Is there a kind way of getting a 10 week old to fall asleep without the boob?

[Artijoke]

DS will only fall asleep if pushed in a pram, bounced in a chair or breastfed. That's fine in the day but at night he wakes and needs the boob every hour. He is not hungry as he falls asleep within a minute or two of sucking.

I am shattered. He is my third child. I can't sleep when we co-sleep so that is not an option. I need him to Hearn to sleep without the breast so at least DH can do some of the wakes.

A dummy is the obvious solution but he spits it out. I'm currently by his cot shushing and patting and striking but he is going berserk. I would be so grateful for any tips on helping us through this.

Stroking not striking!

Funny typo!!!

I understand how you feel, I had 3 close together many years ago and it was haaaarrrdddd.

I have to admit I cheated and gave them a bottle of hungry baby formula at bed time ... two out of three of mine had dummies as well though - my third likes to be swaddled ... hope someone more useful comes along

I'm affaid I'm not going to be any help, but could have written this post so watching with interest....

The no cry sleep solution suggests pulling out the nipple just before they fall asleep so they learn to sleep without sucking. I lost patience after a while of trying that (but do know people who have found it helped). A combination of dummy, swaddle and shushing helped for us at that age and then at about 5 months we went cold turkey on the dummy (I don't like them really!) and replaced it with a snuggly toy. I still do occasionally feed to sleep but at least he can fall asleep by himself now. Also making sure they're not too tired at bedtime helped us. All trial and error though.Good luck.

GEt DH to give him a bottle in the dark in utter silence. Stay out of the way.

Hmm interesting. We have the same issues including dummy refusal! Currently I get no evening because DD feeds on me to sleep and then I cannot put her down unless she's fast off.

I've just been for a 3-4 month check with the HV who said we need to break this habit. She suggests putting her down drowsy (not convinced as when she does that bang she's wide awake and rooting). Said to try to cuddles/hand on her tummy and to try getting DH to put her down instead. I'm a bit skeptical to be honest but he's willing to try and I would love a bit more evening after 15 weeks of evening cluster feeding so will give it a bash!

I wad you and have written a detailed plan of how I moved off this to sleeping through the night. Do a search using posts by my name if you are interested. There was some crying, but no leaving to cry and we went from 5 feeds a night to none in about 5 days.

Was you!

Watching with interest for tips!

Nicknamefail could you link to your plan, please? I've had a look and there so many posts I can't find it. Thanks!

this thread? nickname?

I bought the No-cry sleep solution and am trying the techniques. Early days but last night was slightly better.

I've just contacted a sleep consultant to help me with this for my 9 mth old.
I've got a plan to take a gentle approach starting tomorrow night. Involves crying but not leaving her to cry alone.

It's got horrific for us and I'm close to insanity (not being flippant) so its great news you are looking to tackle it now...I wondered about doing it for us much earlier but was quite into attachment parenting and didn't want to upset her. Rightly or wrongly it wasn't the right decision to let her carry on as I think its going to be a lot harder now.

The feeding to sleep element of attachment parenting is wonderful in lots of ways but its very hard if you need to change things, go back to work or you have a child who will only want you and who wakes ALL the time.

Skinny that's why we're trying now - that and we would love an evening out! Good luck implementing it!

You too.

I think he is too young tbh (if you want to do it kindly). 10 weeks is still well within the fourth trimester that people often talk about (the idea that babies in the first three months of life actually want an enviroment as close to the womb as possible). I would leave it for a month and then try. After four months things like eat activity sleep actually make sense because they are old enough to do stuff when awake and with the structure you can introduce sleep cues like baths and stories

My DD2 is 10 months and will only sleep after a feed. I am searching for tips after 10 months of regular night feeding and no on else being able to get her to sleep. So you are right to want to crack it! A friend of mine always gets her babies to have a special cuddly toy. She puts it in the cot with them from 5 weeks (I think) and they eventually pick it up and cuddle. Hers both suck their thumb too but mine doesn't :( With my DD1 I did three yawns then swaddle, dummy and cuddle to sleep. Never ever fed her. Second time round and all the rules have gone out the window for quick fixes...now am paying for it! I found the baby whisperer EASY routine great so I would recommend that. I started with it at around 6 weeks.

My plan is under a thread called 'sleepless 9 month old, at my wits end'. I was not the original OP. thecrhreadxwas in parenting. Cannot post link, don't know how. I seriously recommend it, dd sleeping through beautifully and for the last 4 nights I have placed her in the cot, said goodnight and walked out. She cries on and off ( while lying down) for about ten minutes, but not desperately upset crying Cohen she sleeps till 6. Try it!

I wouldn't do my plan for less than 8 months though...

Nicknamefail I've found the other thread and been reading your plan. Why would you not do it for less than 8 months?

DS is 6 months, only feeds to sleep, wakes lots in the night and will only go back to sleep with feeding. I was thinking of trying to do something to tackle it starting in a week or 2 as ideally I'd like him to be sleeping better before we move him into his own room (which isn't ready yet anyway).

I have 6mo twins and until about 10 days ago had to feed them to sleep for all naps and at bedtime. DTD was waking 5-6 times a night. Bedtime was taking well over an hour.

I couldn't do CC (it's just not for me!) and feeding to sleep was becoming less reliable. Also it's VERY difficult to transfer them to their cots without waking them.

What has worked for me is patting them to sleep in their cots. I normally do DTS first as he gets more upset. But general idea is put in grobag, kiss on cheek, say good night, it's time to go to sleep. Put in cot. Then pat rhythmically until they fall asleep. Other hNd firmly on bum (they are tummy sleepers now and v agile so i dont worry about them not being on their backs) Then continue patting for another count of 100! If they squirm, put back in sleeping position gently but firmly. First 2 times, I had to lift DTS to console him when he got very upset, but now it's cross crying rather than upset. Sometimes they go to sleep in less than 5 mins, normally less than 10 although if they are not tired enough, it can take 30 mins or so.

I also got them used to the rhythmic patting by doing when I was feeding as well, so it became associated with comfort.

It's brill! They are down to waking once before midnight and once after for a feed. so etimes, they need a pat abck to sleep but feeds drastically reduced. Napping better, sleeping better. They have the odd bad night and early wakings as they get used to more sleep but it's a million times better and DH can now resettle them too!

Brugmansia my dd wasn't eating lots of solids before 8 months and I wasn't sure it was hunger she was waking for earlier. I also think they learn quicker at 8 months. If your dc is eating well I'm sure it would be fine at 6 mo.