Falling asleep at the bottle

FlipFlopGirl32 · September 2012

I've been reading about sleep issues in infants and the one that keeps coming up is allowing LO to fall asleep while nursing or at the bottle. They say they get used to falling asleep that way. DD only wants a bottle right before nap if it's like 20 min before her next meal time or occasionally before bed. So, am I creating a monster? Plus, I still rock to sleep.

MMC0927 · September 2012

I still rock to sleep, too! If it's time to eat before bed, then she eats. She doesn't necessarily need to eat to fall asleep, but I always bounce or rock her.

dixee.deluxe · September 2012

Antecdotal, but maybe it'll make you feel better!

I let Edie have a bottle to fall asleep until 9m. One day it just got really hard and she got squirmy and I'd rock her and it was just awful. DH suggested I try to put her down after a week of that. So I did and she put her head down, butt up and snoozed out. She's been doing that every night ever since!

So, I didn't ruin that kiddo!

Luv2eatcherries · September 2012

Some days I nurse DS to sleep but when I move him over from my bed to his, he wakes up and squirms a little. About five minutes later he falls back asleep on his own.

ksen820 · September 2012

During the day, I try to feed him after a nap but sometimes it would mess up his schedule so I feed before a nap. He always gets a bottle before bed at 6pm and sleeps until 8am. So I dont think it makes a difference.

Also Dixie, it's funny you say that because when it got near impossible to rock David to sleep, DH said let's just put him down and it worked wonders. Our kids know what they need more than we do sometimes

ETA: he usually doesn't fall asleep during bottles in the daytime, but at least 2-3 times a week he falls asleep during the bedtime bottle.

lindy27 · September 2012

I nurse to sleep at night, she usually wakes up when I set her in the crib though and sometimes will go to sleep and sometimes I have to get her more sleepy by holding her. For naps I don't because we did the eat, play, nap routine when she was little so she has never needed it.

orriskitten · September 2012

DD still has a bottle before bed, but if she is not hungry she usually had no problem falling asleep. during the day for naps she will usually have a bottle, but some days she decides she only wants a binky. She doesn't fall asleep during all bottles, though.

NLS0412 · September 2012

I nurse G to sleep every night. He doesn't need to be nursed to sleep, he can nap during the day without it, but he sleeps great at night and typically only wakes up once to eat, so it's not a battle I want to fight right now. It works great for us for the time being. If I eventually feel like we need to sleep train, we will.

laurack · September 2012

I like it when her feeding time coincides with her nap time as she then won't fight the nap because she's drowsy. So maybe its bad but meh whatever. I still nurse her before bed but I have found that she doesn't always fall asleep from it but will be awake going down. I would still rock her happily tooo but it seems that often annoys her now so I set her squirmyness down and she rolls to belly and is out.

laurack · September 2012

Also re:bad habits. I'm not convinced by all the "bad habits" advice, and I am of the belief that there isn't much point worrying about something that isn't actually an issue yet. So if at some point I feel it is an isse I will deal with it then.

I have been told 5m is too old for motn feedings,its a bad habit, she needs to cio but I don't believe that. If she is 1yo and still waking for motn feedings maybe. But for now I am just going to keep nursing my happy baby before bed and 2x in the motn also, bad habits be damned!

laurack · September 2012

I meant to ask- after you feed/rock to sleep does baby then wake a lot crying? I think the need to really do some kind of night sleep training/when you have a problem is in the case of a baby who has sleep associations (rocking/eating/sucking etc) and when baby wakes after sleep cycle he cries as the situation has changed (fell asleep sucking and in mummys arms, woke up alone in crib). If baby wakes every hour or two all night long on a consistent basis (not just because of sickness or teething) and will not go back to sleep alone in crib without being rocked etc. Then I think you might have some habits to break.

BebeEtMoi · September 2012

My LO nurses to sleep at night and I have to rock to sleep for naps. If it works for you, then there's no need to "fix" anything IMO. I've read the same thing and for us we will most likely (unfortunately) have to sleep train because DD is unable to put herself to sleep, she needs either the boob or to be rocked. I love nursing her to sleep though and it is still working for us, so I'm not stopping yet!

FlipFlopGirl32 · September 2012

laurack:
I meant to ask- after you feed/rock to sleep does baby then wake a lot crying? I think the need to really do some kind of night sleep training/when you have a problem is in the case of a baby who has sleep associations (rocking/eating/sucking etc) and when baby wakes after sleep cycle he cries as the situation has changed (fell asleep sucking and in mummys arms, woke up alone in crib). If baby wakes every hour or two all night long on a consistent basis (not just because of sickness or teething) and will not go back to sleep alone in crib without being rocked etc. Then I think you might have some habits to break.

After she falls asleep she usually stays asleep. She goes to bed at night at about 7pm and usually wakes at about 3-4am. Then is out again until 7am. Only this past week she's been waking at midnight and 5am, then up for the day. I agree that's its not a problem until she's waking several times at night. My pedi keeps saying not to rock to sleep or allow her to fall asleep while eating. I keep saying "She won't need it forever".

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