Feeding to sleep

[mamatoizzybee]

How old was your little one when they stopped feeding to sleep - as in feeding to complete sleep and carefully transferring to cot?
Thank you in advance

My 7 week old won’t be transferred away from me!

27 months and still BF to sleep
I can get them down after a feed but it takes forever

I had to swaddle mine when little to be able to transfer

2.4 when I was doing bedtime. 10 months when his dad was doing bedtime.

Thank you everyone . My daughter is 6 months and it takes forever to get her to sleep without boob !! However , even when I give boob sometimes she won't be transferred and will just cry . I was intending to give up breastfeeding before 1 year but I don't see how I possibly can if this is the only thing that settles her!!

On and off at 20 months. She can now fall asleep being held on on the bed with me next to her.

Or on the bed

Correction - I say it takes forever without boob - what I mean is, never without boob !! And then sometimes the boob doesn't cut it and it takes even longer !!

It's interesting to see that many people feed to sleep till around 2-3years. I would love to know anyone who has come out the other side of it as I just can't see anything different at the moment .
Her dad can't put her to bed as she just cries and I can just imagine me breastfeeding to sleep till she's at school at this rate 😩😩😩 that scares me!!

I started 'training' him to fall asleep without being fed and at 3 months he can now do it at 5 months. Just start very gradually and eventually you'll get there.

I know I'm still BF but everyone else in my circle all their kids have self weaned off the boob between one and two
I long for that day so I'm very interested to see the rest of the comments for this post
Can I just say tho that don't worry about it too much unless it's uncomfortable for u mine sleeps in a double bed so I just lie down with them and once they are properly out I just slip it out and there in bed sorted

Ah, shes only 6 months. Took DP and I a week or so of weaning her off feeding to sleep at 16 months old. It was the last feed she was having so it was the end of breastfeeding. Some brief tears when she realised she was going upstairs to bed with daddy and not the milk machine but she didnt cry herself to sleep. He gently read to her and she drifted off.

I stopped at around 14 months with both of mine. Dad took over bedtime and rocked them. By about 18-20 months they could be put down to fall asleep. I never did any training. Don’t panic, there is a huge difference between a 6 month old and a 1 year old. Just do whatever is working for you at the moment

At 16mo my son feeds to sleep with me, but goes into the cot awake and falls asleep for his dad/grandparents/nursery. He’s been doing that for a few months. But my husband has been able to cuddle/walk/carry him to sleep from a few months old I think. He’s upstairs doing bedtime now and my son had his last feed before his bath. Last night I did bedtime and fed him to sleep then transferred to the cot. It won’t be forever, but there are things you can try if you’re not happy.

13 months and still bf to sleep here.

Unless he happens to fall asleep in car seat or buggy, bf to sleep then cot transfer was all he'd ever known - up until about a week or so ago as we're now phasing this out gradually so that it's not just down to me to get him to sleep.

About a week ago we picked one nap and decided to cuddle, rock, rub tummy- whatever it took really. It did take 40 mins and there were tears but we never left his side. Just a few days on and it started to take 20 mins so already half the time in such a short amount of time.

We'll do this with the p.m. nap in about a month's time and see how it goes, then build up to cutting out his 'night night' feed and waking in the night for feeds. All very gradual.

I hope you find what works for you and your baby

I hope I don't sound awful but I more or less put my kids to bed sleepy but awake from birth. There were occasions when they fell asleep feeding of course but generally I always put them to bed when they were still a little bit awake. I just figured it would make my life easier if they learnt how to fall asleep early on. It worked well for me.

Thank you everyone for your replies. It's really reassuring to hear things like a 6 month old is very different to a 1 year old etc . It's so hard as a first time mum to see past the stage at currently.
I don't like the idea of "training" a baby , but I would love to be able to gradually wean her off feeding to sleep gently just so we have another option and her dad could confidently soothe her so it's not always me doing the night time routine - however I have tried this and she just isn't ready at the moment because she screams so much to a point where she is beside herself with tears. When she gets to this point she rejects the boob because she is crying so much!! . I am really hopeful that by the time she is 1 , she won't be quite as upset and I'll be able to gradually help her to sleep in other ways like a book or something . Maybe she just needs it at the moment?

I’m glad that worked for you sally, but my son never had a “sleepy but awake” state. It wasn’t like I was trying to make life more difficult for myself in the long run, it just wasn’t advice that ever worked for me. And as it happens, he now goes into the cot awake and falls asleep by himself when he needs to, so not forcing him to “learn how to fall asleep” before he was ready clearly didn’t make much difference.

OP has her father tried to get her to sleep for any naps so far?

@HerSymphonyAndSong - my daughter also has never had a sleepy but awake state either! This was advice I read extremely early on and my goodness I tried it too but it didn't work either- I felt awful as I thought maybe I was doing something wrong at the time !! Every baby is different and it's great if some babies have that state (I have a friend whose baby literally just falls asleep SO easily and all her mum has to do is put her down and she goes to sleep straight away!) but I'm pretty sure that the majority of babies aren't like that.

Unfortunately all my daughters naps are out in the pram or car. Interestingly she won't feed to sleep in the day time . She used to and I would enjoy some lovey sleepy baby cuddles in the day , but in the last month or so she just won't do it! My husband used to be able to rock her to sleep and transfer when she was really tiny for her naps but he doesn't seem to be able to do it now ! 😩

I expect it’s a phase and he will be able to get her to sleep again before long, it’s perhaps worth him trying every so often.

My niece is 5mo and happily sucks her thumb to sleep alone in her cot. So I know these babies exist but it still seems like a miracle to me!

They have so many regressions that can make night times different or even challenging I know when I was trying to out mine down without the boob it was just a pain in the arse
Do what works for you and your family
Because mine tells me how much she loves boob I don't want to not give her it I just keep telling her she's a big girl now and only babies have boob but she doesn't care lol one day it will all fall into place

@Jesse70 that's lovely - thank you for your kind words. It's nice to hear another mum whose boobs are like magic to their baby ! I so worry that my daughter will still want boob when she's toddling but you are right that things will fall into place when they are ready - and if my daughter does still need it later down the line then I guess it's not the end of the world especially if it makes life easier !
It's nice posting on here and hearing other mums in similar situations as it makes me feel less isolated!

Stopped working at bedtime around 12 months but was the night time go -to til about 21 mo when I very gently night weaned. We stopped the bedtime feed at 22 mo and we've been fine ever since

BTW, it is actually very normal for toddlers to still BF- natural weaning age is anything between 2 and 7, usually around 4. THey're called milk teeth for a reason.

I didn't especially enjoy it, but it was the quickest and easiest thing at night and I was all for maximising sleep

But to PP who think it'll make bedtime for anyone else easier- it makes diddlysquat difference unless it's a blue moon and DS happily goes to bed for DH.

Mostly it's still dreadful. ANd it takes A LONG TIME

No. Still not going to sleep train. Hate the very idea