Gentle sleep training ideas for 15 month old

[ickystickybubblegun]

Fallen into bad habits with my baby.
BF to sleep, sleeps roughly 2-4 hour pops and wakes up expecting BF.
I need to get it to a stage where:
-I am not breastfeeding him anymore (I would just go cold turkey but he screams and screams and I let up after an hour or so). He will scream for 5+ hours.
-He is sleeping in his own cot
-He is sleeping through the night

Both kids (3&1) at nursery 8am-6pm. They come home, have a snack, bath, bed time 7.30.

On the other hand I feel horribly guilty for wanting him to sleep by himself in another room. How absolutely sad my one year old spends 2 hours a day with his mum, the rest of the time with a childminder or sleeping by himself in an empty room.

Those aren't "bad habits", it is biologically normal to feed to sleep. Do you actually want to stop BF? mine is 14 months and feeding to sleep works so well, I can't be bothered to stop. There is no guarantee it would reduce wakes if you stop feeding. Have you thought about a floor bed instead of cot? Then you could lay with him then move away once he's asleep.

if I move away he’ll wake up, which I guess he will get used to, but then I’ll still be waking up many times a night to put him back to sleep. I want to get to a stage he’s sleeping through the night, having taught himself to sleep when waking at the end of the sleep cycle

Is there a dad involved?

I would say wait for the 18month mark. You've made it this far. Little ones want their mothers no matter what, it's their survival instincts.

You can try to pat him or get him to have lots of milk before bed. :/ ...

What did you do for sleep with your 3yo?

Soft music may help your child sleep and warm enviroment. It works wonders for me.

I did this:

Put the cot next to the bed with the side off and start putting him in there once he’s asleep. lie close to start with or rest a hand on him and then gradually withdraw it.

when he stirs, try to settle him first with hand on him, only feed if he wakes fully and cries

once he gets used to sleeping in there, move the cot away from the bed in the room

then move the cot into own room

i found that the closer they are to you the more they wake - they can smell the milk 😂

you don’t necessarily need to stop bfing him - he will stop on his own when ready, if that’s what you want.

does he get wind? I always gave mine gripe water if they feeding to sleep as they seemed to settle better afterwards

I tried night weaning at 14m as had a similar situation. Didn't work just screamed for hours, horrible. At 18m it was still very hard but he understood when I gave him a choice of a cuddle with mummy, cuddle with daddy or a drink of water, and eventually (weeks not days) there was no milk at night. I started by doing no milk until after midnight (other choices before then), then pushed it to 1, 2 etc. Good luck it's really hard but I will say that night weaning improved his sleep to waking twice in the night, and from 2.5 he has slept through.

yes. he sleeps with 3 year old as she wakes in the night

She was sleeping by herself in her toddler bed at some point, but when the new baby came along she stopped and would be awake several times a night, inconsolable. So my husband now does bedtime with her and sleeps with her in her room.

Thanks, I will try this. He kicks his blanket off and hates sleeping bags - but I do feel like he’s waking up when he’s cold and wants my warmth

Also wanted to ask - what might (theoretically) happen at the 18 month mark?
My daughter at 18 months stopped breastfeeding, she just didn’t want it anymore. But I put this down to me being pregnant and the milk changing taste

DS was very similar and only started sleeping through when I stopped breastfeeding suddenly on his second birthday. It was a spur of the moment decision so there was no gentle decline, I just told him he was too big for booby milk and I would just cuddle him to sleep instead. I just had a feeling we were both ready but needed a clean break rather than a gentle fade. It took a few sleepless nights of finding new strategies that worked for both of us but I stuck to my guns and it wasn't as bad as I thought. It's definitely helped his sleep massively.

Try swapping and have dad deal with the baby and settle without milk.

Breast milk changes a lot at 18 months and becomes more fatty and concentrated. Lots of babies drop feeds at this point, reduce overnight feeds ect. I mean hopefully this happens. It depends on the babies, they may still wake but shouldn't have the same number of feeds after this change.