Would walk in walk out work for my 10mth old DS?

[MatchsticksForMyEyes]

We co-slept for 9 months. He is brilliant at going off to sleep without being fed to sleep. Yet still wakes 2-3 times a night and takes a bf. I am convinced he doesn't need this, but unsure as to what to do.

Any method that involves me staying in the room won't work as when I was trying to get him to stay in his cot all night he would only settle if I left the room, even if he was furious when I was leaving. He only ever cried for 3 minutes maximum as I timed on my phone.

He does expect that when I go in in the night that I will feed him though. Not sure if walk in walk out would make him more mad or if I would get some quick results. Should I start at say, 3 mins and increase the time I am out by 1 minute at a time? I'm going to start tomorrow night when I don't have work the next day.

By this stage with mine they were dropping the final dream feed at 11pm and sleeping through until 5 or 6am. If they woke I usually put some bonjela on their gums as they were teething like mad, shush/ patted for a moment and left. They would react like your boy but soon settle. They'd then sleep until the bonjela wore off and then wake again. It's tricky as you must be exhausted.

Think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and start tonight. Think I will leave him for 2 minutes at a time to settle and see what happens. Gulp!

Hope tonight goes ok. Maybe you'll get a few more responses and ideas now I've bumped the message.

When I decided that DS didn't need night feeds anymore (about 9mo) he had slept through a few times but not consistently and messed around at the boob when it was offered.

I did exactly what you're suggesting. Walk in, walk out. He couldn't settle with me in the room either. Still can't.

He woke up and I went in. Picked him up, quick cuddle (standing up to stress the not sitting down for a feed) but no feed. Not loads of interaction but not ignoring him either. Straight back into cot. Kissed and said goodnight. Walked out. Cue wailing but of the pissed off rather than upset kind. It stopped within a minute. It took a couple of nights, but he's slept through ever since. He wakes occasionally but all it takes is replacing the dummy and he's asleep again usually before I've even left the room.

As a rule, and this applies to naps and bedtime, I walk out after saying goodnight (even in the middle of the day). He often yells for about 20 seconds and then self-settles. I will always always go back in immediately if the yelling takes a turn for the upset rather than the pissed off.

I did walk in walk out. I put his white noise CD on and laid him back down. Walked out and timed on the stopwatch on my phone for 2 minutes. I had to go back in 3 times before he settled. He was awake for only 10 mins. Same at 1 a.m. 20 minutes awake at 2ish, but then he slept til 6. Which is the best he's done as usually the later part of the night is when he wakes most frequently. I'm optimistic about him sleeping through soon since he does clearly not need feeding and can self-settle. I am so pleased he didn't keep going for as long as my daughter used to. With her I used to be awake for 1.5 hours at a time trying to settle her.

That's great!