Feeding to sleep

[Happygolucky12]

My 16 week old little girl feeds and falls asleep. She is hungry so I breastfeed and I look down 5 minutes later and she is asleep. Apart from being in her carrier this is now the only way she naps. What do I do? Should I let her continue and hope that she finds other ways to get to sleep as she gets older? Or do you have any ideas of how to help her sleep by herself. Another problem I have is that she wakes up when I try and put her down in her crib so if she is to have decent nap I have to stay put - not a problem at the moment but I will want to start to do more around the house soon - thanks x

You need to find new ways to settle her and to get her to sleep. I didn’t with my first DC and ended up having to do controlled crying in order to get her to sleep on her own once I returned to college and to wean her. Much harder with a toddler than a baby 😊 x

Yes - I don't plan on breastfeeding once she is weaned....

I perhaps should mention that she doesn't have a dummy (she refuses and I am not keen on them either) x

I came across this post the other day. I like how she did it in gentle stages e.g. A pillow on her lap that the baby was on and when he was near the end of the feed she removed her nipple and supported him on the pillow while he learned to drift off himself
www.janetlansbury.com/2016/02/how-i-helped-my-baby-learn-to-sleep-guest-post-by-alice-callahan-phd/

Thanks - I'll take a look x

Feeding to sleep isn't a problem or a bad habit, it's what babies are designed to do so don't panic! Your DD is still only tiny, and as she gets older she will grow out of the need to have you close and the comfort that brings in order to sleep. Please don't try sleep training this early, give her some time and she will learn to sleep on her own.

She's too young to sleep train at the mo so don't bother. Try lying her on a pillow or feeding laying down when you feed her - makes the transfer easier.

Have you tried feeding her while lying on your bed? Easier to slip away after she's fallen asleep and loosened her latch.

My son is 9 months old and I still feed him to sleep most of the time. He goes to nursery 2 days a week and my MIL 1 day and he naps there with no problems. Maybe I’m just lucky but my DS can self settle though I’ve never sleep trained and almost always feed him to sleep when he’s at home. I wouldn’t stress about it OP.

Thanks - I'll going to see if settling her on a pillow will work. I don't get on well with feeding lying down x

Mine fed to sleep until about 6 months (not intentionally, she just fell asleep that way). It was fine. When she didn't need to do it anymore, other things worked. When I needed to get up, I'd wear her in a wrap. Eventually she was happy to be moved from feeding into the wrap.

I feed my 4 month old to sleep. It works well for us and she sleeps brilliantly at night. I'll continue to do it until she doesn't need to.
Daytime naps can be a bit frustrating as she will wake sometimes if I try to move her to crib. Shes narrow enough for a sleepyhead still so ive borrowed one which does help. However shes old enough now that shes happy to entertain herself for short periods so I use those moments for showering, hoovering and getting the dinner on. It's amazing what we can do in 10 minutes and sometimes I can get half an hour out of her before she decides she wants me back!

Mine fed to sleep (or napped in the sling) til he was two. He was a horrific sleeper (and continued to be until around six months after I'd stopped feeding to sleep) - not sure how he'd have slept otherwise. But I'm glad we did it the way we did - which isn't to say everyone should, only that I'm glad I didn't pay attention to the nagging sense I "ought to teach him to self-settle", which he learned anyway. Controlled crying isn't an inevitable consequence.

He started nursery at 15 months and quickly learned to go to sleep differently there.