When did you stop feeding to sleep?

[Beachwaves127]

My Dc is ten months and EBF and no dummy (she was not interested in one). Currently I feed her to sleep. It is quite quick I feed her at 7.45pm and she’s conked in her bed by 8pm. If she wakes in the night I also feed to sleep.

She currently wakes 2-3 times a night.

Just having a bit of a panic as I’m going back to work soon. Sometimes I think this is ok as in reality it’s quite quick and easy to do. Other times I think gosh she’s never going to learn to self soothe.

-Interested in hearing other stories / experiences about when you feed to sleep, did you stop or did baby reject, and how did you go from feeding to sleep to being able to put baby in her crib at 8pm and her drift off by herself.

-i really don’t understand how or when we will make the jump from feeding to sleep to her being able to put herself to sleep?

-is waking 2/3 times normal at this age for an EBF

ps she can self settle at times some times she stirs / wakes a little at end of sleep cycles but will put herself back to sleep.

Watering milk down worked really well for us, we started with a mix of 3oz of milk to 1oz water and then slowly increased the water ratio until he was getting 3oz of water of 1oz milk and he stopped waking up at night looking for milk once his metabolism got used to not having a bunch of calories in the middle of the night.

I know you're breastfeeding but if she'll take expressed milk in a bottle you could try this. My son was a bit older when we did this though, I can't remember how much water they're allowed under 1 now.

The last time I fed DS to sleep he was over 3 years old (it wasn't every night by that point), but he would go to sleep in different ways for other people! At nursery he put himself to sleep. DH tended to rock him to sleep. My parents would walk him in the pram until he fell asleep. If he knew I was not available (e.g I might be out of the house at bedtime, or at work during the day), he would be more likely to accept someone else.

@Pollywoddles yoir update makes me feel better about my situation 😂 1yo DS 2ho is fed to sleep and dur2the night can sometimes self settle, mostly fed back to sleep but can also be rocked sometimes. I go back to work in a week 😭

I fed my eldest to sleep and coslept until he was almost 2 - he spontaneously decided he'd had enough and stopped BFing altogether when I got pregnant again - maybe it tasted different or something! I night-weaned him at 15 months though but continued to cosleep and after that he still woke once or twice but would go back to sleep with just a cuddle from either of us. Going through the same now with his brother who's 6 months and also seems to need the boob to drift off!

I actually didn't ever "feed to sleep" I actively avoided it. Purposefully laid them down to go to sleep in their cot from being awake and did pick up put down. No leaving to cry to sleep.

Only because a friend said they fed to sleep with their first and it was a nightmare!

These mums that can happily co-sleep amaze me, I hate being touched when sleeping, the noises keep me awake etc.

So what works to maximise everyone's sleep including your own.

With my first son I fed him back to sleep until he was 10 months old and then I sleep trained him in preparation for me going back to work.

With my second son I fed him back to sleep right up until he naturally started sleeping through the night which was when he was about 18-20 months old.

You see this is what I’m hoping will happen with my little one, eventually she’ll just stop and start sleeping through.

I know she doesn’t need it but she’s going to be my one and only so I think I actually need it more than she does 😂

Just keep going for as long as you can and if that means lots of feeding to sleep then just go for it!!

I fed both of mine until they were 3 years old and it’s just such a special connection to have.

They're 6 and 9 years old now and I can hear them arguing downstairs and God how I miss those middle of the sleepy breast feeds 😂❤️❤️

Babies that don’t breastfeed still also wake a few times a night. They can be “sleep trained” not to cry for anyone when they wake, but the waking still happens. Sleep is developmental and sleeping through the night typically happens between 2-4. There are always exceptions to this rule. Breastfeeding is recommended until age 2. You are doing your child an amazing service by providing comfort, safety, and breastmilk. Do not let anyone tell you differently. No one ever looks back and wishes “I wish I wouldn’t have comforted my child so much”.

My eldest I night weaned at 17 months but kept the bedtime feed until her brother was born just after she turned 2. We’d been alternating bedtimes for ages though so I only did every other night from somewhere around 1. She’s 3 and she still needs us to cuddle her to sleep otherwise she just can’t wind down.

My younger DS 14 months I just tried him one a week or so to see if he could settle himself and one day he could just do it can’t remember exactly when but close to his first birthday. We do bath-pjs-books-boob-bed. He doesn’t fall asleep feeding unless he’s really tired. Again we alternate bedtime so it’s only every other day he gets bedtime boob.
He starts the night in his cot and I bring him in with me when he wakes up (usually one or two night wakes unless he’s ill)
I probably could resettle him in the cot but I’d get so much less sleep that way it just isn’t worth it to me at the moment.

