Alternatives to feeding to sleep

[IE00]

Hello, does anyone have any tips on how to get my baby to self-settle?

We are trying to get my nearly 5 month old to self-settle. At the moment she's fed to sleep, I am breastfeeding. We were advised by the Huckleberry premium service to replace feeding with rocking, then slowly reduce the amount of rocking until she can sleep without it. However she does not fall asleep when rocked. My husband tries (hoping she won't associate him with milk) and each time she cries for 15 minutes, getting progressively louder. She also doesn't take a dummy. Does anyone have any alternatives to feeding to sleep?

It depends if you want to take the gentle, slow route with minimal crying but accepting that the change will take A very long time. Or accept there will be significant crying but get there faster. Or where on that scale you sit.

@FATEdestiny thanks, what options were you thinking?

There are loads of different options. The gentlest would be a method called the Pantly Pulloff. The idea is to start off feeding baby sat up, in a cradle hold. Unlatch baby just before being asleep and cuddle/rock for the last little bit.

Then over time unlatch baby very slightly earlier in the feed, so that more of the falling asleep is done unlatched and in your arms. The aim (several months down the line) is to cuddle/rock to sleep and not feed.

Then, several more months down the line the rocking gradually becomes stationary cuddling.

Then over the course of the following few months you start putting baby down at gradually less degrees of being asleep. Instead swap to bending over the cot for in-cot cuddling for the last bit of going to sleep. Over time out baby in the cot at greater states of awake-ness, to settle to sleep in the cot.

That's just one method, there are dozens more. The aim of all sleep training methods though is to teach baby to go to sleep on their mattress, not to be got to sleep a different way and then be put down already asleep.

Honestly of feeding to sleep is working I’d just go with that. If it’s not broken don’t fix it.

One of mine did and learned to self settle easily enough as they reduced milk intake. Never had any bedtime issues.

The other would never feed to sleep and I had years of cuddling/rocking/shusshing/patting pretty much until they were old enough to read a book by themselves.

Thank you @FATEdestiny I'll try this. If she cries when unlatched how long should I give it?

@reallyreallyborednow it's not working. Everytime she wakes she expects the boob, as I am the only one with a boob we can't leave her with anyone and my husband can't help. How did they learn to self settle?

Ah I see- Mine had a dummy which was a godsend for helping them settle.

5m is maybe a bit late to introduce one though?