3m baby feeds till asleep - how to stop?

[Renaissancewoman]

My 3 month old DS is sleeping OK. But he is no 3 and I know I am doing just what I did with the other 2, ie just breastfeeding till he is asleep, then tiptoeing to cot and hoping he will stay asleep as I lay him down and then keep asleep and not wake with wind etc later on. I know all this is a bad idea as it often is not successful and he is becoming reliant on the boob to get to sleep. With my other 2 it resulted in them needing help to get back to sleep if they woke in the night up to about the age of 2. The baby is unlike the other 2 as he rarely falls to sleep by himself eg on playmat or in chair, he only falls asleep if fed to sleep or out in the pram/pushchair/car.

Any tips or success stories? I tried this morning to put him down for his morning nap awake but needing sleep and persevered for an hour when he finally went down for 30 minutes with a lot of wind and poo issues to complicate matters!

Um, it's not a bad idea at that age. My DD was exactly like this but I didn't start putting her down awake until when she was weaned at 6mo and she had absolutley no problem getting off by herself.

3mo is far too young to "train" imo, at that age they still need all the comfort they can get.

I agree, far too young to be worried. Some babies just don't go to sleep without help.

Agree with the other posters. If feeding to sleep isn't impacting negatively on caring for your other children's needs I wouldn't worry about it.

Do what works for you and ds - there's nothing wrong with feeding to sleep. When he is older and ready, your ds will learn to go to sleep on his own.

DD was nursed to sleep until about 15 months. We gradually changed things - rocking to sleep, then patting to sleep, then sitting by her cot. She's a great sleeper now!

I agree that it is far too young to be worried. And I'm not really worried, I am just thinking ahead. I can not feed to sleep as I did (and I agree is generally a good idea if it works, it feels instinctively right) with my others, long term as I know that I can not cope with months or years of broken sleep as I did with my other 2 (they slept brilliantly from the age of 2). Back in those days I shared the burden of night waking with my husband but he has since become ill and regular unbroken sleep is crucial to his condition otherwise he gets ill and has to go into hospital for weeks or months. So I'll be doing the night feeds on my own and need to get baby sleeping very well as I can not cope with unbroken sleep in the long term and the odd night's respite from my Mum helping will not see me through.

Any pointers from anyone who has resisted feeding to sleep as a general method?

DS 8 months still feeds to sleep.

My DS now goes down in his cot sleepy but awake - we started trying to do this from 8 weeks old after I had been feeding him to sleep previously. (People kept telling me he MUST learn to self settle so I was kind of scared into it.) I just tried to put him down less tired each night IYSWIM?? Basically if you let him fall asleep while feeding then thats ok but I would then put him in his cot and maybe pat the covers around him to jostle him a little and say quite loudly "good night darling" and sometimes he would open one eye and then fall back asleep. This worked with my DS but its taken a while for him to go down awake - now he does (13 weeks) but usually cries out but by the time I've left the room he stops. Could be worth a try - it might help to work towards it gradually without too much pain??

Good luck!

I had a similar experience with my 2yo i would feed her to sleep and it was fine as it worked at first but it took a while to get her to be an independent sleeper. Even now she will go down on her own at night but i cannot get her to sleep during the day unless in the pram or car and that is very rare; nights can also take a while.

I have a 14 week old now and have used the baby whisper book which advocates a pattern of eat, activity, sleep and so far touch wood we have been ok. We swaddle her for sleep times and if we do feed before sleep then she normally wakes up enough to settle from awake. We found if she did fall asleep feeding she would always be awake 20mins later. The book outlines a number of techniques you can also go to the website www.babywhisper.com

Thanks.
I am looking at the Baby Whisperer from time to time. I find it useful and less prescriptive than most books. The general schedule does seem to suit my DS.
He struggles so much to go to sleep from being awake in his cot. Just taken 1 and half hours to get him to sleep. He generally lies in cot happily for about 20 minutes - this is much better than it was - and then starts crying. In the end I gave up and put him in pram and pushed him round house - thank God for open plan living!! He is now sleeping very soundly after just 2 minutes of pushing in pram!!
I'll keep trying...

I did what ChocOrange did from 8 weeks - if he fell asleep I would wind him which tended to wake him up then put him in his cot. If he woke and cried I would pick him up, waited till he was settled (even if this meant giving him some more milk) then put him down awake again. Sometimes Id be picking him up again up to 7 times.

Then when he got to the stage where he wouldnt cry but would stay unsettled I would put my face right next to his in the cot and sometimes shhhh or give him a pat on the back.

I did this on/off (depending on both our moods) for about a month and now I put him down when he starts yawning and he will settle himself no problem. If he does cry then I pick him straight up but he only crys if he wants more food or quick reassurance. If hes abit unsettled then I put some nature sounds on for him. It wasnt a quick process but I didnt want to leave him to cry.

HAve a look at the No-Cry sleep Solution? I haven't got a copy with me, but I'm planning to read it again when I have my next baby (hopeful emoticon). I got it when DD was 6 months old, so only read that section but is has advice for younger babes.