Is this a phase (7 month) or are we creating habit? -- AP types (and anybody else) please support!

[anonymxxx]

DS is almost 7 months and daytime sleeping has always been an issue. At night he woke every 3h and I BF back to sleep. I had no issues with this.

Developmentally there is a lot going on: he is starting to become shy and figures out a lot.
Last week he slept for two nights for 8h (8pm-4am) and I was very hopeful this would be the beginning of longer sleep phases. However, since he is waking up 6 times a night and will only go back to sleep if I BF him back. He will scream if I offer a dummy and he also screems if DH is carrying him around (used to work as well as BF, but only for DH). His wakings are something like 11pm, 12am 1:30, 3am 5:00am, 5:30. He is BLW and likes his food!

I am completely shattered and wonder if this is a phase (I can deal with this) or if I am forming an exclusive BF to sleep habit.

Also he will start daycare in two weeks time
(a few hours every day including nap time) and I am really concerned about the nap/shy issue.

So: my questions: is this a phase (he had one like this around 4.5 months)? Or do I maneuver ourselves into a most difficult position. I was fine with BF to sleep for myself, since DH could use other methods, but now DS is starting to become very focused on me and I will be starting work in July. What's best for DS given the circumstances.

Thanks for your support!

Oh, a phase, I think, and quite common. Sounds a lot like dd at that age. She also gave up bfing to sleep around then, so we had to come up with another plan. We started by patting her to deep sleep, then patting to light sleep, resting hand on, hand on to sleep, then sitting by her to sleep, then sitting across the room, then sitting outside the room - in all these phases we'd say shh, and "sleep". Each step took a few days, perhaps even a couple of weeks at the beginning before we felt comfortable withdrawing more, but in hindsight I think we could have moved more quickly. Worked really well, and also quite quickly in a recent relapse aged 18 mo. As they age you sometimes have to adjust the bedtime routine to suit their development. The No Cry Sleep Solution may well suit you.

Thanks for your response. I tried the no cry with no effect. However, I had some success with replacing the nipple after a while with a dummy which I pull as soon as he is asleep. I had not wanted to introduce a dummy but it seemed to work for us, reduced crying and was a good intermediate step. DS does not suck his thumb.

DD spent ages and ages learning to suck her thumb, then packed it in as soon as she'd cracked it. I didn't follow ncss, but liked her principle of phases, and going back a phase if things go wrong, which is essentially what we did. It did take weeks, if I'm honest, but we did see progress fairly quickly, and it was a very pleasant, if drawn-out process.