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

HI, my DD is 5 mnths and during the day i can put her in her cot and she will have a tiny bit of a winge but will very quickly go to sleep by herself no problems. however, the only way i can get her to sleep at night is to feed her to sleep. ive tried putting her into her cot as i would during the day and she screams the house down and gets so upset. i dont understand why she can go to sleep during the day no probs by herself but not at night? i really would love to stop having to feed her to sleep but i dont know how to break her of the habit? any suggestions please!

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.

don't stress - they eventually stop feeding to sleep and you wish that they still did!! Feeding to sleep is so much less stressful on you both! All the best

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!

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

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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!

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.

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 :)

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

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

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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.

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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!

My first born was like this, and it drove me nuts. My second born isn't a fan of feeding to sleep so I have to rock, pat, bounce, etc her to sleep. Looking back, feeding to sleep was so much easier. i know that doesn't help much though, sorry. I think OP's advice is good.

Hey just popping in here to post a link to my latest blog post :)

Live, Laugh And Love: To Cuddle Or Not To Cuddle?

Hope it can help you see that you're doing the right thing :)

Personally, I love feeding DD to sleep. Having said that, I don't do it (nor does she want it) every night. She is capable of going off on her own, but sometimes it's a relaxing routine that we both want and enjoy.

Elizabeth Pantley has a book "The no cry sleep solution" which describes many ways of helping babies go to sleep without using CIO methods. To break the 'b/feed to sleep' she describes her method called the "Pantley pulloff" (I think that's what it's called). It basically describes feeding baby to the point of drowsiness and gently pulling off and letting baby do the rest on his/her own.

If breastfeeding to sleep really doesn't work for you, it might be worth getting the book from your local library to see if this method (and/or any of her others) could be worth a try.

I also used Elizabeth Pantley's book when I wanted to stop DD feeding to sleep when I returned to work at 12 months, it worked really well, I took her off just before she was asleep but drowsy and rocked her to sleep, each day taking her off sooner so eventually I just rocked her to sleep.

I agree with the other ladies though, don't stop it because you feel like you 'shouldn't' be doing it, it's perfectly fine even if others around you don't agree (been there!).

thankyou so much for all your replies! my DS never fed to sleep, he used to just settle himself in his cot, so this is new territory for me. some nights i dont mind at all, it is lovely to have that last cuddle before she goes to bed. but other nights it seems to take forever and i get frustrated thinking of all the millions of things i need to do before i can go to bed too.....:shakehead:

also feeding her to sleep can be stressful when im trying to get the 4 year into bed at the same time, i just have to keep her awake until i can get him in bed, which i hate doing but ive no other choice cause if i put her in her cot she will scream her head off. i cant get her to sleep before he goes to bed, cause its too noisy and he will keep waking her up just when shes ready to be put down.... and i have to start all over again :doh:.

i might look into that book you suggested and see how i go. thanks again! ;)

Even though we've all said not to worry about it, it's also ok to find alternatives feeding to sleep if that works better for your family. Just wanted to add that :hug:

Though I sometimes wish my second born would feed to sleep, I think in the long run I will find things easier, as it means other people (eg DH, mum) can get her to sleep if need be, whereas no one could get my first born to sleep except me for the first 2 years and it wasn't something he "grew out of" at all (not that all feed to sleep kids are like that).