3 month old baby.. bedtime routine

[Huntersmum15]

I'm looking for abit of bedtime advice.. I've had a terrible habit of feeding my baby to sleep. He's 3 months old now and doesn't know how to settle himself to sleep (my own fault I know) I'm really keen to break this cycle.

This evening we had bath time, quiet time, fed him, burped him and then went to put him down and he screamed straight, I was told to reassure him, leave the room, return after 5 mins etc and continue this process until he settled. This went on for an hour and he's finally asleep. Is this the best way to do things or is there something else I should be doing? I want him to be able to settle himself without the need of the breast. TIA

I think 3 months is still teeny tiny to be trying to get DS to settle himself. He's only just out of "4 trimester" if you're interested in all that. It's definitely too early to sleep train, leave for bouts of crying.

If I were you I'd stick with your good routine but have realistic expectations. I'm not sure a baby of that age knows the difference between night and day yet.

Don't worry too much about rod for your back, it's still early days for that. It's natural for a baby to nurse to sleep. Completely normal and what a lovely, safe, cosy feeling for a baby in a big, scary, new world!

If he's still feeding to sleep at 6/7 months then you can tackle it then. I stopped feeding to sleep at 9/10 months and he didn't fight it, he was ready to change to cuddles then eventually cot and tummy rubbing then gradual retreat but that's months away for you yet.

Please comfort your baby and don't leave him to cry, he's too little for this approach. Ultimately, do what you're comfortable with and what works for you and your family.

Yep, he is a little tiny to work out self soothing without intervention. Have you tried shh pat for naps and bedtime. My DS is also 3 months and this is starting to work for me. I started in the day, never feeding to sleep,. . If it times that way and once that was Sussed did at bedtime and for night awakenings. I also have a nap routine before shh pat, singing etc.... once it started working I continued the usual bedtime routine And put him down awake(ish) and shh pat worked more quickly then. However he has also found his thumb so that makes it a bit quicker and I put a bit of white noise on which I need to wean him off. Sometimes I think it is only myself who thinks it makes a difference. Anyway, google shh pat, it is the beginnings of teaching him a different way to fall asleep other than feeding I guess. Don't expect it to work straightaway. Took a week for me, started out taking up to 40 mins or more to get him to sleep, but just put him down for a nap half an hour ago and it took literally 5 mins. Do have off days though. Hope that helps but as slugonthewindow says, I don't think it is the end of the world if he feeds to sleep. I just do that on bad days. Good luck