1 year old will only fall asleep on the boob!

[dreamerkr]

Hey guys, I hope you’re all well! My almost 1 year old DS will only fall asleep on the boob, I have to feed him to sleep for his naps and at night too. I cosleep with him. I don’t mind feeding him to sleep but he still wakes up 2-3 times at night to feed, he only goes back to sleep on the boob and he doesn’t fall asleep with anyone else. I was wondering how I might get him out of this habit in the next few months? He doesn’t know any other way to fall asleep.

Bump

Bumping for you - I’m in the same position!

First, don't worry. This isn't unusual.

Second, what do you want to happen? Personally I moved to pram napping - my mum was taking over childcare some days and she's rather walk baby to sleep than try and settle in a cot. Motion is usually soothing, so you build up sleep association by feeding them a little early till they are relaxed but not asleep. Pop them in the pram and IMMEDIATELY start walking. The first few times will take a while for them to nod off, but they don't tend to be distressed. After they've done it a few times they nod off much faster. My 3 have often been asleep before my mum has got to the end of the garden!

You could introduce a dummy. This is tricky at that age though and may not work. Or you may not want to.

Going straight to cot naps from feeding to sleep is likely to be tricky. I'm very much in the no-cry camp. My boys do nap in their cots (now beds) but I didn't introduce that with caregivers until they were very used to going to sleep for that person with motion etc.

My eldest did nap at nursery without motion, but never well. I wasn't totally happy with how they handled it, but she gave up the nap pretty quickly so it didnt become a big issue. Some nurseries will do naps with motion, some won't. Whats your situation?