Still feeding my two year old to sleep. I night weaned at the start of the year because I was having horrific feeding aversion. She started mostly sleeping through in March but we still have the odd wake up but she's fine with a cuddle. A few months ago we started my DH doing every other night and she's adapted really well to only getting fed to sleep every other night. She goes down fine for my mum and nursery but I think I'll really struggle to not just resort to breastfeeding so it's staying for the moment.

I was in the same situation and continued feeding to sleep my daughter was until three and a half. Similar to you it was very brief feeds and about comfort and cuddles. She woke once or twice in the night and i would feed her back to sleep in a couple of minutes. I found ir a quick and easy way to get her to sleep and after a day at work enjoyed the quiet down time and snuggles! As it was so quick to get her back to sleep at night I would go straight back to sleep too and felt able to work even though it wasn’t uninterrupted. I stopped feeding at three and a half by explaining to her, and got a special big girl present when we stopped. I do sometimes miss the ease of feeding to sleep!

I agree with the poster above that even if you don’t feed back to sleep they are likely to still wake up as it’s more about comfort than food. My daughter started sleeping through at about three but not every night.
All to say when back at work i really appreciated the super power of feeding to sleep!

Still doing it at 4.5years!
my husband has been able to put her to bed from around 2.5-3 years without milk obviously. Just cuddles. But it’s so easy for my bedtimes so I never stopped. It’s never been a trial or a chore, night times are ever evolving and we just did what our little one needed

Night weaned (through the night) at 8 months but still feed to sleep at 20 months now. No idea how people get their kids to sleep without boobies.

18 months for us. DS weaned naturally at that point.

I fed to sleep for a long time but stopped the through the night feeds at about a year. We co slept up until a year so he just latched on and off as he wanted but a year he was sleeping through so we moved him into a toddler sized cot in with his brother. I used to get in with him feed him to sleep and the ln creep out like a ninja! Then on the occasions he did wake up my husband and I would take it in turns to settle him but I never offered him the breast. If make sure he couldn't get access to them with a jumper or dressing gown.

“found ir a quick and easy way to get her to sleep and after a day at work enjoyed the quiet down time and snuggles!”

This is why I’ve carried on - because it literally takes me about 5 mins to get her back to sleep so it is very easy!!! But on the flip side I am at a stage where I am wondering if short term pain to try and get her sleeping through long term would be better. It’s really helpful though to hear that I have had a similar thought process go you.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Oddly enough, this evening at dinner, instead of saying ‘now milk’ when she wants to feed she said ‘now milk hug’ and made a hug gesture so yeah, I guess it’s mostly comfort for her at this stage and I’m loath to change that even if the sleep deprivation is wrecking my brain.

150ml of water under 1yr

I'm worried that if I night wean instead of sleeping through I'll be rocking, patting/shushing or doing something else...so it won't stop the night wakes per se....my little one can self settle for bedtime and naps, so it's a mystery to me which she needs it to resettle during the night.

I often, but not always, fed DS to sleep
until he was about 10 months.
I night weaned then, for my own sanity, as I felt he didn’t need it as he was eating so well. The night weaning went better than I imagined it would, so I moved onto also stopping feeding as part of the bedtime routine.
I initially used a technique called “the Pantley pull off” from Elizabeth Pantley’s book “The No Cry Sleep Solution”
Then I cut breastfeeding out of the evening routine all together, giving him a beaker of milk before brushing his teeth and story time instead.

Shortly after he lost a lot of interest in being breastfed and we fully weaned him. He’s been a good eater from day one which probably helped.
He started sleeping through the night after being night weaned. And is a good sleeper now he’s fully weaned.
I couldn’t have faced going back to work having to deal with multiple night time wake ups, so I’m very grateful it all worked out!

So true about FF babies. My lo started sleeping through a few nights a week a couple of weeks ago but he's hitting 1 and having a growth spurt so it's back to giving a bottle in the night🫣 he's been such a terrible sleeper from day one and I still have to feed then rock to sleep but if he stays out all night I'll take it😆

We stopped feeding to sleep at 6 months. Did gentle sleep training similar to the 'gradual retreat' method if you google. Some protesting at first but was worth persisting in our cases. Keep up breastfeeding in night till around his first birthday but would put back in cot awake. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do

20 months here and still feed to sleep … along with rocking. Last baby and it’s so peaceful couldn’t be bothered with crying and screaming 😁

Feeding to sleep is a super power, don’t stop it if you don’t have to. You’ll be amazed what your little one can do when you’re not around. Who will be looking after when you’re back at work?