How to encourage sleeping through / wean off the boob?

[Jolay100]

This might be long - thanks for reading
DS is just 9 months. He has never been the best sleeper, but he's also not the worst.....
He has two naps during the day usually 45 mins each, sometimes 1.5 hrs. He is put down in his cot awake and just drops off.
We've had a regular bedtime routine from about 6 weeks. Initially he was breastfed to sleep but after a lot of work we have got to the stage of being able to put him down awake and he goes to sleep, usually between 7 and 7.30 pm.. Then the fun starts.
On a good night he sleeps til 10.30, has a dream feed then sleeps until the early hours, wakes once for a feed then sleeps til 8 am. This happens 1 or 2 nights a week.
At around 6 months he slept through from 10.30 a 8 am 10 days in the row but never since.
Other nights he wakes either 45 mins or 1.5 hrs after going to sleep, and again at 1.5 hour intervals all through the night. Sometimes he just stirs and settles himself, other times he screams and is incredibly difficult to settle even with feeding, sometimes 3-4 times a night.

I'm going back to work in two months and I really need more consistent good sleeping, so over the last 8 days we have tried some controlled crying ( ie returning at 4 then 8 then 12 mins etc) to give him time to resettle rather than feeding. It always works eventually, but sometimes he goes back to sleep in under 10 mins, other times it takes an hour and several returns to the room. I tried sending daddy and we offer water instead of milk but there has been no improvement. We have been as consistent as possible, and he has been as inconsistent as ever.

All the accounts of controlled crying I have heard suggest there should be improve,ent by night 4/5. I'm not even sure it's the right thing to do since he can self settle, but how do I stop the night feeds and get him to sleep through if not? Suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks for reading this essay.

Babies are inconsistent if nothing else! You think they have it sorted then they change it. No advice really as my 10 month old still wakes 3 - 5 times a night, or every 1.5hrs some nights, depends what mood he is in or which way the wind is blowing.....! All I know from my first being like this is that it does get better, eventually. It's normal for babies to wake in the night, not so normal for them to sleep through. Studies show that babies wake more at 9 months than 6 months, probably due to separation anxiety, which CC isn't recommended for. Studies also show that in a group of 2 year olds the sleep was no better/worse between the ones sleep trained and the ones who weren't, they all get there in the end no matter what you do.

With regards to returning to work, I'm afraid babies and children don't read the textbooks, each one is an individual and you will be going to work very tired on and off for the next few years! It's all part of motherhood and you will manage it.

I don't know if you feed at particular times, but I nightweaned off boob a couple of weeks ago. I started at 8.5 months and he is now 10 months. I just said to myself no feed before 2am, after a week it was no feed before 3am until when we reached 5 am I stopped altogether. Now be goes from last breast feed at 6.30pm until morning one at 6.30am. He never fell asleep feeding though and he eats like a horse in the day, which helps him not get hungry over night.