Should I stop feeding 8 month old to sleep and teach him to self-sooth?

[Martha81]

I have BF my 8 month old to sleep virtually every night since he was born. It is his longest feed of the day - 30-40 min (less than 10 min in the daytime). We can also put him to sleep with rocking in the sling, when feeding occasionally doesn't work. I am happy to feed him to sleep at bed time, but recently when he wakes in the night he has a long 30 min feed, rather than a quick 10-15 minutes and back to sleep, which he did when he was younger. I think he's now comfort feeding, rather than waking from hunger. He's often slept through the night, just not consistently, so he is able to go up to 11 hours without feeding. We've had a sleep regression, then a cold then teething, and now he's learning to crawl! He is waking up once or twice in the night, and I'm up for 30-60 minutes. It doesn't sound too bad, but I'm going back to work in a month and am worried about how I'll cope if I'm still up for that long in the night. I keep hoping he will just grow out of waking and comfort feeding - does anyone have experience of that? Any suggestions on the best way to help him get to sleep without comfort feeding, if it continues? I'm not sure if a drastic sleep training regime is worth it, as he does sometimes sleep through, and I'm a bit too lazy / soft hearted for the consistency required!

Hmm, does sound like comfort.

Is it at the same time every night ie habit or does it vary?

I would either reduce the feed length even if that means a bit of crying once back in cot, or offer water and cuddles instead of milk, perhaps with a bit of controlled crying if you're up for it if needed.

I did controlled crying with my dd at 6 months to remove 3/4 night wakings and at 7.5 mths does sometimes sleep through, although usually crying v briefly once or twice.

Thanks for your reply. It's not at the same time every night, he's a very variable sleeper! I'm going to try reducing feed length, and also going to try putting him in the sling before I try feeding him when he wakes. We'll see how that goes...

Did you try a dummy? I've also started putting my 8mth old to bed earlier at 6 instead of 7 and they settle more easily, as not as exhausted when put down to sleep

Mine has also been through having a cold related to teething so I propped up head with a pillow which helped. Also has a sleeping bag thingy so can't kick off covers.

Doesn't help that this is peak age for separation anxiety in babies!

Thanks 123upthere. I have tried a dummy - he thinks it is amazing, but for playing with for a few minutes, rather than sucking on! I've been meaning to give earlier bed times a go. It's all very confusing - so many thins influence baby sleep! DS was a good sleeper from an early age, but it's always very changeable from week to week and day to day. Such fun!