Looking for any sleep tips

sailor37 · September 2015

My 3mo falls asleep at night by breastfeeding, she's started to do naps in the day on her own.. Does anyone have tips to help transition to having her fall asleep on her out. I.m not ready to have her cry it out yet. TIA

Knottie1442268460 · September 2015

Don't bf to sleep. Change the order of things. White noise, swaddle, swing or rock/bounce to sleep.

The troublesome tots web site was helpful for me.

sailor37 · September 2015

Thanks for the website!

SaltyMcNulty · September 2015

Baby'smom said:

Don't bf to sleep. Change the order of things. White noise, swaddle, swing or rock/bounce to sleep. The troublesome tots web site was helpful for me.

Ditto this.

Also, 3mo is too young for CIO. CIO is only recommended for babies 6m and older.

Bigboobsmcgee · September 2015

Dude, she's only 3 months old. You can breastfeed her until she's asleep and put her to bed. That's not a terrible thing and not something she will do forever. Both of my kids used to fall asleep eating and I'd put them to bed. Eventually as they got older, they'd stay awake during feedings and I'd put them in bed anyways.

Don't overthink this right now. Your LO is still young and sleep is hard to come by so do whatever you need to do right now and worry about the rest later. Trust me on this.

delujm0 · September 2015

Bigboobsmcgee said:

Dude, she's only 3 months old. You can breastfeed her until she's asleep and put her to bed. That's not a terrible thing and not something she will do forever. Both of my kids used to fall asleep eating and I'd put them to bed. Eventually as they got older, they'd stay awake during feedings and I'd put them in bed anyways.
Don't overthink this right now. Your LO is still young and sleep is hard to come by so do whatever you need to do right now and worry about the rest later. Trust me on this.

I second this. I don't think it's at all harmful for a 3 month old to breastfeed to sleep. She's clearly capable of falling asleep without it, so eventually she will wean herself off of needing it for nighttime sleep. I plan to allow my daughter to breastfeed to sleep until such time as she won't do it anymore. And at that point, I will sleep train (though she is a really good nighttime sleeper, so I'm hoping CIO won't be necessary).

As far as MOTN feedings go, I will let DD try to put herself back to sleep for about 10 minutes or so before I go in there, unless she's really crying. A lot of times she'll fuss a bit, but then find her thumb and put herself back to sleep. if it's been 5+ hours she's usually actually hungry and i'll go in there sooner so that she won't get all worked up and will go back to sleep easier.

I really think the "YOU MUST PUT THEM IN BED DROWSY BUT AWAKE" edict is unnecessary. Especially when you KNOW your child is capable of going to sleep on her own because she does it at naptime. Unless you get into a situation where you nurse to sleep and then after every sleep cycle your LO wakes up wondering why she's not nursing anymore, I don't see the point. I nurse to sleep, transfer to the crib, and my 14 week old will gladly sleep 5-9 hours before her first wake up (at which point I nurse her to sleep again and she stays down for another 2-6 hours, depending on how long her first sleep stretch was). As I said, sometimes she wakes and puts herself back to sleep in the middle there. She usually only really gets worked up if she has a very full diaper or is actually hungry, in which case intervention is necessary. Don't overthink it. Do what you have to do for everyone to get some sleep.

Nickioch · September 2015

This was nice to read, I nurse to sleep too (5+ mo) and he can still go to sleep for naps etc without the boob. It's def different with me, he expects it more and relies on it more with me because that's what he's used to, than my husband who can just comfort and hold and he'll fall asleep. But we always have to transfer while asleep. I'm so sick of seeing drowsy but awake, it frustrates me, because that's not a level we get at bedtime. It's eating, asleep or screaming. It's still a struggle but there's plenty of time I feel. Especially to the one who originally posted, 3 months is so little just give all the comfort in the world and do what works, that's my vote, but I'm no expert just trying to navigate the waters myself!

Bigboobsmcgee · September 2015

Nickioch said:

This was nice to read, I nurse to sleep too (5+ mo) and he can still go to sleep for naps etc without the boob. It's def different with me, he expects it more and relies on it more with me because that's what he's used to, than my husband who can just comfort and hold and he'll fall asleep. But we always have to transfer while asleep. I'm so sick of seeing drowsy but awake, it frustrates me, because that's not a level we get at bedtime. It's eating, asleep or screaming. It's still a struggle but there's plenty of time I feel. Especially to the one who originally posted, 3 months is so little just give all the comfort in the world and do what works, that's my vote, but I'm no expert just trying to navigate the waters myself!

There is!

sailor37 · October 2015

Thank you al. It definitly helps hearing from people in similar situations, it's easy to read about everything that is suppossed to be and come up with the best thing for you and baby

Marielle0430 · October 2015

My LO is 4+ months and I still nurse her to sleep. I work full time and I feel like I don't get enough quality time with her during the week so nursing her to sleep at night is special for us.

Looking for any sleep tips

Re: Looking for any sleep tips

FET to TTC #2: 9/29/14 Beta on 10/8/14 = BFP!

DS #1 Born 1/3/11 after IVF #1

4 failed IUIs, including 1 CP

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