Advice for breaking the feeding to sleep habit for a toddler

[littleL]

I've seen some threads about this problem for younger LO's, but mine is now 2.5 and the only way he settles for sleep is by feeding. I've tried leaving him in his room to settle by himself but he just cried.

There have been many times where I'd stop feeding just before he falls asleep and he'd manage to fall asleep by himself (albeit still holding him). But recently, even if he's half sleep already and I try to unlatch - he wakes up protesting.

I can't seem to get out of this habit and I know I should have addressed this earlier. I guess I kept thinking he would self wean but he's showing no signs at the mo!

Has anyone been through this with a toddler/older baby, any advice?
many thanks!

 

[Cinnamon Girl]

Bump I need to know too
My aon actually wants to be attached all night my boobs are killing me

 

[Celesse]

What happens if someone else puts him to bed?

Sometimes a different carer can help them adapt.

 

[Cinnamon Girl]

Haha we have tried ds jiat get hysterical

We tried reintroducing the dummy but he just holds it he weaned off it at nine months

What he doea now is balances it on my boob if I move and it falls off he relatches clever bugger

But now he also needs the dummy sigh

 

[Millnsy]

You aren't gonna like the answer but I think that leaving him to cry may be the best solution. We got in the habit of feeding or rocking dd2 to sleep and very time we put her down in the cot she would cry. Eventually she was sleeping in her buggy as it was the only way we could settle her even after we had rocked or fed her to sleep. I had to toughen up and leave her to cry. The first night I thought both our hearts would break. Now she will protest for a couple of minutes and then snuggle down to sleep. I don't think I could leave her to exhaust herself from crying but I listened to her cries and she was learning to settle herself.

 

[littleL]

What happens if someone else puts him to bed?

Sometimes a different carer can help them adapt.

Once LO was having a particularly bad night, I fed him for ages and he was still not settling, I sat with him at his bed and he wouldn't sleep, my oh had to take over as I had to go to the loo and do chores. It took him forever to fall asleep with oh there. Plus it's not practical for my oh to settle him to sleep as he gets up really early for work. I've got no relatives near me

 

[Sadie79]

I'm in the exact same boat hun.....sorry no advice, just wanted to you to know that you're not alone!! I have heard the crying to sleep works in 1-2 weeks but i haven't the stomach for it myself so i'll go on being the mummy dummy for most of the night at the moment! xxx

 

[TheNewMrs]

"No Cry Sleep Solution" is a fab read. We've night wean our 14 mo because I am pregnant and my boobs cannot take the pain of a sleepy latch. It only took 4 (HARD) nights but it worked. Oh and we still co-sleep.

 

[SarahBear]

I've heard that self-weaned toddlers tend to let go of this feed last. If you intend to let your kid self-wean, I wouldn't worry about it. It will sort itself out in time. It just has the potential to go much longer than those who do not do full-term-nursing.

 

[littleL]

I guess my other concern is the daytime nap. At some point in the near future I'd like him to start going to a nursery and he's even less likely to fall asleep by himself in the day as he's not usually as tired as he is at night time. If he doesn't get his nap even for short time, he plays up more in the afternoon and gets overtired later.