Routine suggestions to stop feeding to sleep for EBF 5 month old

[LillianFullStop]

We've now had some success in getting our EBF 5 month old to go down for 2/3 naps without the boob. I'd like to work towards getting her to settle for bedtime in the cot with DH as I have a wedding in a few weeks and will need my Dsis to babysit for the night. We are also trying to get her used to taking the bottle which is another issue entirely! Current routine is:

Bath
Book
Song
Feed

I've tried feeding before bath but she still happily takes a feed to sleep even if I'm sure she's not hungry

Have you tried a dummy?

I have yes and she take it 1 out 4 times - majority of the time she spits it out or it frustrates her more than soothes her!

If you're struggling to get her to take a bottle, you'll probably "crack" the dummy at the same time as the bottle.

How about feeding before bath time and then rocking to sleep? You need to replace feeding to sleep with some other settling technique.

Personally I think dummy and in-cot shushing and patting is a more useful pathway to independant sleeping. But I have had four babies who have all cried to sleep unless sucking to sleep, so if I wasn't feeding to sleep I have the dummy. Other parents are more tolerant of a bit of crying than I am or have babies that don't cry when going to sleep. But for me, the only no-crying options for settling an under 12 month old was feeding to sleep or dummy, so these were the only options I ever considered.

Regarding spitting dummy out, that may just be a sensitive tongue thrust, a natural reflex reaction to something in the front of baby's mouth. It may also explain the difficulty you're having with bottles. Gently holding the dummy in, or holding baby's chin to keep mouth closes around dummy may help with this.

It tends to be resolved when baby "gets" that she needs to suck. If the teat just sits in the front of the mouth, the tongue thrust reflex is triggered. The problem is, you can't show or teach baby how to suck, they have to just do it themself.