Still feeding to sleep at one.

[Littlejayx]

I need some advice please!

My girl is one and still needs to be breast fed to sleep and wakes up 4/5 times a night to feed back to sleep. Is this normal?

I don’t have anyone to ask really and she’s going in her own room this month ( co sleeping currently) and by the looks of it I’m going to be under her unicorn bedding with her 😭.

I don’t know if I’ve made my life hard by feeding her to sleep this long ?

Please can a more adulty adult offer advise.

Yeah I'm still doing this with my 20 month old! I think you'll have to act to change it rather than hoping it will stop because in my experience it doesn't

I can't really give advice because I'm not an adulty adult but I think I heard someone called Jay Gordon offers good advice

I'm still doing this with my 1 year old to. Do you find when they wake in the night they don't really 'feed' as such it's more of a 2 minute comfort then I can substitute boob for dummy? I'm co-sleeping to. We done it all against the rules didn't we? Glad I'm not the only one

DS2 is 26 months, still feeding to sleep. DS1 stopped forcibly at nearly 3. If it works, why stop?

But if you want to stop, google Dr Jay Gordon. He's helped me cut down on night feeds.

Mine kept going til 2yrs 9 months

I could have stopped her earlier, but was nervous about how hard it would be so took the easy option and just kept feeding.

Nightfeeds we stopped about 1.5yrs, when we decided to just send her dad in to give her a cuddle if she woke, so she knew we would still always respond but she didn't get milk. Took about 3 nights of fussing in his arms, but then she didn't bother waking as she wasn't getting the milk!

At 2 yrs 9 months I said she'd probably have to stop soon, and she said "maybe tonight?" And that was it. She's fallen asleep on her own since that night. And it only takes her a few minutes.

I honestly thought I'd be breastfeeding a teenager to sleep!

I'd say just switch when you're both ready. I was so worried it was going to be hard to stop, but looking back I would probably suggest it to her several months sooner. Might try to stop my next one shortly after 2nd birthday if they're also a feed to sleeper.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do! My feeling is though that it is not as hard as I anticipated, so try not to fear making the switch, whenever you decide to!

Oh I’m so glad I’m not alone!!!!

Yes it’s so strange because I’ve been told by my health visitor that they usually self wean, my girl seems to disagree 😂.

It’s a wake Up, quick angry scream at the world then teeny amount of feeding then sleep.

I’m stuck being in bed at 8pm forever 😂

I’m still feeding my 3 year old to sleep (i’m happy to do so) although she will go to sleep without it for her dad when she stays at his and occasionally tells me she’s had enough and wants me to go away so she can sleep.

There’s a great group on Facebook called Breastfeeding Older Babies and Beyond. Lots of mum’s feeding babies happily, or wanting to cut back a bit, or carry on as they are but just have a safe space to moan and ask for support.

Not unusual
My second child is still breastfed to at least three times a week at age 2.5 and she loves it, I am worn out form feeding her and her younger brother but so be it.

Won’t be this way forever!

Breastfed to sleep sorry!

Yep totally normal if that’s what your baby wants.
Breastfed babies tend to want the closeness more as breastfeeding is more than just food to them.

I had the same feelings when my youngest was that age. He didn’t quite understand why he was now
Going in his own bed and I got
Up a lot to soothe him back off, and to be honest I lost out on more sleep than co-sleeping. In the end I gave up and just let it be.
He helped himself at night so I wasn’t disturbed too much.
We continued to co-sleep for another 8 months or so, breast fed in his bed and I could get a good 5/6 hours until he wanted to feed again throughout the night. Occasionally I would sleep on my front so he couldn’t feed, but was still in bed with me. Feeding throughout the night decreased.

I slowly stopped the feed to sleep and replaced it with a back rub with my finger tips. He still came in my bed but not For a feed, just a cuddle and the feeding just tapered off.

You are not alone. We are in the same position with our 15 month old. Still feeds to sleep and wakes several times a night. Thinking of night weaning soon but not in this awfully hot weather. (Or maybe I'm just putting it off)
DH works away in the week so I can't send him in to settle. DS1 was and still is a fab sleeper. We thought it was our excellent parenting, but things have gone spectacularly awry with DS2, so obviously not.....

Still feeding my 21 month old to sleep and I don't intend to stop. It's biologically normal. Dummies were designed as boob substitutes, not the other way round. Co-sleeping has made my life so much easier. She's happy and I've never experienced the extreme sleep deprivation I was hearing everyone talk about. In fact, she's just fallen asleep and is off the boob and I'm wasting time on the internet instead of going to bed!

We’ve just stopped feeding to sleep at 2.5 years. I honestly felt like I’d be feeding her forever, but it really is easy to stop when the time is right. She just needs that comfort from you at the moment and she’s still so little. Try not to worry about outside pressure and do your own thing, whatever works!

It's a slow process ime. My ds is 18 months and is capable of falling asleep on his own, but not every night. He's teething his second set of molars so sleep is a distant memory right now!

With my older dc by the time they turned 2-ish they were mostly just feeding when they first woke up.

It may be different once she is in her own room.

My DS is 21 months and still fed to sleep, but now in his own room he doesn’t wake so often, in fact has slept through most nights for about 6 months.

I fed my DD to sleep until she was 13 months. Then I stopped breastfeeding, I was worried how she'd be but she seemed to accept it. It helped that my DH took over doing bedtime so she didn't associate it with me and my boobs! We did co sleep for a few months longer but that's because she's always been an unsettled sleeper. Once we got her in her own room she started to sleep through.

It's entirely natural, you're doing what is right for you both right now. I too was worried I'd be making a rod for my own back but it worked out.

Yes, normal and yes they self wean but usually a bit older I think

My DS is 13 mo and will accept boob then cuddle/ singing. For bedtime only, not nap, on a good day only

Still night feeding though but sometimes he does just want a quick cuddle and down so we're getting there.

DD self-weaned at 15 months. It just sort of happened. If you do decide you want to stop before it occurs to her she doesn't need it, I cannot for a minute believe that sleep training a one year old is harder than a six month old. I don't think sleep training is much fun for anyone at any age, but you haven't made things worse by taking the path of least resistance until now - and you won't break her if you decide to sleep train, even if there are a few miserable nights.

Thank you for all the advise, it really does help!

I am going to go into her own room at the end of the week and see how she gets on. I do want to stop breastfeeding to be honest. I feel like I have done a year which is beyond what I planned, but i have loved the closeness.
So we will see if she sleeps better in her own bed