3 month old only wanting to sleep on breast

[Wingingit2019]

3 month old was either rocked or fed to sleep/nap up until this point which worked for us as we all were getting plenty of sleep. I used to be able to transfer DS into the next to me crib once asleep where he would sleep a good stretch of hours. The past few days I cant put him down, he will not sleep unless my breast is in his mouth - he is sometimes sucking but not feeding. Last night I was up for almost 2 hours trying to get him to sleep in his cot after he fell asleep on me after his feed. I don't want to co-sleep as I have tried previously and get even less sleep! He also wont accept a dummy and I cant even use his nap times to catch up on sleep! Anyone had anything similar ?

Heeyy :)

My DS was exactly the same, although we ended up and still do co sleep (hes 8 months old now) I wish I could offer some better advice other than mine was the same/still is the same, I figured it was just a phase and he would grow out of it but he hasn’t as of yet. He wakes constantly throughout the night now, roughly ever 45 minutes and has from 4 months of age. One thing I wish I’d done is completely stopping feeding to sleep and just stuck with rocking .. your DS a bit too young to sleep train but you can start some gentle exercises now so that hopefully you won’t have to. If you stop feeding to sleep and only rock as he gets old you can gradually slow the rocking down and let him drift off naturally.. apparently this is easier than breaking a feed to sleep habit and a lot of gentle methods tell you to switch to this.

Also, handy tip when laying them down let their feet touch the mattress first. This should stop the startle reflex.. only worked a few times for us but worth a try :)

Sorry not much advice as I still haven’t cracked it but hopefully it might help you :)

Hi @Meghaji thank you for your reply! Sorry you are still going through it, it sounds as if you are managing it well and it can be so tough. The dreaded 4 month regression, I'm waiting in anticipation as feeding to sleep was my saving grace when he was new born and if I'm honest too easy when sleep deprived so I always give in!

I toyed with the idea of some gentle sleep training but I agree he is still maybe too young! Thank you for the tips I am certainly willing to give anything a try. I hope you find a solution to the waking every 45 minutes!

Oh don’t worry this is why I still feed to sleep, when you’re so tired and it’s the quickest way I wouldn’t feel bad for that! Not sure if you’ve heard of the Elizabeth pantley pull off technique? I could never do it but have a google and it might help you!

Hope it passes for you soon and you get some much needed sleep! Xx

@Meghaji oh no I haven't heard of that but I will give it a Google thanks :) it's always nice to know there is someone in a similar boat as its easy to think you're doing something wrong!