What do I do next?

[LittleMissPear]

Just had a bit of a break through with my 9 month old DS. Up to now he has been fed to sleep every night, wakes every 2-3 hours and spends most of the night in bed with me. Before I consider sleep training techniques I've started trying to stop feeding to sleep. Last night I managed to get him to fall asleep on my bed by just laying with him, tonight I managed to get him to fall asleep in his cot by sitting next to it and rubbing his back, it took 25 mins. A miracle! But what do I do now? When he wakes can I feed him? Or do I need to get him back to sleep in the same way? Not sure I'll have the patience in the night and he will more likely cry.....any thoughts?
Tia

Awww bless you. Of course you can feed him. You don't need anyones permission, just do what feels right and follow your instincts.

Getting him to settle to sleep on his own at bedtime (and naptimes?) is a start. In an ideal world you would do the back rubbing thing for nighttime wake ups too, but no one is superhuman and you do need your sleep. So maybe wait until he's got bedtime and naptimes sorted, then tackle middle of the night wake ups.

Now would be a good time to introduce some form of comforter - like a toy or blanket. This might help with settling to sleep without feeding, and in time without back rubbing.

DS has been settled to sleep in that way for bedtime for about 2.5 months now (nearly 10 months old). Feeding to sleep at bedtime just stopped working, so it was led by him really.

In the last 3 weeks he has also settled this way for daytime naps but this was led by / encouraged by me.

I still feed him back to sleep for any night time wake ups and will continue to do so until his night time wakes up get into more routine (sometimes he wakes once .... sometimes much much more than that) as this is what gets us all the most sleep. I am not prepared to night wean yet as I believe he still needs one overnight feed (he is v distracted during daytime feeds so these tend to be small). Therefore I will keep feeding him to sleep for all wake ups until Im happy to ight wean totally and not say feed for some wake ups and not for others.

So ... it has worked for us and at no point has he wanted to feed to sleep at bedtime/naptime again.

Thank moomin and FATE I appreciate the advise! I think you're right I'm going to carry in this technique and bedtimes but carry in with night feeds as and when.
I tried to do the same with naps today but he unexpectedly fell asleep earlier than usual when feeding this morning and then slept in his buggy while on a walk this afternoon. Will persevere!

Also thanks FATE for the comforter idea. He has a Ewan the dream sheep which he loves and they do an comforter version which I might get....