7 week old - bad sleep associations? Colic? Reflux? Or just high needs?

[123LuckyMom]

This was me, too. I nursed DD to sleep almost every night until she was just under a year -- and when we stopped, it was because she wasn't falling asleep to it anymore, not something I had to break her of. I struggled with this one early on -- I felt like I "should" stop doing the nurse to sleep, and that I was creating bad sleep habits....but then I also realized I enjoyed nursing her to sleep, and that it was a million times easier to put her to bed that way, too. I know it doesn't work like this for every child, but DD would fall asleep nursing, and then I'd un-latch her -- it would usually wake her up a bit, but then I'd hold her until she fell asleep again -- or put her in her crib and "cradle" her in the crib with my arms (easier to extrract myself vs. transferring to the crib later).

I've also learned from DD that learning that "self-soothing" is an on and off skill. DD couldn't do it at all early in life (and we didn't really try). Then, around 10 months, we did some CIO (which was a couple rough days but not much more, for us...worth it) that resulted in DD being able to fully put herself to sleep (i.e. - I could leave her in her crib awake and she'd go to sleep w/o crying). So I thought we were golden....until we hit age 2, where all of a sudden she lost all capability (or, more likely, desire) to put herself to sleep, and it was like I was back to the beginning again...but now she's back to being able to fall asleep on her own. My point being -- don't worry too much about it, because kids find a way to challenge you no matter what!

Exactly!!! Every stage brings new challenges, and the important thing is to find what works for you and your kids. There's no right way! When they're so little, you just need to make sure they are getting their needs met. It really is all about them. Once they're older than 6 months, you can start thinking about night weaning and sleep associations and the like. But not until then. Also, you can keep nursing your baby to sleep for as long as you like. I always nursed mine to sleep at bedtime but stopped nursing at night wakings once they were older. If it works for you, it's not a problem.

[nomnom]

Hm... Never thought about it that way. Thanks for your input. I'm going to keep plodding along then! Should I need some more input, I know where to ask! I love this board!