When to stop human pacifier?

jasrun80

Intrigued by attachment parenting, I have read very little about it, but know that naturally, it is right for me,,,
That being said, my lo is 6 wks old I love nursing her. I sleep near/with her or often with her laying on my chest, so when I wake to nurse her, we can lay nurse: heaven! I find that she occasionally nurses for an hour if I let her. Recently I notice she prefers soothing by nursing which is expected, but I'm wondering: when should I either expect her to just fall asleep or be soothed after a feeding rather than using me to fall asleep? Or is this something I condition her to do?
Tia!!

ncbelle

As she gets older, she will nurse less on her own as she gets more efficient.  As for nursing to sleep - to me it's a very useful thing - heck, I still wish Eleanor would fall asleep nursing!  Both of my kids stopped falling to sleep nursing at bedtime on their own around 10-12 months. I think it helped that they had other "sleep cues" - in our case they were worn to sleep a lot.  That was also nice as it was something DH could do so that he could get them to sleep as easily as I could.

Izybel18

In my experience, trying to force DD into falling asleep by rocking/sushing/in her swing (anything w/o nursing, basically) wasn't worth the effort. I started dreading bedtime because I knew it would be stressful. Once I started nursing to sleep it was SO much easier and I felt so dumb for not doing it before. Yes, it does mean that DH can't help with bedtime, but I know if it were a desperate situation or if I needed a break he can wear her to sleep as PP suggested. My mother was also able to rock DD to sleep last weekend when she was babysitting, so I don't think it necessarily will create an inability for LOs to sleep w/o momma.

00jennifer00

I like the bond of the human pacifier.  I know not a lot of women do, but I do.  And I've had some really long nursers.  I've nursed all of my babies to sleep until they were 2 or 3 years old, and it does take less time as they get older.  We also start the transition to being able to lay down awake around 2yo...just my current 3yo has been passing out before we realize it the last few weeks so he hasn't been laying down awake.

TiffanyBerry

I think it REALLY depends on the kid.  I've heard of some stopping nursing to sleep by 6 or 7 months.  My daughter was more like 15mo, but she's a thumb sucker and has always had a STRONG desire to suck.  She still comfort nurses at times, but it's not to sleep at night any more.

ladybug122

Like you, I did what came naturally, which was nurse DD to sleep and nurse with her laying in my bed. My advice is to get her used to falling asleep other ways as well, because if she gets used to only falling asleep by nursing it will be a hard habit to break. My DD is 14 months old and the only way I can get her to fall asleep is to nurse her...which makes it impossible to have anyone babysit her at naptime or bedtime. I do not mind nursing her to sleep - we have a very strong bond and both enjoy cuddling - but I would like if she could fall asleep with other people too so that I could have occasional freedom. At this point, we are having a very hard time changing her habits, we have tried and temporarily given up because she gets hysterical (and vomits) if I refuse to nurse her to sleep. If I did it all over again, I would alternate rocking patting etc to get LO to sleep so that she isn't completely dependent on nursing. Good luck!

jasrun80

I love all the perspective here! Thank you!! 

skibunny59

polkadot1022:

Like you, I did what came naturally, which was nurse DD to sleep and nurse with her laying in my bed. My advice is to get her used to falling asleep other ways as well, because if she gets used to only falling asleep by nursing it will be a hard habit to break. My DD is 14 months old and the only way I can get her to fall asleep is to nurse her...which makes it impossible to have anyone babysit her at naptime or bedtime. I do not mind nursing her to sleep - we have a very strong bond and both enjoy cuddling - but I would like if she could fall asleep with other people too so that I could have occasional freedom. At this point, we are having a very hard time changing her habits, we have tried and temporarily given up because she gets hysterical (and vomits) if I refuse to nurse her to sleep. If I did it all over again, I would alternate rocking patting etc to get LO to sleep so that she isn't completely dependent on nursing. Good luck!

This is what I worry about happening.  DD is 5 months old and I can see already that it is a struggle to get her to sleep if she doesn't have the boob.  I started putting her to sleep that way because it was so easy to get her down.  It is very difficult right now to have other people put her to bed, DH included.  DH and I don't go out very often but the handful of times we have gone out to dinner, DD has screamed her head off with my parents.  It is a very stressful situation for DD, my parents when they watch her, and me.  It's difficult for me to have a good time out with my husband when all I can think about is DD screaming and crying the whole time.  I really love nursing to sleep but with my next baby I will find other ways to put her down early on.  Right now we are alternating DH putting her to bed but it is tough.