How can I stop BFing to sleep?

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My 7 month old DD has always been breastfed to sleep. If she wakes in the night I breastfeed her then too. She is addicted to the breast - using it as a sleep aid, a comforter and a food source. If we lay her in the cot awake, or try to cuddle or rock her to sleep she screams and screams. They only other way she falls asleep is in the car or pram. Often I bf her to sleep and she wakes as I lie her down and I have to start all over again.

I return to work in 8 weeks and 3 nights a week DP will put her to bed. We have to find a way to get her to sleep without the breast and we need to start now so she can be eased in gently. What can we do? I do not agree with straight cc.

nite

Well done Cruisemum's DS .

DS went to sleep with me out of the room after about 2 minutes and 2 tiny grizzles last night. Ditto 3am last night and the night before, after a feed.

Tonight he goes into his own room . Then I guess I have to work on replacing his milk feeds with water - ugg. I think he is waking from habit rather than not being able to self settle, but I guess his body has just become used to waking at that time. I know I used to eat in the night when I fed DS1, and even when he started sleeping through I still woke for a snack .

Good luck everyone else.

crayon - good luck! ds went from 7:15pm - 6:15am last nght. not a peep!!!

Wow Cruisemum, you must be all slept-out .

Bless his little cotton socks, he went down with a few little grizzles in his new room, with me out of the room. I only had to go in once to put him on his back. I'm going to miss him tonight

hope he was ok crayon.

He was fine thank you. I still had to feed him in the night, but he went back to sleep on his own with me out of the room. I guess teaching him to do it with the light off is the next thing.

How did you drop the night feed, did you try water instead, or did he do it on his own?

he tends not to wake for it any more. when he did last week, the first night i bf him, hte 2nd night i stroked his face, kissed his cheek said nite nite etc and did a wee bit of cc. he was asleep in around 5 mins. i still fear a night waking as i don't feel out of the woods yet but am ever hopeful.
good luck!

Maybe I'll try a bit of face kissing tonight - though not sure if I am brave enough yet.

I was trying to cut down by a few minutes each night, but it's quite hard to measure.

crayon - hope it was ok...

Gone a bit pear shaped as he is teething! I posted about it this morning actually as I'm not sure how much lee-way (sp?) I want to give him. At the moment I have gone back a few stages and am either staying in with him, or leaving his light on.

I'd forgotten how much of a pain this teething malarky could be!

How about you?

going well. sleeping 11 hrs at night mostly with the occasional wake up. day naps are all over the place though and just settling into a pattern of sorts! if it is not one thing it is another...oh the joys of motherhood

That's good Cruisemum (well not about day naps, but no doubt they will come too).

We are having a nightmare and we are back to crying like Night 1. He is up there breaking his heart at the moment and I have handed over to DH as I know he must be sensing my tension. It is difficult to know when he is windy and needs winding, and when he is frustrated and drawing his legs up because of that.

I think we need to go right back to the start and start all over again in his new room (light on me cuddling, me withdrawing, light off, me out of room etc etc .

I need wine!

crayon - have the wine. if it is too stressful then don't do it. the reason i saw it through wth ds was that it was not planned, jsut kind of happened out of necessity for both of us. please don't get stressed or let your baby get stressed unless you feel it is working. feel so bad for you but do what you feel is right. I hope you hve success and you all sleep soundly. it is awful to hear your beautiful beloved baby crying - YOU be the judge and call a halt/carry on as you see fit. hth . sending sleepy thoughts to you...

Was just about to answer your query on allergies Cruisemum but popped back here to see if you were the same Cruisemum! All is quiet upstairs in DH's hands. I don't know what he's done and am enjoying some of his beer I have stolen too much to go upstairs and find out!

I fear we may have made bedtime a bit of an issue, and may need to take a few steps back. It was probably my fault tonight as I was about to put him to bed when he started gnawing his hands and looked a pit peckish so I gave him a bit of yoghurt and he ate more than I had intended to give him.

I can't believe I am still making amateur mistakes like this with baby three; I blame (severe) sleep deprivation!

crayon- t'was me! i am a mn tart! so glad for you that lo settled down. enjoy your beer. btw, lo;s eczema is worse. he doesnt seem bothered by it but it certainly bothers me. it is mainly on his trunk/torso but he seems to get a big patch above his nappy at the back and also speckly spots on his chest. any info/advice on this?

Could it be contact dermatitis? What comes into contact with those bits of his body? Do you disinfect his change mat for example, could it be that? I lie DS on a towel on a change mat as DS2 reacted to the disinfectant.

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