Breastfeeding 8 month old to sleep at night

Re: Breastfeeding 8 month old to sleep at night

• GrantHenson member

  June 2013

  I just went through this exact same thing with my 7 month old.  No matter what method you choose it will involve some crying as crying is your baby's way of protesting any change.  I would suggest that you take a look at the sleep sense program.  It was a life changer for my family.  It does involve some crying but it does not involve your baby crying alone.  My baby is now going to sleep on her own, sleeping through the night and napping nice and long.  She cried 49 min the first night with me sitting next to her crib offering her soft touch and words.  after that it was less than 10 min of crying.  Trust me it works

   

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• stgn01 member

  June 2013

  I can't offer too much advise, as I did CIO with both kids.  I agree with the above poster.  Also, the way I ended up not nursing to sleep was to nurse with all the lights on and maybe read a story while I nurse.  That was they weren't falling asleep while nursing in a dark room with the white noise on.  After I'm done nursing DS, we say good night to his animals (he gives them kisses!), turn off the lights, turn on the sound, quick goodnight hug and kiss, and put him down awake.  After that, he usually just rolls over and goes to sleep.  GL!  I know breaking the nursing-to-sleep habit is really hard!

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  

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• DiveFrog member

  June 2013

  Can you have DH or someone else start a new routine and put them to bed? Once they estabilsh a routine that works then you can start using that routine. When I wanted to break DD of nursing back to sleep in the middle of the night. DH took over all of the wakings for a few weeks to break her of the habit. Now if she has a rare middle of the night waking I can go to her because she knows it isn't time to nurse, just snuggle/rocking/physical reassurance. When I started putting baby down awake (after nursing) at night I had to sit by the crib and touch/patt her bottom/rub her back until she fell asleep. Over time I could just stay by the crib where she could see me and that was enough for her to feel safe and fall asleep. Now I can put her down awake and she just rolls over towards the wall and I can walk away without any crying. However, this doesn't always work if she is sick, teething or over tired/stimulated from an out of the oridnary day, or delayed bedtime for whatever family reason. Then we may have to resort to rocking to sleep, or patting/rubbing back and staying with her until she falls asleep. I will say though DD just turned 1yr old and I still nurse her first thing in the morning, and directly before I put her to bed. 90% of the time I put her to bed drowsy but awake. 10% of the time she still falls asleep nursing. Personally, I don't have a problem with it because she will go to sleep easily if I do put her down awake. Good Luck, and however you decide to approach this the key is to stay consistent!

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• *LrCg* member

  June 2013

  This is my third baby and I have always nursed to sleep until they weaned at about a year old. Once they start weaning your supply dips as well and they eat more food then nurse less and it just naturally works itself out.

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• ForeverEverAfter member

  June 2013

  No Cry Nap Solution has a chapter on that. I still nurse before sleep so I dont have personal advice for you. The book worked great for me when transitioning from arms to crib though, so its worth a shot if you don't want to CIO. You can adjust sleeping habits without tears, it just takes longer. 

  

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