Help stopping feeding to sleep 5 and half month old

[Freya1990]

Hi, I posted a recent thread asking for help to wean my 5 and half month old from feeding to sleep, some of the suggestions mentioned gradual retreat. I’d love to hear some success stories/ how people did it. We have moved DS into his own room today so would like to start sleep training tonight. He will only nap when fed to sleep or in the pram/sometimes car. He doesn’t have a dummy, and is now rolling so can’t be swaddled. Last night he woke 5 times. I am trying to resettle him if he wakes before 12 as otherwise I would be feeding 5 tines a night. After the initial feed he will wake every two hours. If anyone has any suggestions to help I’d love to hear, especially more about gradual retreat/ weaning from feeding to sleep and realistically how long it took you. Thanks in advance.

Get a sleep consultant and do it with an expert would be my advice. Well worth the money and you won't be second guessing yourself. You'll have some posters pile on go tell you sleep training is cruel but so is having a 3 year old whose never learnt to sleep properly and an exhausted mum. Good luck OP

So for example the one I used taught me to feed to wake rather than feed to sleep and I started out with gradual retreat but found it wound my baby up, me being in the room but not coming to them so the consultant helped me change to a different method

Get a sleep consultant...

Yes. But... Sleep trainers don't have a Magic Answer. The wont suggest anything you wont already have read about before. What we do well though is help you be decisive rather than dithering, give you someone else to blame and offer an instruction manual (and if you get aftercare, hold you to account if you dont follow it and explore the consequences).

Freya1990 What are your tolerance levels for seeing baby distressed and crying a lot?

Gradual Withdrawal comes at many different speeds - how gradually you withdraw is proportional with how distressing it will be. While not leaving baby to cry unattended, unless you are looking in the longer term (say 12 months of gradual withdrawal) then this isnt likely to feel like a gentle process.