Has anyone breastfed their child to sleep and they've self settled eventually without sleep training?

[catsarenice]

DS is 8mths and I've always bf to sleep. He usually wakes up once in night for a feed. He usually stirs quite a lot, sometimes cries out but manages to get himself back to sleep. When I eventually stop breastfeeding (no plans just yet) will it be possible for him to self settle? I never really thought about the way he went to sleep but now I'm reading all this stuff about how babies shouldn't be fed to sleep past 6months and I'm starting to panic that we'll still have to bf to sleep when he's 10!! Does anyone have any examples of their dc sorting themselves out naturally without needing sleep training?

Yes, at about 23 months....

yes of course, all children eventually self settle.

Yes.

Google "pantley pull off"

That's reassuring - thank you. I didn't read anything when DD was little and we just sorted ourselves into a routine but she was ff. Everything seems so different with a bf baby and I think I've read too much 'advice' on the net!

Yes, at around 19 months. I wouldn't say I did 'sleep training', but dc was a bit miffed they weren't being fed and I sat with them until they fell asleep instead (an hour or so). After that night they settled to sleep beautifully and no longer woke in the night. It was the right time for us. When it's the right time for you, you'll know op, there is no 'right' way.

Yes. Me. DD is 15 months and is moving towards this. Atm she goes down for me with anything between 5 and 50mins breastfeed, and about 1 in 3 nights she gets down and toddler over to her bed, and puts herself to bed. The other two she falls asleep feeding. When I am not available she either false asleep on DH or puts herself to bed in a similar ratio.

Techniques we are using to support this are:
Toddler bed, lovie and special teddy, water cup which she can access from bed, and telling her repeatedly from about 3pm which one of us is putting her to bed that night.

She does cry sometimes at DH but never more than a few minutes at a time and rarely with tears.

Ds1 did. He breastfed to sleep until he was 1. I switched to cows mum during the day and at night he wasn't feeding as much and I think my supply dropped a bit. In Amy case I stopped breastfeeding when he was just turned 1 and we started putting him down in his cot after his bedtime story and sippy cup of milk. He took a while to settle (about 45 minutes every night) and we had to stay in the room but he wasn't upset at all. He'd eventually nod off. He also started sleeping through the whole night once I stopped bf.

We'd tried all sorts to get him to fall asleep in his own and nothing worked. We weren't really willing to sleep train though.

I've no idea how we're going to do this with ds2 as they share a room.

Yes, I had no problems with mine and I breast fed until about 9 months (teeth stopped me!).

Yes, with gentle encouragement (certainly no crying) my kids learned to settle from approx18 months to 2.5 years.

Yes, at 19 months

Yes, 11 months. My DH started putting her to bed instead of me, with the help of a dummy. I fed her before the bath, then disappeared and let him get on with it. Now, she goes to sleep perfectly for him, and at nursery, and settles well without a feed when she wakes at night. But I still need to feed her to sleep for naps when it's just the two of us... Mummy = milk, she ain't dumb!

yes at 22 months (felt like a liberation for me!)

Yes moved from BFing to sleep and Co sleeping to own bed with no feeding to sleep at 24 months. Probably could have done it a bit sooner but I did it when I'd reached my limit!

Yes both of mine, eventually stopped falling asleep on the boob and went happily into cot and then asleep. I think around 9 or 10 months, certainly before I was back to work

Yes all my 4.
Probably around 8/9 months

Thank you all. Even the hv has been saying not to feed to sleep and I wonder if I'm being stupid to carry on but it feels right for us at the moment.

Yes. At 18 months after self weaning and switching to cows milk first time around and 23 months (no self weaning, refused cows milk) second time. I did need to get their Dad involved though during the transition so that they weren't expecting a feed from me.

Yes, I carried on feeding to sleep then DS started coming off the breast himself and 'messing about' so singing/wriggling/sitting up then lying back down etc before falling asleep. Tbh I preferred feeding to sleep than the messing about and falling to sleep himself!

He did still sometimes feed to sleep but if for whatever reason I didn't feed him to sleep I could tell him to go to sleep himself and he would no problem.

Carry on feeding to sleep, I am a great believer of doing whatever works at this moment in time so of feeding to sleep is working for you don't change it. His sleep sounds really good with just one wake up and at least you can get him back to sleep quickly,

The thing is 'don't feed to sleep' is slightly useless advice when you've been doing so for 8 months already - that horse has bolted! You are doing what you feel is right for you and your child and you are the person best placed to judge what 'right' is. That doesn't sound stupid to me!

It depends on your definition of 'eventually' I suppose - both of mine around the 20 month mark, at the same time as they self-weaned from bf altogether.

Yes, stopped breast feeding to sleep age 2 years 2 weeks! I bought her a big girl Frozen cup with a straw to have her milk in, told her the boob was all gone & she was a big girl now. Stayed with her for 5 mins & left her - she went down absolutely fine. Been going off on her own ever since. I'd worried far more about it than I needed to, they are adaptable little things. Good luck :)

DS1 stopped feeding to sleep at 13 months with no problems.

DS2 I am currently battling with at nearly 18months. We have managed to stop the feeding back to sleep if he wakes in the night so hopefully we'll get there gradually.

Yes...Sort of...With dc1 we stopped feeding to sleep when they decided they didn't want it anymore, from then it was cuddle to sleep, now at 3 we read stories and sit next to the bed waiting for them to fall into unconsciousness then escape the room... However at nap time the very same toddler with just put themselves to bed and sleep even if I leave the room while they're bouncing on the bed.

I bloody actively encouraged it for naps as it was so quick!! He stopped feeding to sleep at bedtime around 2, though needed me to stay with him. I night weaned at 2.5. And nudged him to wean at 3.5 (he wasn't really having much).

The thing is the dance can be changed at any point by either of you. It really is the easiest thing to do in the first year. Very hands on dads can try cuddling in the day and for some wake ups at night which helps (Google dr sears for this) though they have to be patient! A bit of protesting is ok if being cuddled; full on hysteria (as we had) isnt!

I have friends whose children didn't have such a strong attachment to it and self night weaned after around a year, weaning during their second year with no 'training'.

To wean my son off Me (rather than boobs!) he listened to story cds while I popped back and forth to do mumsnet jobs which slowly led to him happily going to sleep alone just before 4.

Daddy started doing bedtime around 2 on some nights - didn't go well at home for a while but did work when they stayed elsewhere! Which is why I emphasise then to do lots of sleepy cuddling too!