Nursing to sleep question

[Skittleblue]

When my daughter was born, I heard mixed messages about nursing to sleep. She seemed to sleep longer and better wih a full belly and over time, that's just kinda how she ended up going to bed, right or wrong. Anyway, for anyone else who nursed to sleep, how were you ever able to get your lo to sleep without nursing? I'm willing to nurse as long as she is, but I'm afraid that at this point she "needs" it to fall asleep, which I worry will be a problem later on. What did you do?

 

[Skittleblue]

Anyone? Do I need to work on her learning to fall asleep without the boob at some point or should it all work itself out?

 

[Warby]

My son is just about the same age as yours. I always nurse him before bed. Sometimes he falls asleep nursing and sometimes I put him to bed awake, but sleepy. In those cases, I usually stick a pacifier in. Does your daughter take a pacifier?

 

[staralfur]

I still nurse LO to sleep, I don't really see it as an issue. It's the quickest/easiest way to put her down (for me) so no need to change it.

She has no problem going to sleep without me, though. My mom watches her occasionally during the day when I'm at school and she's figured out her own naptime routine to get LO to sleep. My DH sometimes puts her to bed at night when I'm working and he also has just figured out his own routine with her. She responds to each of our different routines really well, it's just taken consistency.

 

[CanadaMom]

i always nursed my son to sleep and now he is 20 months old and falls asleep in his crib on his own here is how it worked for us...

from birth to around 1 year he nursed to sleep for all his naps and bedtime. but somewhere during that time we introduced milk in a sippy (started giving cows milk in a sippy at 9 months). eventually started offering a sippy cup of milk before his naps, then around a year started giving him sippy cups of milk before bed with his bedtime story (it was never stressful and if he wanted to nurse instead then i would let him). over time the sippy cup and cows milk just became normal for him. then once he was completely on solids for all his meals and eating very well, i just started giving him water in his bedtime/story time sippy cup! and eventually we taught him to fall asleep on his own in his crib (but that's a whole other post!) so it was all very smooth and easy a transition! so i'd say if you are happy nursing your baby to sleep then don't worry too much!

 

[Brieanna]

I still nurse her to sleep. She has never liked a pacifier, so only uses me. I have no problem with it because I am always with her, but if you are planning on going back to wok it might be good to see about other naptime routines. My lo will still fall asleep without nursing (if OH has her while I am in the shower, cooking, etc), but it is much harder.

 

[seaweed eater]

I think it depends on how long you are willing to wait. She WILL learn to go to sleep without boob on her own. It may just be older than you are comfortable with.

Another thing to consider is whether it disrupts her sleep throughout the night. Some babies become really dependent on nursing to get through sleep cycles, which can really affect everyone's sleep if you are not bed sharing. Others only need to nurse at bedtime and then can put themselves back to sleep during the night. Sounds like your baby may be in the latter category, which makes it easier to keep nursing to sleep for longer.

As someone for whom nursing to sleep was a real problem, I would say you shouldn't worry about it just because people say it's not what you're supposed to do. If it's a problem for you, you'll know.

 

[Skittleblue]

Thank you all for sharing. Right now she goes to daycare while I'm at work and they're able to get her to sleep, but she refuses to go to sleep without the boob if I'm there. We do bedshare, but she only wakes up once a night unless she's teething or sick, so it doesn't seem like a problem to me. I guess we'll keep going as is for now then. Thank you!

 

[Rachel_C]

It'll work itself out. My 2 year old has boob at bedtime. Sometimes she feeds to sleep but other times she has her milk and then unlatches and says, "Mummy, I want you to go away!" so I do She started that herself just before her second birthday, nothing I did.