5 month old needing boob to sleep only at night

[heathermc]

My DS has recently begun refusing to go to sleep at night without being latched on, falling asleep and then being transferred to his cot. Once there he will sleep all night usually without waking, or will stir and self settle around 2am.
During the day he will go to his bed awake and go to sleep, he does this at 10am, 2pm and after his 11pm night feed.
But at bedtime after his bath, massage and feed it is a totally different story - he screams until he can hardly breathe if I try to put him in bed awake and it takes hours to calm him, making me feel very guilty. If I let him fall asleep on boob though it is so much easier and takes minutes.
SO my queston is do I worry about this, try and break the habit or just let him carry on as he is?

I'd just do it, if that's what helps him. Wish it worked for my 5 month old!

Are you mad woman? Carry ON!

I understand your concern about self settling but you know he can do that. At bedtime he just wants lovely cuddly milky time to see him off to bed. That's fine - we all have our rituals

Dd3 was like your son and I did sometimes think (as she fell asleep on the boob aged 20 months or whatever) is this a good idea? But at that point there were lots of nights where she didn't, where she self settled happily. When we stopped milk and moved to stories she made the transition without any problems. It doesn't mean your son can't put himself to sleep, just he likes this way - and that's ok.

Dont put yourself/baby through torment of crying and being unsettled at bed time; you could even make it so he does not self settle at all.

Go with the flow, happy baby happy mum.

Just remember, it is easy for people who are not actually in your situation to dish out advice. Other people are rarely right about what is best for you. You decide what is best for you.

I'm SOOO jealous - if my baby did that then I'd be dancing for joy! She's 5 months, and nothing works once she's awake at night - which she is on the hour, every hour! Enjoy

I honestly think you have nothing to worry about here, one of the final feeds to be dropped is the one at bedtime generally. They find it very comforting when tired etc.

I truly would not worry about it for even a moment. You know they can self settle at other times, so it sounds perfect to me.

AND your LO sleeps through!!! My goodness me neither of mine slept through properly until 9 months! You're doing great x

Oh thank you so much for all the replies, you have confirmed what I've been thinking all along, that is it worth putting him through all this anguish but i was so paranoid about starting bad habits, silly first time mum!

He is such a good little boy and such a joy to me and his daddy and I hated seeing him upset but sometimes when you get all this advice from well meaning friends (ooh you don't want to let him do that etc etc) it can be hard to know what to do for the best.

And thanks teaandcakes for that nice comment x