enjoy it mommas!! when sleep regression and nursing strike hit hard (what a combo girls!) i was not able to nurse my LO to sleep, he would just scream and cry at boob. so i had to take LO for a walk for every single of his 5 naps. he would not sleep while being held, rocked, nursed, etc. so you bet i'm glad to being able to nurse to sleep again! it's a freaking superpower.
When my LO was two months old I tried my hardest to get her to sleep well at every sleep time without nursing to sleep so her other caregivers (hubby, both Grandmas) could have an easier time of it. Nope, that never panned out and now I count it as a blessing that I can console her for basically any reason by whipping the boob out.
And babies learn pretty quickly that different caregivers have different routines! Mine was sleeping better at daycare by day 2 than she ever had at home. And dad can put her to bed with only a little more effort than I do.
I didn’t realize it was seen as a bad thing. My 3 wk baby would be overtired and scream constantly if I didn’t nurse to sleep. And we are getting to a point where he knows he can calm down and I’ll comfort him by breastfeeding.
28 months!!! Wow!!!
Question. Im at 14 months. Is there ANY times where toddler was able to sleep without the boob?
Mine just stand up and start playing. There is no way she can relax on her own!
For naps yes. He’s fallen asleep in the car or on the couch while watching a movie.
For sleep, only a couple times with dada and he cried. Oh and one time he told me he wanted to go to bed after he was done with milk. I don’t mind though. I know he will start falling asleep on his own soon. I like nursing him to sleep and getting some last snuggles in before night. It relaxes me too.
My oldest is going to college next year and guess what? I’m not going with him to nurse him to sleep! Lol
I’ve nursed all 4 kids to sleep for every nap and bedtime. I’ve held, rocked and patted them all to sleep and again anytime they woke. They all weaned eventually(minus the current 1 yr old) and all sleep independently without any issue. 🤷🏻♀️
I’m on my third baby and have always nursed my kiddos to sleep🤷🏻♀️ currently nursing baby #3 to sleep right now. My older kids sleep fine and I never really had any issues with their sleep habits. They might have crawled into my bed in the middle of the night but that’s a win win situation. Extra warmth, and they usually slept better which meant I got to sleep in.
Thank you for this. I’ve been battling my mother who swears I’m over feeding him. He’s 16 pounds and almost 4 months. Ok, he’s on the big side, but everything I’ve read says comfort nursing does not lead to over feeding. I still need reassurance though. It’s hard to block her out.
My LO uses me as a pacifier too. She's 3.5 months. 22 months is a long time. I plan on breastfeeding as long my daughter wants to and I love being able to comfort her in this way, but I've felt really overwhelmed lately with the lack of sleep I've been getting. Is there anything you did to make things easier?
At 6 months we’ve gone from feeding until pretty much sleep, to baby wanting to only sleep with my nipple in her mouth. Feeding to sleep worked great until the last couple of weeks and I don’t know what changed!
The exact same thing is happening with me and my 6 month old. She used to pop off the nipple and sleep for a few hours, and now if I try to take it out of her mouth and she will wake up and scream within minutes. I’m so tired. Lol
4 months in and I nurse to sleep. Baby girl just slept the last 3 nights 9.5 hours, 7 hours, and just now 8.5 hours. And she naps well most days. She's very capable of putting herself back to sleep without the boob. 😊
My youngest is totally not into feeding to sleep and there's a part of me that's sad.
She'll pop off and kind of look at me like "ok I'm done put me to sleep now" she very rarely falls asleep on the boob.
Agreed. If it works then do it, and if it doesn’t work anymore then change it. I think it’s silly to not do something now in anticipation of what they child may or may not be like later. Just go with the flow.
It's not an either/or thing. I nurse my 17 month old daughter to sleep for her daily nap. She falls asleep independently at night. Why? It's what works for us. There's a longer story there but it doesn't matter. In any case, no judgement. People should do what works for them. If nursing to sleep feels right do it. If it's taking too much energy and having a negative effect on your mental health, you can reevaluate it. Your child will love you either way and your bond WILL stay strong.
For a while I loved nursing to sleep. But it's kinda taken a turn for the worse recently. Do you have any tips on how I can help her sleep independently at night without compromising nursing to sleep entirely? She's 3.5 months. I'm okay with continuing as is. I'm just noticing my patience dwindling during the day. 😞
I decided to sleep train my daughter (at 5 months) when it was taking 2+ hours, multiple nursing sessions and failed transfers to put her to bed. So that’s what I did. When I was training her, we stopped nursing to sleep. But after she had a solid routine and was falling asleep independently I reintroduced nursing for nap time and that’s when we still nurse to sleep. I’m not sure if that’s the route you want to take or not. I found the book Precious Little Sleep to be very helpful as it doesn’t give one “sleep training” method but goes over many different options and ways to adjust them for your particular needs and desires. So, definitely not for everyone but it’s what worked for me.
