Don't know how to stop feeding to sleep

[Cheekyandhonest]

Hello, I am a first time mum and my baby girl is 13 months.
I used to breastfeed her to sleep both at nap and evening/nightime. I have to admit it was easy for me this way and i could get some good sleep. Her cot is 'attached' to my bed so during the night i just breasfeed her and she goes back to sleep.

Last week i decided to remove the feeding association at nap and just breastfeed her in the evening so progressively i can stop breastfeeding. I do enjoy breastfeeding but i feel like i am ready to let it go.
So the past 2 days i did not breastfeed her before her nap and gave her a bottle of milk instead. She drank it but after she cried and could not go to sleep. She is obviously exhausted and needs her sleep so i don't know what to do.
When it was sunny i did take her out and she managed to sleep in the buggy for a bit but it was very hard as she is not used to it.
In the evening i breastfeed her and she is happy but then just wanders around the cot, i stay next to her, she comes on top of me and it takes her 1 hour to fall asleep. I am not a fan of any crying method and my husband is worse, he gets even more emotional when he hears her crying.

Am i doing smth wrong? What can i change? I am worried with this change she is not able to get any sleep during the day and she needs it for sure at her age.

Please help me with any advice you may have if you had this experience, i will be extremely grateful.

Thank you so much and sorry for the long post.

Hi - I don't think you're doing anything wrong, it will just take time for your baby to get used to it.

I will say there will probably be tears - how else will she communicate that she's annoyed with you? Lol but if you're there comforting her, it's fine.

I think you could look at how you will wean her though. There's a few options. I also recommend looking up Lyndsey hookway on IG for good tips. You could-

1. See how long she usually breastfeeds for and then over the course of a few weeks unlatch her a minute earlier every few days until you're no longer feeding at all.

1. Feed at nap and bed time but not if she wakes in the middle of the night.

1. Habit stack - so for a few weeks while she is feeding, do other things aswell like patting her bum, sushing, playing a certain song. Then start to not breastfeed but keep doing all of the other things in hopes they are now the sleep association.

It will be hard but if you're ready to stop then you can do it. Good luck x

It takes time to change habits. Two days isn't that long really. Think about it - if for some reason you had to stop breastfeeding tomorrow, she wouldn't just never sleep again. She'd be annoyed but eventually fall asleep, then a bit earlier next day, etc.

Could you try bf downstairs then take her up to bed and do a routine up there, so you bf but not in bed and don't let her drift off?

Personally I think nobody likes crying but if you see it as protest at not getting what she's used to, rather than massive distress, it might help. She's not a tiny one month old. She might cry because you won't buy a toy or let her have more cake etc, if you behave lovingly but firmly then she's not going to be damaged.