'Baby led' feeding to sleep - what age did they decide to stop

[Jellybabie3]

Following on from Rosiep10 thread RE feeding to sleep I am interested when your babies decided to stop.

My DS is almost 5 mo and he is fed to sleep at night. Hes just started refusing to for naps out of the blue so is now rocked and held for the nap (yup, bad mummy).

But we are doing the 1.5 hour - 2.5 hour wake ups (~6 a night) as he doesnt self settle.

I am carrying on as its easy, hes in a next to me cot and its obviously convenient (ebf) and hes a happy happy boy. Hes a snacking milk guzzler feeding every 1 hour in the day so at least hes consistent!! (We are on demand all the way it would seem )

Just love to hear when your babies decided no more and settled by themselves/other ways. (Btw I am anticipating this is it for the long haul )

Thanks!

My DS fed to sleep at night until about 8 months when it just stopped working, but he'd still fall asleep in my arms after. When that stopped working (he'd fight to get out of my arms!) we'd lie on the bed together until he fell asleep. From about 10 months he'd go in his cot awake and fall asleep with me sat next to him. At 12 months He still feeds back to sleep during the night. He's down to three wakes now, from 6-8 at 8 months so it's all going in the right direction.

Daytime naps are in the pushchair or on me/cosleeping after a feed and rocking. I did try putting him in his cot during the day but he takes ages to settle and doesn't sleep for long. I'm ok with that though as I get exercise or the chance to sit down with a brew and a snuggle!

Every baby is different. Just do what works for you both. When that stops working for one of you then try something else

Sounds like it is working for you so no stress. :)

We fed to sleep for a long time but it worked for us (mostly!) so it seemed daft changing it.

Apparently it caused all sorts of issues for other people who knew us though!

She did stop daytime naps at about 12 months though. I think it coincided with going to nursery and it is probable that she wouldn't sleep without me but tbh it wasn't a big deal, she was never a big day time sleeper even as a baby.

Bottle fed here but by 6 months it was 50/50 whether she was asleep by the end of her feed. If awake she was put down awake and fell asleep in her cot, no other settling required. Now at 8 months she’s always awake at the end of her bedtime bottle but settles just fine all the same. However, she sucks her thumb so uses that to self-soothe. Does your DS take a dummy?

All BF
DC1 9 months (sob - she bf until over two but is a horrific sleeper in general)
DC2 almost bang on turning 3 (that was also end of bf)
DC3 ongoing at 3 not long 3 but occasionally bf then cuddles to sleep.

All cosleep.

No not a dummy user. We tried giving him once very half heartedly and he didnt take to it so we never bothered again. We didnt ever plan to give him one so not fussed.

He does feed in the night (as in gulps that cant be mistaken for comfort) so the 6 wake ups are what they are.

Were going to move his cotbed in to our room to make it easy to continue feeding as i cant see him learning to self settle any time soon and arent keen on sleep training. All previous attempts seemed pointless having a baby scream in your face when he will go out like a light in 5mins (at 3am...) But i am horrendously soft.

Thanks for your replies . I am certainly enjoying the baby cuddles and cuppas too (i have the preparation to a nap to a fine art )

Eldest never... I had to make him. Youngest gave me a pitying look at about 5 or 6 months, pulled my t-shirt down to cover the boob and rolled over (yeah, sounds ridiculous.. I may have read more into his expression than was actually there.. but he wasn't interested in feeding to sleep any more, that was clear)

@swivelchair 😂

DS did that for naps. He fed, i was holding him to me and he started crying...cue baffled expression from me. Picked him up to comfort him, swayed abit and he was gone. bizarre! Brilliant i guess except i cant then put him down without him waking!! But i took it as a small victory (??) I'd love to know why he doesnt like it anymore.

Ds still feeds to sleep when I do bedtime 99% of the time at a year and a half, but is happy to be put to bed without boob by his dad!

@EspressoPatronum thats quite sweet really

3years 11 months.

Yeah, it was annoying when he would only let me put him to bed, but now he goes down better for his dad! And sometimes shouts out for Daddy in the night for a cuddle 😍

sometimes shouts out for Daddy in the night for a cuddle
Oh the dream!

My life is like the attached atm

DS1 - about 6-7m old.

DS2 - about 3.5 years old!

@Roomba wow what a difference. Did DS1 self settle at that age after?

Eight months old atm. They are breastfed other than a bottle before bed. Always fell asleep on it and were transferred (if we could without them realising) to cot but around 6m just started being awake at the end of feeds. Now has a story or two after their bottle and is put in the cot and drifts off to sleep. Didn't have to force anything.

@RoryAndLogan aww. Lovely

Never. Had to actively wean at 3yrs.

Good luck, he won’t be doing it when he’s 18 that’s for sure! You might find the frequency of wakings decrease once weaning is established and he’s taking on more calories during the day. Fingers crossed anyway!

Dd was 11 months, self weaned
Ds1 27 months but I weaned him
Ds2 4 yrs and 3 months, self weaned

Ds2 was by far the least stressful.

All sleep well. Now aged 11, 9 and 5 yrs.

DD was 10 months. Everything seemed to start falling on to place. Then she started nursery at 12 months and everything has regressed. Now at 15 months I think she is over all the nursery bugs so is starting to settle without the boob a bit more again.

OMG the downside of bfeeding. He comfort fed aaaaaaaaall night and point blank refused to go in his bed 😞 my god those nights are tough. 11 wake ups without including the unsuccessful returns to cot. Zombie mum today....

9 months. On the one hand she would only go to sleep when I fed her but on the other hand had a foolproof way of getting her to go to sleep ....so swings and roundabouts.

With my first she fed to sleep at bedtime and night until 15 months, but with my second I’ve done the Little Ones method (side settling with white noise and patting) since 10 weeks old and settling him to sleep at naps and bedtime that way every time. At 3 months he now sometimes self settles (with swaddling and white noise) and sometimes needs bum patting. I think (although who knows if this is why!) that his sleep is good partly because of that as he is now hoobgmlong stretches at night and if he wakes and the white noise comes on he generally goes back to sleep on his own quickly.
We have done what works for us and with him being my second I couldn’t function on as little sleep a so did with our first! But the method I’ve been doing is pretty easy and gentle and seems to work for him most of the time.