5 mnth old wont go to sleep at night unless fed to sleep

[OceanPrincess]

I wish DD had fed to sleep, would have made things much easier

Seriously, why do you want to stop? If it works for you, go with it I say! It is completely natural too - when you BF, it produces sleepy hormones in you and bubs, so it is natural that baby might drift off to sleep, especially at that time of day.

Try not to get hung up on "bad habits" and things like that and just enjoy the special time together!

[yummymummy]

Try not to get hung up on "bad habits" and things like that and just enjoy the special time together!

I totally agree.. most "bad habits" - eg feeding to sleep, wanting to be held all the time, wanting a dummy all day, etc. have not stuck for us. She usually wants to run away on m e and not be held unless she's sick or teething and even then the novelty wears off very fast for her. She rarely will take a dummy unless she's really tired. She won't feed to sleep. Wish I'd worried less and enjoyed more. Can't wait to do that with this baby!

[~me~]

I wouldn't be worried at the feeding to sleep at night, it's not a bad habbit at all , one day she will just stop. It's the most precious part of the day for me when I put her down at night while she is drunk on the feed with a smile on her face.
If you wanted to try a few different things.... you could put a night light in her room. That could be the main difference??? Do you have a night time routine, like, bath, feed and bed? At 5mths you could even try introducing a story before she goes to bed or perhaps music in her room.
Good luck with it all.

[OceanPrincess]

I just realised it was a litte rude of me to ignore your question and simply push my own thoughts on you...

With DD, as she did not feed to sleep, we established a bed time routine that we more or less stick to every night. We have dinner, bath (or sometimes other way around), feed, book and bed.

Even if you're not on solids yet, you can still do the bath, book, bed part.

I have read that if they are feeding to sleep, it is recommended to make sure that last feed is at least half an hour before the time you want them to go to bed, then you have half an hour of "gentle" play, like reading books or quiet play in their room, before popping them into bed.

If you persist with a routine, eventually your DD will realise that although she is having a feed, it is not quite bed time and she will stay awake a bit longer.

If she still feeds to sleep, you could try bringing the time of that feed forward a bit, or maybe pushing her last day sleep back a little bit, so she isn't so tired? Just a suggestion.

Good luck and I hope you find something that works for you

[Arcadia]

Could you feed her until drowsy and then put her down, so she's not fully fed to sleep iykwim? Thats what I used to do with DD. If she sooked when I placed her in the cot, I either fed her a bit more, or patted her bum.

These days I thank god/dess for the boob, because she just doesn't lie still without it (and even then she twists and turns with a boob in her mouth!) Its like a shot of tranquiliser. Bam! And she's out! Lol

[sleepyljm]

You could try putting her in her cot and patting her to sleep or you could rock her in your arms.

[Visitor8]

No suggestions. Is there a reason you want to stop her from feeding to sleep? I still feed DD2 to sleep and she is 14 months. She also sleeps ok during the day but wants the extra comfort of BF at night. I will keep doing it until she doesn't want to anymore.

Same here

Hunni she is still only so little. They grow up so fast and these things DON'T last forever! Ashton goes down with a bottle of water now and falls asleep on his own. Enjoy those night cuddles and bonding, before you know it she will be older and not want it anymore. They really do grow up too fast.

I would not say it's a bad habit, and it's something that they will stop in their own time Trust me 5-10 minutes of feeding to sleep is SO much easier than 1 hour of crying, or 45 minutes of pacing/rocking/patting. I've done them all and I will feed this one to sleep because it's SO much easier!