Any ideas on how to stop comfort feeding to sleep in a 2yo?
DS is 27 months and despite not getting anything more than a little bit of colostrum (I am 19 weeks with #2), he is still feeding to sleep and not looking like stopping. Its not even a proper feed though, its just a wind down comfort feed, he gets drowsy and then is happy to roll over and go to sleep (he can go on and off a little but ultimately goes to sleep off the breast). But it takes a good hour every single night!
I just have no idea how to go about stopping that comfort sucking to wind down. The pantley pull of method is useless as he isnt drowsy enough. I have tried telling him the boobies are sore, nor more until the sun rises etc but he gets quite upset and pulls at my top for them haha. My next not very serious idea is trying a dummy again (he gave it up at 9 months old) so he can still suck to sleep itms.
If I try and get him to just lay there & cuddle him, or put a time limit on the boobs & cuddle, he just mucks around and thinks we're playing.
Any ideas on what I can try? Up for any suggestions! I really want him weaned before bub comes as I do not wish to tandem feed (as I know once he gets milk into him again he will start waking multiple times overnight again for it, its taken us a long time to get to the point of only 1-2 wake ups overnight and thats because the boobs have gone empty. I dont want to deal with tears and tantrums if he was to start waking for more feeds again and I say no with a newbie!). I just feel ready to wean, I will miss it absolutely and we have had a perfect breastfeeding relationship and I have loved it all, but I am ready and wanting to wean.
I have just weaned my 16month old, he also fed to sleep day and night. I started with the day sleep, I made sure I had a "real" bra on - so he couldn't get to my boobs and just said "all gone". I cuddled/held, while he screamed blue murder and I felt awful, but he would eventually calm and go off to sleep. It took a few days and then a week later did the same for the night feed. It was so hard not to give in and feed him, but I didn't want to give mixed messages so I stuck with it and just spoke calmly, sang lullabies and cuddled. I kept all other sleep cues (music, sleeping bag) the same.
Im thinking I am going to have to do the same, I am just a sook and havent wanted to deal with the tantrums and bedtime possibly taking longer than it already does lol! How long did it take your ds to start settling easier after the first few days of screaming? While I know it will be hard, I take comfort in the fact that I will still be there with him giving him comfort, even though it wont be in the form he wants lol
Stopping comfort feed to sleep with 2yo
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