Transitioning from nursing to sleep

kmos816 · November 2014

I think its time for me to stop nursing C to sleep for various reasons- any tips on this transition? Do I just make the change cold turkey? We normally start bath around 6:30 and she's nursing by 6:45 asleep by 7. Should I nurse or give her a bottle at 6?

juniper75 · November 2014

I have read that to break the association they need to finish nursing 20 min before going to sleep. Personally I would prob slowly make the change but I am sure alot of people just go cold turkey.

ETA - by slowly I mean over a few nights - not weeks or anything

Dixon813 · November 2014

It's been awhile since I've nursed to sleep. (Except in the MOTN). But I think adapting your bedtime routine slightly would help. I nurse after bath/pjs but then read a book. Then we say "goodnight" to things in his room - door, light, chair, dresser, etc. - and then it's in bed.

*sparky* · November 2014

In the No Cry Sleep Solution they suggest breaking baby's latch once they are obviously finished nursing and starting to drift off. Then try to keep them from relatching. If they fight it too much, you can relatch a few times, but the goal is to make sure they are awake when they unlatch. Then you can later switch up the routine to move nursing up earlier but if you try to do that too soon, you may end up just replacing another habit, like rocking, for the nursing.

I was doing it with some success until LO got sick last week and then everything went out the window.

UnofficiallyLO · November 2014

I was going to suggest what sparky said and it's a slow transition so I guess it depends on how long you'd like to work on it. DS didn't take a bottle until around 4 months and he will now take that to sleep instead so at least SO can get him down every once in awhile. NCSS also talks about going from nursing to sleep to rocking to sleep, etc. if you're trying to go that way with LO. Good luck!

bootsiebabe · November 2014

Could you replace nursing to sleep to rocking with a pacifier? I know some people don't want to go there with another sleep "prop," but now that DS is old enough to get the pacifier back in his mouth on his own while in the crib, he can have at it. I used it to stop nursing for naps and it has worked well for us.

snowbound · November 2014

I still nurse right before bed. We do bath, pjs, lotion, nurse, then bed. I put him in his bed immediately following nursing but while he's still awake. I've had great success doing it this way. I still can't figure out MOTN wake ups/feeds.

kmos816 · November 2014

@bootsiebabe‌ unfortunately C has never taken a paci!

Thanks for the other suggestions.... Keep them coming!

I tried the Ncss method and she still just passes out- I only tried it for a few days and I know I'm supposed to do it for longer!

CalinAZ · November 2014

We transitioned away from nursing as the last thing before bed by moving the story to after nursing. So, if he fell asleep nursing, the story would wake him up a little. Then, after the story, I bring him over to the bed and put on the sleep sack while I say my "goodnight" bit. Adding those two things gets him awake enough, but still relaxed.

Good luck!

kmos816 · November 2014

Thanks! I think I will try moving it up 30 min; when she falls asleep she is out cold- I can try saying her name but nothing! I suppose tonight would be good since it's Friday.... Nervous but i know it must be done!

@hvmom2b‌ good to know your LO didn't mind- hope mine is the same!

mammasuzelov · November 2014

I've been thinking about this lately because A is totally reliant on nursing to sleep. I don't even know how we would start this process. I've tried nursing earlier in the routine and she just goes to sleep earlier. I've tried pulling the nipple out when she is done but she wakes up and fights to latch again.

A is not a great sleeper though lately and she's always been a light sleeper for the first 15 min. So putting her down awake means screaming so much screaming. I have no idea how we are going to manage when she stops nursing.

nycgirlkat · November 2014

We're working on this too. Until about 4 months DD didn't have a routine due to colic. Then we went to bottle/rocking to sleep (big first time mom mistake). My pediatrician said we should delay CIO to 8/9 months which I don't really agree with (but my husband wanted to kiss him on the mouth because he can't handle DD screaming).

So now we moved to going upstairs with a book then bottle with the lights on low and if she falls asleep I get up to turn off the light and that wakes her up usually. So then I put her in the crib, give her her lovey and sometimes she falls asleep, sometimes she starts screaming. I'm going to start changing to bottle then books/goodnight routine so that hopefully by 8/9 months we can get the out down awake thing down. Although she is pretty high-maintenance so I'm sure we will travel down the CIO road!

chichi589 · November 2014

It's a hard transition. I stopped at 5 months because I knew I was done bfing at 6 months and I didn't want to hit him with two changes at once. I had to give him to daddy for the night routine or else shit hit the fan and we had a scream fest for 2 hrs. We did solid, bath, pjs, book, and bed. He still doesn't have it down at almost 8 months. It really depends on the day, the amount of naps, etc. we give him an a&a blanket as a lovey and now he won't sleep without one. He never took a pacifier either. It's a hard transition it was a lot of tears on both our parts lol

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