nursing/BFing to sleep?

bv27

I've been struggling with getting DD on a nap and sleep routine and the routine is very fragile.... The only semi-reliable way to get her to sleep is to nurse her to sleep at night. Otherwise, she's up until midnight. We've tried baths, massage, the swing, cuddling, but it is the nursing that does the trick. Is nursing her to sleep forming a really bad habit and one which we'll pay for later? Is it especially bad to nurse her for naps?

At least once we finally get her to sleep, she'll sleep well overall, sometimes getting up at  3am and 6/7 am or skipping the 3am feed altogether.

EcoBaby

I nurse to sleep. I figure I'll deal with bad habits later - right now I need to sleep.

jebs_girl

I am struggling with this right now. Granted, DS is only 4 months old but it is starting to be a habit. He won't fall asleep unless he nurses. I love to nurse him but at the same time I feel that he should be able to fall asleep without me (e.g. babysitters, etc).

Last night, for the first time I didn't nurse him to sleep and it took a good hour to get him to finally go to sleep and stay asleep. It's a long road ahead I'm afraid.

ksdodge

I nurse to sleep....I figure we will deal with it later if it is a problem....she is happy now and so am I!

Cassandra1028

DS is still young..so I think it just works out that way for me. His feedings have gotten considerably less in time though (were up to an hour when he was first born...now 15/20 min seems norm)

If he's cranky in the middle of the night...I'll nurse him for 5 minutes while he's still asleep just to get him to calm down and get into that deeper sleep. 

Bad mamma...bad! I'll deal with it later on. Right now..it's not that big of a deal to me since I'm a SAHM.

amandabrooke81

I do it too

And don't feel bad- it's according to your parenting style and what works best for your DD & for you. It's certainly not harmful or unhealthy to nurse them to sleep.

For us: I work @ home but have a Nanny. During the day DS takes naps- after a stroll outside, after Nanny rocks him to sleep, or occasionally after I nurse him (but usually he wakes when Nanny burps him).

In the evenings, he has one late nap and he usually falls asleep while in the sling carrier I wear while getting things done around the house/running errands/etc. Then at night I nurse him to his heart's content! I figure that he doesn't only fall asleep to nursing so it's not as much of a "prop" as it is a schedule/routine for him.

GL

mollynpatrick

I nursed my DS to sleep until he was a year old. I was out to dinner and didn't get home in time to nurse him and my DH put him down - no problem! He's AWESOME at putting himself to sleep - has been since that night! We've never had to rock, etc. After our bedtime routine we put him in his crib awake and it's not a problem. I wouldn't worry about it - especially this early on. Oh - I also nursed him whenever he woke during the night (he stopped waking in the night when he was a year old too). I did what I had to do - I needed sleep!! :-)