7 week old needs boob in mouth to sleep - help!

[Muntjac]

Just wondered if anyone (and I'm sure many of you must have had this problem) has, like me, experienced their baby needing to have a boob in his/her mouth in order to fall asleep? My son is 7 weeks old and I breastfeed him (with a bottle of formula before bed).

We co-sleep, and I go to bed with him at 10pm. He used to drop off in my arms after his bottle of formula and then I would just lay him in the bed, get in with him and go off to sleep. But for the last couple of weeks, I've been finding that he stays awake after his bedtime feed and will immediately start rooting for my boob as soon as I put him into the bed. If I don't guide him to my boob then he will start crying and won't stop until he gets the boob. The longer I let him cry, in the hope that he will give in and just take a dummy instead (which he won't - I've tried), the more worked up he gets, so I have started to just give in.

Worse still, he is finally starting to get tired in the day and need daytime naps, but the same thing happens in the daytime - he can't fall asleep unless I feed him, regardless of what time he last had a feed, and will cry until he is blue in the face unless I give in. He always falls asleep at the boob at a certain time of day.

I would like to try and sleep train him at 12 weeks as I want the bed back to myself again, but am petrified that unless I correct this problem now then there is no way I will ever get him to sleep in his cot.

Anyone have any advice/suggestions?

Many thanks in advance.

I know, I know - nipple confusion yada, yada, yada but otherwise she would NEVER SLEEP!

Sorry, just spotted he won't take a dummy, I feel your pain!

It's totally normal for babies to fall asleep feeding and to struggle to do so any other way at first. Many babies don't start to calm down and be able to fall asleep in different ways until they're about 3 or 4 months old. You really don't need to worry about bad habits at this stage; he is so tiny that he will be changing all the time for the next few months. If he wants to feed, let him.

I find my DS wants to stay asleep with my nipple in his mouth if he's overtired. You could try getting him to sleep after being awake for a shorter period of time to prevent overtiredness. You could also try a pram, sling, swing or bouncy chair, or rocking / walking with him.

Sleep training is something which is best attempted age 6 months or upwards according to all the sleep books. However, you might like to have a look at the No-Cry Sleep Solution which has ideas for reducing babies' reliance on sucking right to sleep.

Really, I wouldn't worry. At this age I spent all my days walking a pushchair with a screaming baby in an attempt to get him to sleep. Then we had several weeks when he'd only sleep in the sling. By 3.5 months he was napping in his cot. :)

Congratulations on your baby!

...just to add that for many babies, unsettledness peaks at 6-8 weeks, so this could be the worst for you.

really, don't worry. Breastfeeding is so lovely and important and special and you have a long journey thru the world of sleep to come.

Let yr LO fall asleep on boob for now. It will be ok. Later on things will settle down and you will be able to help your baby to fall asleep in other ways. Right now he just needs your comfort and love. Really, please just try to enjoy the peace and comfort that BFing gives him. My dd was seriously ill aged 6-10 months and I am so, so happy that I didn't give up on breast feeding and I wish I had stopped panicking about her falling asleep on the boob sooner.

The pantley pull off (no cry sleep solution) does help. Having one bottle a day will also help.

My DS is 5 months and still likes to fall asleep with the boob. However once he's asleep I can pop him in his cot and he'll sleep thru til morning...
They're all different, but don't stress about it too much, he's still very small.

My DS did this too and it was actually quite extreme and went on for a few weeks, in that he would literally 'jump' in his sleep the minute my boob was out of his mouth. Which at some point became unbearable for me & we used a dummy & persisted until he took it. If you really want him to use a dummy & the 'boob in mouth' thing is as extreme as it was in the case of my DS (ie went on for hours & hours & HOURS on end to the point of mind-numbing irritation on my part) then a dummy can be a life saver. But you have to persist persist persist with the dummy, they don't know how to keep it in their mouth at this stage as they're so little, you'll have to teach him.

However, dummies create a whole new set of problems, ie every time dummy falls out of mouth you run the risk that if your DS is a 'sucky' baby he'll just root for the dummy & you'll have to plug it in. Which in our case got worse & worse as DS grew, he would literally only be able to sleep 1 hour at a time before dummy fell out, then wah wah wah, then we plugged it in, etc.

This is a hard time, the first few months, but believe me it'll soon be over although it doesn't feel that way now...

Thanks everyone - it's reassuring to know that it's ok to allow him to do this and that it won't necessarily result in irreversible problems. I will however read the no-cry sleep (and nap!) solutions and try to get him to be able to sleep without the boob sooner rather than later as my boobs are very sore and his habit is making it worse!

use tons of lansinoh. hope things get easier really soon

I found I got v sore nipples when DS was feeding to sleep for bedtime/naps at 4 months. He still feeds for all naps etc now (7 months) but it's quite a while since it made me sore, even though he now has 5 teeth. It does improve, but it might be worth getting your latch/positioning checked.