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I was wondering if anyone else feeds their bubs to sleep? Aurelia is almost 12 months and she still falls asleep on the boob. She didn't always and her sleep has always been terrible so i adopted a 'whatever works' policy. I used to always have her in a routine but every time she cut a tooth or had a growth spurt, it went out the window so I gave up.
yes i do it...
sometimes i get upset about it and think i need to stop, but tbh, we just find it the easiest and most efficient way to get him to sleep. he can go to sleep other ways, but breastfeeding is definitely the quickest. so when i'm tired, over it, can't be bothered- it's the tried and trusted way.
are you getting upset or worried about it neenee?
I know Jacob is heaps younger but he always feeds to sleep and as we r trying to get him to sleep in basinet and not on bed in me it can be a lot of feeds to settle, often more a suck than a feed.
Good luck
have u tryed a teddy or special blanket
She does have some bears that she loves but they don't really help her to sleep (Carebears are her favourite). To be honest, I don't know if I *should* be worried. I did the whole thing with routine, teaching her (gently) to self-settle, and it all worked - periodically! I guess i'm worried she won't be able to sleep without the breast, eventually (though i'm not planning to wean her).
Oskar used to almost always feed to sleep. He still does now if he's really tired. Mostly though I can now feed him then put him down in a semi awake state and he'll roll over and off to sleep. I think over time it's something they learn to do.
Isabelle always fed to sleep up until we stopped breastfeeding at 11 mths... and now daddy gives her a bottle still and she goes to sleep, or at least gets very drowsy before going to bed. I was thinking the other day that we "should" stop, then thought, well why "should" we! She is happy, we are happy, DH loves his daddy daughter quiet time and if it ain't broke - don't fix it! :) JMHO!
I fed all 3 of mine to sleep! I was always there in the back of my mind that it was a "bad habit" that couldn't be broken until I would have a night out and we discovered that they would settle fine without boobie.
They were 12mths 14mths and 16mths respectively when they weaned and all of my boys had their last ever feed as a night time one too :)
Its only been in the last couple of days Oliver has decided its ok to self settle sometimes - and he went back to needing to be fed to sleep tonight. I don't have a problem doing it, and I figure it won't be forever. Its what works best for us.
most definately!
there is no problem with feeding to sleep i think, my bub is only 9 weeks, but he feeds to sleep, he's on the bottle tho because i couldnt breastfeed him but when its his sleep time, he knows that its bottle, burp and bed, tho he usually falls asleep while feeding so i dont bother burping him, he's never had problems with wind thank god, usually just comes out the other end :lol:
i've found i'm happy to do whatever is the easiest way to get him down, as all of oyu would already know, a looooong day with a whingey baby can be so easily forgotten when they fall asleep in your arms and stay asleep when you put them down.
so yes, feeding to sleep is awesome if thats what works.
When I'm home for bedtimes, DS only goes down with a feed. I've never worried about this EVER. It's nature's way, after all :)
I told DP ages ago that it's not a problem as far as he's concerned, because DS will work out his own system with his dad when I'm not there for bedtime (happens occasionally), just as he does when he stays with any of his grandparents who, obviously, don't feed him to sleep.
It's a mummy/DS thing that I love. I have never put pressure on him or myself to get him to go to bed by himself. I've had people almost sneer down their noses and say "oh, that's right, he only goes to sleep with cuddles, doesn't he?", as if it's 'wrong'. Don't know what the hell it is to them, it's not like they're ever going to be called on to get him to sleep! Not surprisingly, these people are well-known CC'ers. I reserve my own judgment about their parenting methods to the four walls of my house - it's ok for them to sneer at me and tell me I'm creating 'bad habits', but suggest to them that their methods are scientifically unsound and you're the worst person in the world :rolleyes:, so I don't.
Anyway, 2 and a bit years down the track, 'still' feeding to sleep and loving my capacity to do so, because one day he won't :)
Yup always feed to sleep here. Even now at 3 sometimes oscar will still have a boob and fall asleep at night, and for his day sleeps he always has a breastfeed. It works, he loves it so we do it! Plus the benefit is 2 minutes on the boob and he's asleep, it's a sleeping tablet for him lol.
beckles
this thread has made me feel good about myself again... I have been copping the 'your creating a bad habit' comments a bit lately, but it is so nice when she falls asleep in my arms!
Mayaness - I know exactly what you mean about wanting to voice opinions on CC, but not doing it!
I feed Jack to sleep and wouldn't change it for the world, it is the favourite part of my day/night. Jack does need to be burped though or he wakes with wind, so sometimes he will wake when being burped, I just wrap him and put him down and he settles himself. (well, most the time anyway, lol)
My advice is, enjoy it while you can.
I'm happy to feed DS to sleep, and it's certainly always an option for him, but I'm finding that as he gets older he doesn't seem to want to do it quite as much. he still takes the feed, but just stays awake until he's in bed.
