settling an 11 month old

[Hieveryone]

Hi my son is breastfed and doing really well on solids. However it is taking me an hour or 2 to settle him each night. He is fed to sleep as he won't settle in his cot if I put him down awake. Once he is asleep he only wakes once most nights so he's pretty good but at nursery they say he goes down no probs. Any advice on how to settle him quicker or am I stuck with it whilst I'm still breastfeeding?

 

[icegurl470]

I had trouble getting mine to sleep at this age without nursing. When I was done nursing at 12 months she needed a bottle to fall asleep and it was a hard habit to break. Her Dr didn't think there was anything wrong with it but I had always heard it was better to let them "self soothe" so I kept trying and trying. This time around I wasn't going to push the issue that much. At 11 months I think most babies need a bottle or a boobie to fall asleep. He knows he can't have the boob at daycare so he doesn't care as much , but yea most babies like the lazy drawn out 2hr nightime nursings. I think it's okay just dont let baby have a milk bottle in the crib. It's bad for their teeth and it's such a hard habit to break!

 

[Hieveryone]

Thanks. We are trying cutting out a nap and a later bedtime tonight so will see if that cuts the time to settle down

 

[noon_child]

Thanks. We are trying cutting out a nap and a later bedtime tonight so will see if that cuts the time to settle down

I found the opposite was true; the more tired (overtired) my LO was the longer the settling took. The more daytime sleep I managed to get her to have, the shorter the settling period (shed often fight all naps though so if I could get more than 1hr I was happy, but she slept best when she had nearer two). Also anything that extended he bedtime routine also made settling worse (eg having to take a phone call or needing to change her bedsheets or something) as she got sleepy and then moved beyond it to fretful. I shortened my bedtime routine to be no longer than 35mins and that helped.

 

[Hieveryone]

Ok so i think you're right about the daytime naps. He slept through Thurs night and that day he'd had unusually long naps including one 1.5 hr one which went on till 5.20 pm. Tonight he's been up twice already though. I think I will have to try some sort of sleep training as I'm fed up of getting up every few hrs. I work 4 days a week so will have to wait till next weekend to do it (bank hol) as i'm sure it will be tiring at first. My friend had success with her twins when she did a technique which involved returning to the room at intervals to calm the babies. However they weren't bf. Anyone tried that technique or have advice on how best to get an 11.5 year old to cut out night wakings? He has cows milk now and is loving that but prefers the boob at night for comfort.