How to get dd to sleep now not BF

[Addicted2DairyMilk]

I didn't realise once you've sussed one thing out with babies another thing completely unravels!! Have just mastered the art of mixed feeding (previously dd was refusing bottles from anybody)and for medical reasons I couldn't BF for 24 hours. (I had been doing only lunchtime and teatime formula feeds, the rest BF). Last night was the first night in her 15 weeks of life I couldn't BF her. And she screamed and screamed at the time she would normally fall asleep, was unable to settle her with anything. In the end I reached for a pacifier and with a few sucks she fell straight to sleep. I wanted to avoid a dummy as I have managed to so far but it was the only way she would sleep. Now I'm starting to think about stopping BF completely in next few weeks and I'm scared that I can't sooth my dd to sleep at night with it. Any similar experiences when weaning from BF? Any tips would be fab.

Hi Addicted DD was a bit of a sucky baby until the age of 4 months or so and I too wanted to avoid dummies as a personal choice. At times she just wouldn't BF to sleep - I got around it by letting her suck my little finger (pad up to the roof of her mouth, nails trimmed short) and it used to take all of about 2 mins for her to drop off. She only did it for about 4 weeks and then would let me rock her to sleep when BF didn't do the trick. Not sure what I would've done if the sucking had persisted though, but may be worth a try?

Hi there

DD was BF to sleep every night for 5 months- when we decided to change things the easiest thing seemed to be for DH to take over bedtimes. Now DD has bottle of formula at 6pm, bath, then goes into cot around 6.45. DH used baby whisperers pick up/put down to calm her and comfort her, we did this a month ago and he is completely in charge of bed time. If DD even sees me in the process she wants BF so I use this time to go to the gym or get bits done. The first few nights were very tough- I had a girls night out and other things so I wouldn't be in the house listening, and tempted to interrupt, and honestly DH has it sussed.

Its a big change to make to your bubs so its good you are thinking of how to do this now- if DH helps out you both need to be in agreement about how you are going to do this, eg even now, DH is in charge of wake ups until 1am-he will give her a cuddle but back to bed. After 1 I will offer a feed, and at the mo she just has 1 feed then back to sleep until 6am...

good luck x

Thanks for your advice happy and Scarlett. I will try the sucking on my finger for a bit instead of using a pacifier when I attempt to wean evening BFs. I've also got some sleep books out for tips and I think I'll look into PU/PD as well. I just get scared of changing things when as it is things are easy and going well, don't want to rock the boat! But at some stage it will need to happen, so am preparing now. DH will be good helping when we try new techniques. Thanks again.