My DS is almost 14 months and we feed to sleep. I don't have a problem with it. It does cross my mind sometimes what will happen when he weans but we'll deal with that then!
Feeding to sleep is the most natural way to get bubs to sleep! We still do it here, although i have a feeling DS is weaning:( Somenights he stays attched when he is alseep and i have to wake up and detach him! I am going to miss this:(
I cannot see how feeding to sleep causes bad habits, i have never heard of a 15 year old feeding to sleep lol!
Make sure you do what feels right for you and not what someone is telling you to do! As long as your happy and bubs is happy thats all that matters! Good luck x
enjoy it while it lasts! I miss it big time with my girls but both are well and truly weaned unfortunately and even now when i lie in bed making up stories with my girls at night, i wish I was able to still do it! Although i love our cuddles the way they are now anyway!
I feed my DD Seven to sleep. She is only 2 wks old though, but I love it. She doesn't like a dummy, and she can go to sleep in Daddy's arms, but she (and I) just prefer to breastfeed to sleep. At the end of the day, its your decision and if you are happy to continue doing it the way you are, good for you!
I will be quite happy to feed Seven to sleep as long as she wants to, but we are making sure that she recognises a couple of other ways to get to sleep as she gets older.
I've fed both my girls to sleep till they worked out their own thing.
I'll be doing it again too with this baby, I see no harm in it and it works!
Cheers,
Beck
LOL I have wished DS would feed to sleep! He only feeds to sleep in the nightime, but otherwise, he still relies on me to put him off to sleep. I adore the time with him TBH. Sometimes I let it worry me and then snap out of it and realise that this is the most natural thing in the world - it's only our stupid Western society that promotes distance and management bah blah.
Enjoy the beautiful contact with the little gems while we can, I say!
i think you'll just find he'll adapt. he may not 'self settle', but i don't see any reason why he couldn't be rocked to sleep in your mum's arms.
i leave my ds with my dad sometimes for a couple of hours and he finds he will either fall asleep out on a walk in the pram, in the sling or sometimes even in the car seat.
I feed my DS to sleep every night and nap time.A lot of people say I shouldn't but you know what, it's so much easier for me and him that I don't see why I should stop!I now find that I can't get to sleep unless I have breastfed him, I think it's the happy hormones that get released when you BF.
wow, thanks for this thread. I went to see the ECHC nurse for 6 month check and of course you know what she said. :rolleyes: (she also picked at her cradle cap. . . what the??)
This thread makes me feel so much better about feeding DD to sleep! :D
LOL I was still doing this until DS was about 18 months! DH could rock DS to sleep in the rocking chair but if it was Mummy putting him to bed DS would want the breast.
We also took the "whatever works" approach.
A couple of factors came into play to stop it in the end...we cut out DS' nap at 18 months because he wasn't going to bed till after 10pm. I got pregnant with Number Two and my breasts became far more sensitive and breastfeeding was not nearly so enjoyable anymore. So because DS was much more tired in the early evening it was easy to settle him off to sleep without the breastfeed.
He was still waking up at night though...so we put him in a big boy's bed with a pillow just to see what happened and he finally started sleeping through. And that was it for the breastfeeding. Now when he wakes up we just bring him into bed with us with his pillow and he snuggles down between us. He would still want a breastfeed at first when he knew I was there but I would just gently say "no" and he would sook for a little bit but would go back to sleep with a cuddle.
DD is approaching 12 months and still feeds to sleep for all naps and night time. In fact, it's pretty much the only way I can get her to nap during the day most of the time.
We have nights where she feeds, has a bit of a cuddle and a fluff about and then drifts off to sleep on her own. But I'm happy for either way.
I'm so glad to know that I'm not the only one who feed bub to sleep!
When I started working, DD was a week shy of turning 3 months, and the only way I could get her to sleep was to feed her to sleep in our bed. I got more sleep, I didn't have to interrupt DD's sleep or spend anywhere up to an hour trying to get her to sleep again if transfer her to her own cot. So I guess you could say we co-sleep and feed to sleep due to necessity (ie, more sleep for both of us!). oh, the cuddles are a bonus!
I used to feel guilty about this, as friends would say that bub will get used to feeding to sleep because I was "creating bad habits". But it worked for us, and it feels nice to be so close to DD, so I kept doing it. I now know that it is the most natural way for babies to feed to sleep, and previous generations have done it for thousands of years. It's Western society which has created this distance between mums and bubs, for the convenience of the parents, based on the belief that babies should be taught to put themselves to sleep. I feel strongly that that belief is a load of cr@p, and I no longer feel defensive about my choice to co-sleep or feed to sleep, because to me it feels like the most beautiful and natural thing to cuddle DD while she feeds.