Tips and advice please (may have made a rod for my own back!)

[Misslgl88]

Hi ladies

Wondered if you could help. My son is 15 months old and had always been a good sleeper going to bed around 7.30-7.45 but still had the odd restless night. I usually sit in te nursing chair with him while he has a bottle and then once he's dropped off I put him in his cot and that's him pretty much, I myself enjoy the cuddles before he goes to bed but am starting to wonder about how this will work when new baby arrives in April.

I'm now wondering how to go about just putting him into his cot with his bottle to self settle to sleep and wondered if there are any tips for this? Or is he too little? I tried last night and he was fine while he had his bottle but once it was finished he was standing at side of cot and nothing like falling asleep. I'm just starting to worry that if I continue with the routine I will never get him to go to bed without being cuddled.

Any advice much appreciated

Bumping as also interested in this!

So massive disclaimer to start with - my ds has only just turned 6 months old and this is therefore not based on personal experience of a baby this age - however, with a younger baby if you were trying to break a feed to sleep association you would keep a careful eye on the baby and stop the feed when they are almost but not quite asleep, then lay them down to finish falling asleep on their own. You gradually increase how awake they are when you lay them down until they can fall asleep all on their own. No idea if this would work for an older baby but worth a try? If the feed is his only sleep cue, you may also want to add in others such as a special song, or comfort object like a blanket or muslin etc so he knows that when he has that thing it is time to fall asleep.

I tried with that with his lullaby dog last night he was more interested in poking it and making it chance song wee monkey

I'll give that a try though with the bottle and falling asleep see if I can do that. I'm not sure I'm ready to let him CIO yet

Change song even!

Why change if what you are doing is working and enjoyable. It's a lovely stress less relaxing time which you could end up completely turning into a fraught time for you both.

Dd is 15 months also and we have the same routine as you. She'll be the one who dictates when that changes.

DD is my third, eldest 15 and I did this with her also.

I have a son who was two when my twins were born so slightly older but-I bathed all together and all in pyjamas at same time. My son then watches peppa etc in his room on iPad while I feed and put twins to sleep. I then read to him with his milk and put him to bed. It's now a year on and we follow the same routine. Obviously in the very early days feeding babies take ages and there may be some going back and forth to resettle (or that time being an early evening nap for the baby rather than bed time) but I always did what I could to make sure he had that time with me because I think it becomes even more important once the new baby arrives :) x

Thanks for the replies ladies I'm glad to hear that what I'm doing isnt wrong or going to make it more difficult in the long run. I was expecting quite a few people to say I shouldn't be cuddling to sleep etc. I'll keep things as they are for now and see if DS lets me know when he is ready for the next step.

Much appreciated