If I feed to sleep, will my baby be forever waking for the boob?

[Lizbiz89]

My 10 month is still waking 3-4 times a night for a feed. I think he is mainly doing it for comfort as he eats really well now. Extremely hungry chap. I've heard people say that if you continue to feed them in the night they will continue to wake up for it. Out of everyone's experiences, does this seem to be true? Just wondering if I need to be limiting his night feeds now.

Both mine stopped waking in the night the week after I stopped breastfeeding at 12 months. They did start waking up at 5am though...

I fed to sleep with all three kids. When they cried I’d do a nappy change and then a feed if it was in the night. The dc gradually slept longer and longer so I wasn’t a hostage to feed-to-sleep. I guess I didn’t feed them if it was less than 3 hours since last feed, just shushed them and cuddled. Then stretched this to 4 hours then 5 when they got bigger.

Yes, it becomes habit to wake for a feed for comfort. Almost all babies sleep better once night weaned.

I feed my almost 2 year old to sleep. He falls asleep around 8pm and wakes up between 5am to 6am

Wasn't true for me, or rather, milk stopped sending mine to sleep he'd be wide awake regardless so it became bath, milk, teeth, cuddle until he was either asleep or calm enough to pop into his cot (I tried reading but he'd never let me finish a page he kept turning them). I suspect though its a case of every child is different, one will need it and another will not! DC1 weaned herself off milk/started refusing it at 1yo, DC2 though still wants it at 2.

He started doing this after around 12 months old. Before that he woke 3 times a night.

I night weaned my 2 at 6 months/8 months and they have slept through ever since. Good luck!

Yes it can become a night comfort and cause waking for some babies. I read somewhere that if you want to feed to sleep but also wish to encourage them to self-soothe, then just when they look like they are about to fall asleep during feeding then gently tickle under the chin/sides of neck. Done correctly this will waken them just enough to not feed to sleep, but be awake and yet drowsy enough to still fall asleep. I did this with mine right from about 4-5 months old and it worked, but of course it depends on each baby how they respond.

Yes. I broke the habit at 13 months. Handed her to daddy for five nights. He’s got no breasts. She learnt she was safe with daddy but the night time milk train had now stopped, forever. I slept in another room. The bliss of finally sleeping through FOR ME!! And daddy got to find out what it’s like to sleep with a screaming tyrant for 5 nights. He was exhausted and came down with a cold by the end!

Oh & after a while both slept through too/stopped waking for feeds in the night, I didn't have to do anything.

Well mine are teens now and they’re certainly not still waking in the night for it 😂

the both gradually just stopped waking for a feed around 18m-2 years.

see also nappies, dummies, and anything else people gave me dire warnings that they’d never stop if I didn’t do something.

I disagree, I honestly didn't 'sleep train' or anything like that and my son naturally slept longer through the night around 12 months. I do believe it's fine if you nurse to sleep cause it's natural, but people will always judge. Do what's best for you. If you are happy with that, then don't worry. If you want to wean a few night feeds then try too. But I find it's stressful before you are both ready. 10 months is still young. Night feed til you feel it's right x

This!!

I was just about to say the same! Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I'd love to visit past me and tell her just to go with the flow when they're tiny and take the path of least resistance at all points because things just work out in their own time.

Mine are 6, 11 and a teen now and they're all going to bed, the toilet, and everywhere else they're meant to be, independently. They all eat well and are generally pretty normal amazing human beings.

All the things we fret about doing or not doing disappear into the mists of time very quickly. And there's no rhyme or reason to what works or doesn't. It all just kind of happens when it's meant to. All the best x

Ime (2 babies fed to sleep) and agreeing with the above poster, they start sleeping through the night themselves at around 18-24 months. If you can deal with the wake ups in the meantime, I'd just go with the flow.

DD1 and DD2 fed to sleep for every nap and bedtime and one woke hourly for 18 months and the other slept through from 4 months

As a different perspective I have an 11yr old who still sleeps poorly due to a disability. Boob kept me sane. As he got bigger he could feed without waking me and put himself back to sleep. Parenting without being conscious is the best! His Dad had to work so much harder to get him back to sleep, or to sleep in the first place. I did stop feeding during the night at about 3yrs , as I thought it would help him sleep better and I was feeling a bit touched out, but I wish I had kept going as all I had done was taken a useful tool away which made parenting harder and it didn’t really improve his sleep. I still feel touched out now, but that is just because he all over me still and I’m fairly sure many toddlers sleep better than he does currently.

Eventually, around the 18 month mark I was only feeding in the middle of the night or the very early morning. I started offering a hug first to try and get him to settle, and eventually he stopped asking for milk entirely. That was around the 20 month mark

Yes, I think it becomes a habit, and disturbs their sleep as well as yours, because they haven’t leaned to get themselves back to sleep. He shouldn’t need this now so I’d phase it out.

Mine slept under I changed to formula

And also followed wake windows on app

I stopped feeding DD to sleep at 9 months and from the first night she dropped from 3-5 night wakes/feeds to just 1. Then a few weeks later we didn’t feed her on that 1 night wake, took two nights of resettling her and then she slept through from then. I think it was definitely more habit than hunger, but also a chicken/egg situation that because she was feeding in the night she ate less in the day. She now definitely has bigger day feeds and has shifted her patterns

As PPs have said, they all eventually start sleeping through so if feeding to sleep is working for you, I wouldn’t feel pressured to change that. I have some health problems that mean we needed to move away from breastfeeding so knew we had to break the feed/sleep association so it was the right decision for us. Definitely advantages of the quick settling breastfeeding gives though

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like it's very much a temperamental thing rather than anything else. I will go at his pace at the moment and maybe give him a little gentle nudge soon to try to get him sleeping longer stretches.

I still feed to sleep at 3. He goes to bed at 6.30 and sleeps through til about 6am. Still co-sleeping as well - can’t remember when he started sleeping through but the whole “creating bad habits” that people come out with is so odd I think, alongside the “they don’t need that now” when they’re still so tiny.

Never once limited a feed with any of mine including night feeds. Self night weaned by 18 months one of them sooner actually without me doing anything. One of them self night weaned but still woke every two hours until 3! Feeding to sleep and feeding back to sleep are so quick, definitely miss it when they wake but don't want milk as then I have to actually get up and sing, cuddle, pace the room etc to settle them. Much easier to offer a boob. They don't wake for milk much once they're over one, they wake and then want comfort.