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I *think* I am breaking the nurse to sleep habit (long)

anna7602anna7602 member
in Attachment Parenting

DD has been nursing to sleep at night all of these long 18 months. When she was younger, she would also take a bottle at night and go to sleep, but around 10 or 11 months, she decided this wasn't as nice. DH and I stopped going on evening dates in April.

About 3 or 4 weeks ago, we started trying to get her to sleep other ways in anticipation of a medical procedure I needed done that would require my being away from her at bedtime. Nothing seemed to work except for bedsharing and we didn't want to do CIO. We hired a sitter who came 3 or 4 times before she actually got DD to sleep 3 nights before my medical procedure (phew!). Her method: put DD in the crib, then sit in the rocking chair, talk to her a little and continue to sit there until DD was asleep.

DH, DD and I all spent last week on vacation together at the ILs. I moved my bedtime nursing session to right before DD's bath, then DH and I put DD down in her crib together every night after her bath and a book. We then sat in the room with her until she fell asleep. The first night took a little over an hour and she cried, but we tried to comfort her each time she cried without taking her out of the crib. We did this for five straight nights and each time seemed to take less time.

We did it last night when we got home and it felt like we were starting all over again. The process took 55 minutes and I was afraid it would never work here, especially since DH is usually never home for DD's bedtime and I would now have to do the routine on my own. But I think DD was just overtired from the long day traveling. Tonight, I did everything by myself and she was asleep within 10 minutes of my putting her in her crib!

Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to post details in case anyone else is in the nurse-to-sleep situation. I did try to break DD out of the habit back in August, but found out that her molars were starting to come in, so I abandoned the project. Who knows what would have happened if I'd been more consistent in my approach.

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