeds) than she did waking 2-3 times a night for a feed, tired and frustrated.

There is no need to be so damn militant.

"There is no need to be so damn militant."

There is when I see poor sad women on here scared to comfort their tiny babies the way their instincts are telling to to because somebody has decided that it creates "bad sleep associations". There was a woman on here worrying because her 3 day old baby was falling asleep on her chest! And there are alwqys women saying "I know it's wrong"" I should stop it"........,,,,

I didn't let my twins sleep on my chest. I also didn't let anyone hold them if they were asleep. They are no toys to be played with or passed around. They need to be left to sleep.

Everyone is allowed to express their views and what worked for them. No need to be snippy. Now don't you have a teenager to rock to sleep?

Hakluyt my first response on this thread was: do what works for you. I agree that women with tiny babies - or any size baby! should not be made to feel bad. I fed DD to sleep for a long time, when nothing else bloody worked. But can't we extend the courtesy in the other direction? MN is rife with threads by mostly mothers, losing their mind over sleep associations in older babies. It's not unreasonable to discuss those things on a thread about feeding to sleep.

My daughter almost always fell asleep on breast. When she turned 1 she started falling asleep on her own, but she does wake up ALOT at night for feeds.

I fed my dd to sleep until about 9 months until I stopped bf. we co slept and cuddled to sleep for much longer until about 18 months. she is 4 now and goes to sleep by herself at home with no problems. when we're away from home still cuddle her to sleep. do what works