Breastfeeding to sleep

[Rev27]

My ds is almost 8 months and still breastfeeding in the morning and evening. He relies solely on me to get himself to sleep at night and is still waking up 2/3 times for a feed in the night resulting him ended up sleeping in bed with me. I’ve tried various techniques to try and help him get to sleep by himself but it’s literally impossible. I can’t really go out at night anymore and although I have loved feeding I’m getting to the point where I would like him to go in his own room and bed now and feel like I’ve got myself into a sticky situation. My husband works funny hours therefore I can’t use him to help out, we have tried anyway and it’s been a disaster therefore he says I will just have to wait until he grows out of it. Any advice??

Hang in there! Once my ds turned one, he could suddenly go to sleep without feeding.

Hi @Rev27 I have almost the exact same issue

My DS was 8 months yesterday, still breastfeeding and waking up at least 4 times a night for it. On a bad night it's every hour. And he isn't using me for comfort he's physically feeding and draining the boob!

I'm at a loss as to what to do, he is slowly taking less in the day. I offer it before each nap. He usually takes it before lunch but not his morning nap.

I'm religious about feeding him regularly so that he's full and will start to drop them. But he won't. He's a boob monster and I don't know what to do.

He refuses a bottle and won't take milk in a sippy cup (and he loves his cup with food!). Only the boob will do. Sigh

Oh and he's in his own room so I have to get up and go into his room and feed him in the colddddd.

Sorry that was long! I'm so SO tired and I'm dreading going back to work in March if there's been no improvement...

Don't get me wrong I love feeding him and he really loves it too. I just wish I could get a break and perhaps more than 90 mins-2 hours sleep in one go

I’m hoping that will be the case, I’ve heard of babies still breastfeeding at 4 + and I’m getting worried that is going to be me so good to hear they can naturally wean them self off early...

Ahh no that sounds awful every hour. The odd time my ds has been up every 1/2 hour but it’s usually when he has a cold Or teething? Also my mum is obsessed with feeding him meals and the days she has minded him for a few hours and gives him lots to eat he sleeps better ( not sure if it’s a coincidence ) but maybe try offering him an extra bit of food throughout the day? Who knows ey.... hope things improve I’m sure they will

Have you seen The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantly, it’s about getting put of exactly the situation you are talking about. Teaching a breast feed baby to self soothe.

Both of my two reached a stage where it didn't put them to sleep any more, around a year of age but exactly when they were ready to drop from two naps to one. When that happened, they were very grumpy about it but I felt better about finding other ways to help them sleep because there wasn't the option to feed them off to sleep instead. The oldest one settled best with a good feed and then having his bottom patted and the younger one likes me to put the fingertips of one hand between his shoulder blades and bring them all into a kind of gentle pinch in the centre and then move them out again repeatedly. Both continued to feed until over two.

At around 8 months I got fed up of having to lie in the dark for an hour sometimes an hour and a half from 9.30 every night. So I'd give him a bottle of formula, then b feed him to sleep. After a couple of weeks he bit my nipple a couple of times and decided he didn't want n feeding any more. He slept through after this, it was a miracle! He was on bottles of mixed b milk and formula by this point in the day and he shortly went on to just formula after.

Mine was about 18 months before he stopped breastfeeding to sleep. Until then he didn’t really understand what no meant, so if he didn’t get milk he just got hysterical. I started saying no to breastfeeding between 11pm-7am but still let him sleep in bed with me. For weeks he still woke up and I told him no milk and he cried, but eventually he went back to sleep. Then I managed to get him to sleep in his cot, though he still wakes up in the small hours and wants to come in my bed.

I don’t think stopping breastfeeding will be the magic bullet you want it to be though. Non breastfeeding kids still wake up and it’s more hassle to deal with if you’ve got to get out of bed to see to them.

Thanks for all your stories and advice, I guess every baby is different. I’m not in an urgent rush to stop and going back to work soon so maybe things will naturally fall into place but it would just be nice to feel like
I can go out past 8 o’clock and know he’s not going to be in a state and he’s definitely ready to go into his own cot soon as he is big for his age lol... I’ve tried leaving him to cry in the night and sometimes he does go back off but other times he screams for dear life so I have to give in