Nursing baby to sleep?

[deborah_r]

At what age do you think you should stop relying on nursing to get the baby to sleep?

I'm not using it exclusively to get ds to sleep, but sometimes he just seems to get overtired and won't nap, so I end up nursing him so he'll fall asleep. Is this bad?

[C99]

Deborah,

Not unless it stops working! :) I think that if it works, it's fine, but it sounds like he is learning to sleep at least somewhat on his own or via a different method, which is what's important.

[Momof3Labs]

I sometimes nurse Colin to sleep, especially if he is a little overtired (nap was delayed or whatever). At bedtime, he sometimes falls asleep while nursing and sometimes does not. But since he can also go to sleep on his own, that's what matters to me.

[peasprout]

Ohhh, I'm in the same boat as you,...but worse! DD is 9 months and I feel like I failed cuz I have to nurse her to sleep 90% of the time. When we try rocking or patting her, she doesn't sleep. We even tried letting her cry it out, but she would pull her hair and I couldn't take it anymore. And now she'll stand in her crib and keep crying. She's not attached to a lovey or take a pacifier, so she relies on nursing to calm down. So anyway, I didn't really answer your question, but just wanted you to know that you're not alone in this dilemma! If you can stop, I'd do it now before he's standing!

[lukkykatt]

When DS was about 5 or 6 months old, I started letting him learn to fall asleep by himself. However, now, at 13 months, he still sometimes falls asleep nursing. Whenever it happens, I don't worry about it and just put him in his crib asleep. To me, the most important thing is that at least he can go to sleep on his own.

[22tango]

I thought it was supposed to be bad and was the cause of all our nightwaking problems until I read Weissbluth!! After working on her night and nap schedules, she started sleeping thru the night (we did this at 9 months old) and I didn't have to change the fact that I always nurse her down to sleep. As a result, we have virtually no crying at all, and it makes us both feel very good. It doesn't seem to affect her ability to put herself back to sleep during the middle of the night, so why change a good thing??

[egoldber]

I nursed Sarah to sleep until she was 5 1/2 months. Before that it was physically impossible to keep her from going to sleep during that last feeding!! I really wouldn't worry about it at this age.

HTH,

[COElizabeth]

Oh, I am envious! I've read Weissbluth, too, and have my baby going to bed at 6 PM, napping twice a day, etc., and he is STILL waking up 4 times a night and needing to be nursed back down. He rarely falls fast asleep while nursing, but he can't seem to go back to sleep at night unless he nurses. I am thoroughly exhausted. Sigh.

Elizabeth
Mom to James
9-20-02

[stillplayswithbarbies]

That is the way it is for us too. I am not nursing her to sleep, per se, but I am nursing her and she falls asleep and then I put her in her bed. (or usually on a blanket on the floor until we are ready to go to bed, we like to watch her sleep)

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[hellokitty1]

i need help too...dd is now 3.5 months and in the last month has become noticably "addicted" to nursing to sleep and seems to use my breast as her pacifier. here is what she is like...

during she is not a good napper and even when she does, they are short unless it is from nursing. (i've accepted that she just may not need a long time.) she almost always falls asleep at the breast and bc it's so hard to get her to nap, i let her sleep on the nursing pillow (my brest friend). when she is tired at other times of the day, holding her and walking around the house helps her fall asleep too. HOWEVER, whether she falls asleep nursing or being held, we absolutely cannot put her down in the crib (she cries imediately, i think from the body position change). so daytime naps for her means i can't do anything either... this is tough on me.

at night, i must nurse her to go to sleep and be able to put her in the crib. if i just hold her and walk around like i do during the day, she screams. so i can live with nursing her to bed at night..BUT while we used to give her a bottle during her one time waking, in the last 3 weeks, she has started waking more and crying like crazy and of course the only way to get her to sleep is to nurse. so this is tough for me and will be even worse bc i am getting ready to back to work. i feel like she is waking up for normal reasons, but now must be nursed to go back to sleep.

i bought the ferber book on CIO and will try it when she gets a little older. but i originally bought it to help with sleeping on their own. but now, nursing has been added to the pot and i don't quite understand his chapter on how to wean the night time feedings. i know dd is not hungry bc after sucking about 5 minutes, she falls right back to sleep. i have literally become the human pacifier as dd does not take a real one.

anyway, i am not concerned with the "spoiling" aspect. i want to be there to meet sydney's every need. but i do want to distinguish real ones from false ones and i really do need some sleep.

any help on this or a clearer explanation on ferber regarding nursing associations.

TIA a ton!

[Momof3Labs]

I'm not familiar with Ferber when it comes to nursing to sleep, but Weissbluth has what I consider a healthy stance on it (it isn't taboo). You might want to check out his book, too.

[yhtking]

My DS is 9 weeks plus now. He is just like your DD. Whenever we put him down for a nap during the day, he screams like there is no tomorrow. So most of the time, we do let him sleep on us. Although, we still swaddle him at night. We started to try to get him to nap around 12:30 or 1:00ish for his afternoon nap. We started swaddle him for the nap now and we keep the room dark like the night time. He will usually nap anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 hours (this afternoon, I had to wake him up for his feeding). I do nurse him to sleep during his 4:00/5:00 a.m. feeding. So you are not alone.

Mom to Baby T (6/6/3)
ps: love your website.