mommies who nurse your baby to sleep

fennho

fennho

Registered User
hi there

Would like to chk with mommies who subscribe to the thinking and of cos doing it or have done this - nursing ur bb to sleep. I'm wondering if u all nurse till bb is in total deep sleep before u put her/him down or do u all just nurse jus enough ie the usual 20mins or emptying of the breast then put him/her down when they r still awake but drowsy and pat them to sleep?

Also can I chk with mommies who hv been thru this, how did u all make the transition? Do your babies just automatically learn to sleep on their ow after weaning or are there a few days of transition time like crying, demands for breast for comfort sucking, etc. If there is, how did u all handle it?

PLs share your experiences...thanks!
 
fennho
i nurse my now 11 month old till she was half asleep (ie not deep sleep) as when i put her down she still moved a bit in her bed but her eyes were closed. but i remember when she was younger she would fall into deep sleep more easily as very young babies do. once they turn about 4 months they take a bit longer to fall asleep and when you put them down for bed they're not in deep sleep yet.

now she's 11 months i still nurse her till her eyes are closed but i know she's just about to fall asleep and not in deep sleep. she has also recently started to sleep thru the night about a month or so ago so. i remember people warning me about making sure to put baby down awake or she won't learn to sleep thru. well she was never put down "awake" (but very drowsy) and she now sleeps thru so that proves that theory wrong!

at the end each mother has to do what she feels most comfortable with. i personally do not agree with letting a baby cry and could not do so. if she cries i pick her up and rock her a little till she's drowsy.

good luck. just hang in there. it will get better i promise!!!
 
I used to nurse my baby boy to sleep because it was so much easier and relaxing. When he was weaned (at 9.5 months) it became harder because the bottle was not the same! I used to cradle/rock him to sleep after reading him a book and giving him a bottle (if he didn't fall asleep in my arms immediately).

By the time he turned 10 months old it became hell because he was so much stronger and would fight me in my arms, screeching and crying. It descended to rocking and walking him till he got drowsy and fell asleep. This would take about 1/2 hour and was excruciating because he was 20 pounds (9.5kgs?) by now.

I finally tried something completely different. I read him his book, gave him his bottle, held him upright against my shoulder (where he would rest his head) and sing him a song before putting him down in his cot fully awake.

He cried for 15 minutes the first night and 10 the next. I would go in every few minutes and pat him to let him know I was there. He went to sleep after 2 yells the 3rd night and after that would go right to sleep by himself. Was like a miracle!!

He is now almost a year old and putting him to bed has been a dream every night. Sometimes I can even hear him stand up in his cot and talk to himself in the dark and maybe even throw a soft toy overboard. And then, silence. I guess he just sits after a while, lies down and then goes to sleep by himself which is AMAZING considering he was always put to bed asleep.

That said, I have no regrets of the months of putting him to sleep on the boob because it was lovely. And looks like it does not affect future sleeping habits irreparably so I would do exactly the same with our second baby!
 
hi

Thanks for sharing...

ag2007I'm worried AFTER I wean her off BF how will I put her to bed.

Greatimp
yes..this is exactly wat I'm worried about! I'd hate to let my gal do any crying..15mins sounds like a torturing 15mins if she's wailing away!
 
forgot to add, what I'm doing now is for her bedtime, I'd wipe her clean change to sleepsuit and then nurse her to sleep. Usually I'll be nursing until she fell asleep and pull off my nipple herself. Then I'd put her into her cot and she will sleep thru from 8pm (I start nursing her from around 730ish) to about 5-6am.

For the past 2 days I am hvg a hard time getting her to nap. Usually she's contented to sleep in the swing while we rock her but now she refuses to! She jus wan to stay awake and play but kept yawning away. I nursed her and she sleeps in my arms put her down and she wakesup! I'm afraid it will ruin her night sleep as well by not sleeping in the day. :(
 
how old is your baby again?

i'm actually still nursing my 11 month old. once a midwife told me that her son was nursed to sleep until he was quite big (just under 2 yrs old) and finally what she did was after he finished nursing, if he was asleep, she'd try to gently wake him up a bit - you can do this by burping or talking softly to baby. this is the first step to breaking the sleep association

there's a book called the no-cry sleep solution which you can buy thru this website.
 
When my baby was younger (less than 3 months), she fell asleep everytime I nursed her and I usually let it be. Once she became older, I didn't want her to get used to it. Since I nurse her in my room, when I get out of my room, most of the time she would wake up and I'd take her to my older one's room and read a few books to them before I put them to sleep.

Lately she is 11 months and has fallen asleep while nursing and sometimes I just try to put her in the crib but she always wakes up after 15-30 mins screaming when she realized she was not in mommy's arms anymore. It became more difficult to put her to sleep after that. So I gently wake her and let her join in on my older one's storytime and then put her to bed after that. She sleeps much better when she sleeps on her own and not being nursed to sleep in mommy's arms. Does not even wake up until morning.
 
someone on another forum always said that they wake up and cry if they are not in the same 'position' as when they went to sleep.

so, if your baby falls asleep at the breast and then wakes up and is in a cot with mummy nowhere to be seen, they'll cry. however, if they feed and then are put to sleep in the cot in a drowsy, almost asleep state, they won't cry (at least not as much).

i've found this to be true. and it seems that mintycat has too.
 
i would let your LO learn to fall asleep by themselves, sooner is better than later. I always made sure all of mine went into the cot awake and then let them fall asleep on their own. There were times when I would have to re-enter the room to settle them a bit, but ultimately they fell asleep on their own from day 1 (I couldn't bear the thought of anything else becoming habit & having to continue the regime until they were heavy & toddlers!)

I personally think it's one of the best things you can do for your baby - teach self soothing & self settling.
 
hi, i nursed my elder son to sleep everytime i breast fed him i.e whenever he was sleepy and i soon replaced the breast with a bottle which was taken to immediately....replaceing the bottle was a little difficult....i started by replacing milk with water and then the story telling sessions, rocking, etc started....the way i see it u have to go thru some amount of effort either at the beginning or at the end....so just relax and do what u find most convenient at this stage...think about the next stage when it comes and trust me there is always a way out...after all u don;t see 10 -year olds roaming around with pacifiers or bottles!
 
it is usuall advised NOT to nurse your baby to sleep b/c then he/she will not learn how to put themselves to sleep later. This might also lead to difficulties weaning off the breast. Try keeping him/her awake during a feed and if they cry give them a dummy.
 
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