4 month old relies on boob to fall asleep...

[pradabooties]

Okay I know this isn't ideal but my 4 month old has increasingly relied on suckling to get to sleep. For quite a long time that's been how she falls asleep at night which I wasn't fighting because she's been a great night sleeper and I didn't want to disrupt that. During the day is normally tough getting her to nap but normally a bit of rocking / patting in her baby bjorn carrier does it. But for the past few weeks her day naps even in the baby bjorn she fusses around my chest until I pop the boob out for her. I know it's naughty! It has been helping her fall asleep so much faster but I don't want her to suffer for it later on and would REALLY love for her to just fall asleep without help eventually lol. We're going through the 4 month sleep regression so I know now isn't the right time to change things but once things are settled again has anyone got any tips on how to get Bub to settle without so much help? It's like a full time job just getting her to nap.

Please note I practice many elements of attachment parenting and although I know plenty of people swear by crying it out that is just not the method for me.

 

[lau86]

Meh with my first my health visitor told me 'put him down awake' and attempting that caused so much stress! I really should've just enjoyed cuddling and rocking him. My ds2 was the laid back type that just went to sleep easily. My daughter likes cuddling and boob to sleep also and I just let her. If you are there and don't need to work or other commitments I think it's fine. My dd is showing more signs of settling independently as she will now nap in her pram if I put her down sleepy. I think my dd likes the pram as she's cosy in there. Your dd will settle herself when she is ready. What I did with my ds1 was have regular attempts at putting him down. If he wasn't happy I picked him up again. That way when he was ready to self settle I didn't miss the chance!

 

[AngelofTroy]

Honestly, if she sleeps then I don't see the problem! At 4 months I think feeding to sleep is the norm.

 

[staralfur]

It's not naughty, it's very normal. Most babies require help to fall asleep and I think trying to find another method is just going to complicate things and make them harder. If it works then stick with it. I tried so hard to find a way to get my LO to sleep without the boob but in the end it was just the easiest thing and IMO far more enjoyable than standing there trying to rock her to sleep or shhhing and patting her back endlessly.

 

[yazzy]

Completely normal. Enjoy the snuggles and feeding her to sleep because they soon grow up.

 

[Matilda85]

You are a wonderful mum. i had the same stress with my first. There is a lot of misleading info out there i think. If it's working for you both, then I wouldn't worry. I fed him to sleep for almost two years but he is now a three year old who goes to sleep within 5 mins with just a few cuddles. I miss those sleepy feeds a lot.
With my second (one month old) i am planning to feed to sleep as long as they need.
The days may seem long at the time but the years go so fast. enjoy those content, sleepy, post feed cuddles

 

[Misscalais]

Do what ever works
All my kids had/have dummies so it made it easier for me because i didn't want to be a human pacifier lol my 4 week old loves to suck and the dummy definitely helps her settle. But dummies are also seen naughty by some parents but i couldn't give a rats what anyone else thinks

 

[jessmke]

If you want to teach her not to nurse to sleep try popping her off the boob when she goes from eating to just comfort nursing, then put her down in her crib. I did this from day 1 with my LO and now I can just plop her down in her crib when it is time for a nap and walk away. She takes 10 min and settles herself to sleep. At night I nurse her and then read her a story and then put her down in her crib so I don't nurse her to sleep. She does have a pacifier, but sometimes at night she won't be able to get her pacifier back in her mouth by herself and she will just give up and fall asleep without it (other times she screams until I come help her!). But I think every baby has their own personality that has a lot more to do with whether or not they can self settle than whether or not they have been "sleep trained". My LO never settled very well when I was holding her, she always would fall asleep faster if I put her down. She also would unlatch herself when she was finished nursing instead of falling asleep on the boob, and she has never really comfort nursed. I think that has a lot more to do with her being able to self settle than anything I specifically did. I would say just go with what works and don't worry too much about what your are "supposed" to do.

 

[SarahBear]

What's "naughty" about using what nature gave you for soothing your baby? My 13 month old relies on nursing (or taking a bottle while I'm at work) to fall asleep. That's just how babies were designed to work. They grow out of it on their own.

 

[BunnyN]

It sounds totally normal to me. It was one of my favourite things about bfing .

 

[Mushymilkfor2]

Not to scare you, but I still nurse my 18.5 month old to sleep. It's super easy, and there's almost never a fight when it comes to bed time. One day he'll do it himself and it'll be a happy and sad moment at the same time. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it or naughty about it. Keep on boobing to sleep as long as you're okay with it

 

[misspriss]

<----- Just nursed her 3 year old to sleep. And yes, he can go to sleep without it, but why?

 

[Bevziibubble]

There is nothing wrong with feeding to sleep. It must be the most comforting way for a baby to fall asleep I so wish my baby would feed to sleep but he doesn't do it very often unless he's really tired, he seems to just prefer being cuddled to sleep. My daughter was a real booby monster and always fed to sleep for years but she's capable of falling to sleep with just cuddles now. They do grow out of it