This not feeding baby to sleep thing....

[Minicooper]

We've been persevering with this since July, but my 11mo Lo just doesn't seem to be responding. So she goes into the cot awake, faffs, cries a bit, rolls round a bit, then goes to sleep (I am sitting beside her, patting occasionally, lying her down as necessary). But then she is wakeful all night - last night she woke at 11.30, kept her in cot, sitting beside her, patting when necessary, she fell asleep by 12.30. Awake again 2.20, kept in cot as above, fell asleep 3.30. Awake again 4.30, same drill, asleep by 5.10 then up for the day at 6. Bearing in mind that this 'stage' has already gone on for 4 months, do I accept that it doesn't matter whether I feed her to sleep or not - it doesn't seem to make any difference whatsoever!!! Any ideas - or success stories please!

I know others will have different opinions but ime it made no difference to night wakings. I think you find a method that works for you and you stick with that. If feeding to sleep works for you then do just that.

Have you tried co-sleeping or sleeping nearer one another? Perhaps it's a comfort thing.

We used to cuddle (not feed, but similar) to sleep, we stopped as we thought it would make a difference to night wakings. It didn't. Do what works for you as gingerninja says.

I agree. Go with it if you're happy to. I don't think it makes a jot of difference to decreasing wakings.If anything it may help. When I fed mine to sleep they went to sleep calmer and seemimgly happier and seemed to sleep for longer. Maybe just my memory? It all seems so much more hazy when you're not in the situation anymore.
Enjoy your precious nightimes and going to sleep. Your 'baby' won't always want you there. It flies by and before you notice it you miss that special sleepy time together.

yep got the same problem in 13mo. teethng is definately part of the problem so i give calpol in the night which helps a little. also do teething gel straight away if any screaming and this also helps. but cannot seem to get further than 2 hours sleep at a time at night without patting or bottle or gel. tried over a month with no bottle to sleep but no difference at all so far.

we co sleep with ds2. when he wakes gen about 2am one of us goes in to sleep with him( he sleeps in a double bed).he has a little milk and then goes back to sleep but would love him to break this habit. He then sleeps well(ish) till we wake up in the morning. do what suits you at the end of the day you need your sleep. good luck

is he gatting enough sleep in day?

DD is 14 months and still sort of feeds to sleep at bedtime, naptimes and during the night. She usually feeds until she's very drowsy and then falls asleep in my arms. Occasionally I can lie her back down and rub her back til she falls asleep, but usually she just points at the rocking chair and grumps til I feed her. I don't think I could cope if I didn't feed her to sleep, as she hates sleep and would probably stay awake forever! I say go with what you're comfortable with. I personally don't feel that feeding to sleep is a bad thing, but that it is something they will grow out of when they're ready. Do whatever you need to do to maximise sleep for everyone.

ds is nearly 3 i would love him to sometimes have a daytime nap but we do have quite time in the afternoon

I asked the same q on here last year or so, as dd was fed to sleep and I realised it had become her routine. A lot of people said so what, go with it. I did and when I stopped breastfeeding her at 15 months she refused milk for a week or so but didn't seem to miss the boob (I did I was mortified!) and now she just has a cup of milk before bed and is quite happy with the new arrangment.
I would say trust your instinct and go with what works... ;)

It definitely made absolutely no difference to night wakings with us, just a long, frustrating time of drawn out bedtimes. DS is now 20 months and very happily nurses, rolls over and passes out. Easy peasy.

Well, I have to be a dissenting voice here! Feeding my 6 month old dd to sleep has led to lots of problems for me (not her, she loves it). She would wake anywhere from 6-10 times per night for a repeat performance every time she had a little awakening. I had such a fanastic milk supply in those days with her suckling that many times a night!

Since I started putting her down in her cot awake and enouraging her to settle herself, things have been so much better. We are now down to 1 or 2 wakings per night.

Then again, my friend feeds her baby to sleep all the time and he sleeps brilliantly, for 12 hours a pop, so it is obviously an individual thing.

I wish I could feed to sleep - it is lovely, I really enjoy it and so does DD but the no sleep thing for me was just getting too much.

Narmada

I've posted about feeding to sleep for naps, as basically I sit there with my nipple in or near his mouth, ready to pop it back in if he wakes, and can't put it down, so any ideas for stopping would be great!

xx