Sleep success stories for 22 month old please and advise/ideas!

[Stargirl2707]

I’ve posted on Sleep board too but hoping someone will see this and have some advice for me which has worked for them!

My 22 month old sleeps in the same bed as me. He’s always been a frequent waker through the night, never any different. For this reason he shares a bed with me as I also work full time.
I’d love him to learn how to fall asleep on his own. Currently he falls asleep for my partner at bedtime, we transfer him to his cot in his room, and then after his first wake up he’s in bed with me for rest of night. I breastfeed him back to sleep each time he wakes (usually every 2 hours from his first initial wake)

His first lot of sleep can be anywhere from 2-4 hours before he first wakes, then every 2.

How can I help him?
How do I help him to fall asleep on his own? How do I wean him off night feeds?

I'm definitely no expert but had 2 breastfed babies go from feeding to sleep to falling asleep in their own beds (neither of them sleep through but that is a separate issue!)

There's a few issues to contend with and I'd be takling each one alone rather than dealing with then all at the same time.

It seems like he has a strong association with sucking and sleeping. I think you either need to give him something else to suck on (dummy/bottle), put up with him feeling a little distressed for a few nights while he get used to not having breast milk to fall asleep or accept that your breast is his pacifier and your sleep will be disrupted until he sleeps weans or can sleep through the night.

Bedtime - does he have a cot/his own room? Have you tried laying him in it at bedtime (after his final feed)? What happens? dd1 would just scream but dd2 quite likes it and will ask to get in if I'm holding her and then then holds my hand.

Once you've got him falling asleep in his own cot (can take ages) then I'd be working on getting him to stay in his cot. I'm still working on this bit but it would be along the lines of letting him come in with you but not feeding him - assuming he eats well and doesn't need to the nourishment your milk gives and its a comfort thing? And then building up to settling him in his cot through the night once he's able to get through the night without a feed.

The main thing I've learnt about baby sleep is to tweak rather than do big changes to avoid distress and that its constantly changing!