Breastfed to sleep - how to get 9mo to nap by herself!

[chumbler]

I feed to sleep which has suited us fine for now. However I work from home and so it would be so handy to get baby to have her naps by herself (in her cot upstairs maybe?) Rather than falling asleep on me! That way I can work for a while! Any tips?? I've never managed it! For bedtime I feed to sleep for about an hour then ease her into her cot, however I just can't seem to do this during the day as she either doesn't feed so long or wakes up as soon as i put her down and gets really sad! I think I need to put her down awake but never done this successfully. Any tips?

I think this is just a case of bite the bullet and do it. It may take a while to become established, but just start trying to settle her in the cot.

I would feed until drowsy/asleep then remove nipple and move to an on your shoulder winding position. This rouses baby slightly but still offers a chance to settle again. Rub back for a few minutes as cuddle wind-down time and then place into the cot.

You stay right by the cot, rubbing baby's back, shushing, tickling, whatever works. The point is that you don't pick the baby up - they settle to sleep in situ in the cot, but with you right there next to the cot. I have a bedside cot so this would involve me lying on the bed eye-to-eye with baby, always a reassuring presence.

Stay until baby is asleep, then leave. Over time reduce gradually reduce the level of reassurance needed with a view to the end-point being when you can put baby down awake and she can settle to sleep alone whilst in the cot. Realistically this will be many months away though.

Thank you. I'll have a think about what to do... I hate the thought of waking her after spending so long getting her to sleep, and once she's woken she is usually too awake to sleep again straight away. I guess I was after some miracle tip that probably doesn't exist

I need to try this too. DD always feeds to sleep on me for naps and it means she doesn't sleep long as she wakes up if I move slightly. Either that or she'll sleep in the car.

With DH she sleeps in the sling for hours, but neither of us have mastered putting her down!

We could do with getting her used to it as she's starting at childminder's in a month, and while she's said she's happy to cuddle her to sleep, having to sit holding her while she naps might be a bit much..,

I have just managed to do this with my 6 mo. You have to fight your natural urge to get baby as sleepy as possible, instead you need to watch baby like a hawk, as soon as yawning/eye rubbing begins, give a bit of a cuddle and get them into their cot, I am also trying to encourage attachment to a blankie to help self soothing. It felt v counter intuitive after 6mos spent perfecting the sleeping transfer to cot, but it worked suprisingly quickly. Now, if only she would stay asleep!

Hmm so you look for the signs then put her down immediately? Does she mind?

I hate the thought of waking her after spending so long getting her to sleep

That's the issue. You feed to feed. Not feed in order to get to sleep. You are aiming for baby not to fall asleep when feeding.

You asked: Breastfed to sleep - how to get 9mo to nap by herself - the answer is to stop breastfeeding to sleep. BF to drowsy by all means, but not to sleep.

You could solve any confusion by feeding baby upon waking, not upon going to sleep. I have always used this method, it means that there is no association between feeding and sleeping.

She protested a bit the first few times and I had to pick her up and let her suck my pinky, but now she goes down and either burbles for 10 mins or goes straight to sleep. She now seems to look forward to going down for naps. Other things I did was spend a bit of time with her playing in her cot so she got more familiar with it. I tend to feed about half hour before nap, just to reduce the chance of hunger waking her up. I was v suprised how quickly it worked, has given me a good hour of my day back.

First little sign of tiredness - eye-rub, yawn, serious face - I fling DS into his pod and simply walk off. He has a dummy and a white noise giraffe. The room is dim but not dark. I ignore yodelling and whimpering. In the extremely unlikely event of a full cry I return to ssh-pat. As soon as he calms down I leave again. My presence seems to actually hinder him going to sleep.

Thank you all. I'm giving it a go. I know she's able to sleep without being fed as she sleeps in the car / pushchair. She's not happy being put down but I guess so long as shes not properly crying (just protesting) I should give it a go. Thanks for all the advice ladies

Great news! Thanks for updating. I hope it goes well for you.

Didn't go so well :( she started crying after I put her down. I tried to ssh pat but she cried until I picked her up. She's now super playful but grumpy - overtired! Just tried putting her down again and she has started crying immediately :(

We have got a new teddy that sings lullabies which could help for naps? I'm not keen to introduce it to bed times though as happy with her sleep at night

Was it a proper full on cry or just a bit of a grumble/protest shout? If the latter, leave her, mine will sometimes groan for 10 mins or so and then nod off. If she cries, I pick her up, cuddle til she stops crying, put back down, repeat.
I am no fan of cio, but do feel there is a difference between leaving them to grumble and leaving to cry.