Have I messed it up?

[molly84]

I decided last week to try and gently sleep train my 7mo so I don't always feed him to sleep. I'm been shush/patting and gradual retreat which has been working 70% of wakings, but last night he wouldn't have any of it and needed feeding to sleep again every time. I've had about 3hrs sleep and feel everything has got worse than it was before. I'm worried I've done it all wrong as haven't been that tough...it he starts getting too upset I stop. Shall I just give up on the idea of sleep training altogether, or do I continue with my new method and try and be more consistent? Thanks

Sometimes babies need feeding at night because of teething or a growth spurt or hunger.

I would suggest you do feed up to, say 12pm, then no feeds until say 5-6am unless really upset. This gets baby more used to the lack of night feed between a certain window and then you can think of stretching it.

Thanks iggy, I have been doing that, but when I feed him I try and put him down awake so he goes to sleep on his own. However last night just wouldn't settle unless he fell asleep on me feeding. You're right about teething or growth spurt maybe...perhaps I need to be less hard on myself and just try again tonight and take things slow. So hard to know what the right thing to do is when you're exhausted! X