Feeding to sleep

[jomaIone]

Is feeding to sleep really the reason my baby wakes every 2 hours? Is it a phase? Should I wean her off it?

I am so conflicted. One side of me loves it, she's so easy to settle and goes to sleep so easy, but she wakes every 2 hours after midnight which is hard going although a quick feed and she's asleep again. She also won't go to sleep for my husband so it's always me that has to deal with her at night and nap time.

She's 6 months and we're starting weaning. Will this help her sleep better overnight? I know she's still little and I don't want to rush her but she would be happier if she could sleep longer I think.

Also has anyone had success with introducing a dream feed at this age? Does it work??

I just don't know what to do!!!! Any help much appreciated!

Hi Jomalone, going through the same thing here. My LO was an amazing sleeper until 4 months and for the past 2 months her sleep is all over the place. Occasionally she will do 4 hours at a time but it’s quite often every 2. We’ve started weaning and so far I’m sorry to say it’s not made any difference to her sleep. (Although it’s good fun and she loves it!)

Doing a dream feed is something I considered too but one of my friends sees a baby dietician and has been told not to introduce a dream feed at this age if you haven’t been doing one previously as it’s a step backwards. I think the trick is teaching them to self settle so that when they wake up in the night they don’t need the boob to re-settle, but it’s so hard! What are her daytime naps like? Is she still in your room? x

She naps 3 times a day but the times vary from 30 mins to 1.5 hours. There doesn't seem to be much pattern. She always wakes up from her naps bright as a button and would never be settled back to sleep! She's a generally happy little soul it's just waking up every 2 hours I wish I could fix.

I did try last night to get her to settle from drowsy in her cot but she just screamed and I absolutely cannot let her cry. It's awful and makes me feel so stressed. It's no good for either of us.

She's just moved into her own room and to be honest, I do think she is a little better. She's not disturbed by us rolling over or snoring. She woke 4 times last night but I managed to settle her back to sleep with only 2 feeds and 2 cuddles. Maybe that's the key to wean her off feeds in the night? Maybe once she's eating more she won't need fed during the night? She's not taking a lot of food yet.

There's so many big changes and new things at this age. It's hard to know what to tackle first. They're still so little as well. I just want her to be comforted and hate her crying.

I stopped feeding to sleep at around 6 months. I phased it out by making sure he had other sleep associations (white noise, comforter) and gradually unlatching him earlier and earlier. I then started reading the same story between unlatching him and him sleeping, then moved to feeding him in a different room before taking him through for his story, and then was able to switch to feeding him on waking up.

We still have to hold him until he's almost asleep before he goes in the cot though, and he still wakes multiple times a night for feeds, so it has made absolutely no difference in that respect.

It has meant we've gone from me needing to do every single nap and bedtime to him going to sleep for other people. His dad does bedtime and his aunt and grandparents have been able to put him down for naps. That's made a massive difference to me in terms of giving me a bit more freedom so has been worth it in my opinion, even though I'm not getting any more sleep!