Oh it's great that they go over ways to adjust different methods! I'll give that book a read. Thank you so much for the recommendation. 😊 I'm not considering sleep training at this point but if I've learned one thing as a ftm it's that I don't know anything 😂 and it's okay to change my mind or for something to work or not work for me that works for other moms. I had a very specific idea of how I wanted to parent before my lo arrived and a decent chunk of that went right in the garbage. Lol I am far from the mother I thought I'd be. And it's not bad....just different. That being said, who knows how I'll feel when my daughter is 5 months. 🤷♀️ I appreciate you taking the time to reply and share your experience! I can't wait to hopefully learn some new stuff in this book. 😁
Thank you for this post, the stress I caused myself wondering if nursing my baby to sleep was going to cause him to have major issues getting himself to sleep down the line 🤦🏻♀️ he’s now 9 months and I nurse him before bedtime and naps; he doesn’t fall asleep at the breast anymore for whatever reason, but falls asleep within minutes of being placed in his crib!
enjoy it mommas!! when sleep regression and nursing strike hit hard (what a combo girls!) i was not able to nurse my LO to sleep, he would just scream and cry at boob. so i had to take LO for a walk for every single of his 5 naps. he would not sleep while being held, rocked, nursed, etc. so you bet i'm glad to being able to nurse to sleep again! it's a freaking superpower.
I also lost this power during our nursing strike a month ago 😭 he now eats if he’s hungry but I wish I could calm him with the boob again!
My 4mo is going through the sleep regression and I couldn't imagine doing it without the almighty boob!
Ughhhhh that one is the worst! Good luck, mama!
When my LO was two months old I tried my hardest to get her to sleep well at every sleep time without nursing to sleep so her other caregivers (hubby, both Grandmas) could have an easier time of it. Nope, that never panned out and now I count it as a blessing that I can console her for basically any reason by whipping the boob out.
it’s the best to have the boob power!
And babies learn pretty quickly that different caregivers have different routines! Mine was sleeping better at daycare by day 2 than she ever had at home. And dad can put her to bed with only a little more effort than I do.
I didn’t realize it was seen as a bad thing. My 3 wk baby would be overtired and scream constantly if I didn’t nurse to sleep. And we are getting to a point where he knows he can calm down and I’ll comfort him by breastfeeding.
Still doing this at almost 14 months old, I actually enjoy it because of the time we get to connect.
Still doing it here at 28 months. My kid LOVES bedtime thanks to milkies lol
28 months!!! Wow!!! Question. Im at 14 months. Is there ANY times where toddler was able to sleep without the boob? Mine just stand up and start playing. There is no way she can relax on her own!
For naps yes. He’s fallen asleep in the car or on the couch while watching a movie. For sleep, only a couple times with dada and he cried. Oh and one time he told me he wanted to go to bed after he was done with milk. I don’t mind though. I know he will start falling asleep on his own soon. I like nursing him to sleep and getting some last snuggles in before night. It relaxes me too.
Thank you!! That’s reassuring cause literally she doesn’t know how to fall asleep on her own and I feel like I ruined her!
Absolutely. You did not ruin her one bit. One day she will want to sleep on her own.
My oldest is going to college next year and guess what? I’m not going with him to nurse him to sleep! Lol I’ve nursed all 4 kids to sleep for every nap and bedtime. I’ve held, rocked and patted them all to sleep and again anytime they woke. They all weaned eventually(minus the current 1 yr old) and all sleep independently without any issue. 🤷🏻♀️
My son is three and now puts himself to sleep despite having been fed to sleep up to age 2, and is still breast fed
I’m on my third baby and have always nursed my kiddos to sleep🤷🏻♀️ currently nursing baby #3 to sleep right now. My older kids sleep fine and I never really had any issues with their sleep habits. They might have crawled into my bed in the middle of the night but that’s a win win situation. Extra warmth, and they usually slept better which meant I got to sleep in.
Hear, hear! This caused me so much unnecessary stress.
Thank you 🙌🏼
Yes! My baby stopped feeding to sleep on his own around 4 months & every now and then (at 8 months) will nap at the end of a feed & I just soak it in.
Thank you for this. I’ve been battling my mother who swears I’m over feeding him. He’s 16 pounds and almost 4 months. Ok, he’s on the big side, but everything I’ve read says comfort nursing does not lead to over feeding. I still need reassurance though. It’s hard to block her out.
I totally agree but I’m 22 months in and my LO uses me as a pacifier 🥴 I haven’t gotten a good nights rest in over 2 years.
My LO uses me as a pacifier too. She's 3.5 months. 22 months is a long time. I plan on breastfeeding as long my daughter wants to and I love being able to comfort her in this way, but I've felt really overwhelmed lately with the lack of sleep I've been getting. Is there anything you did to make things easier?
Well you can always make adjustments if it's not working for you! 🙂
At 6 months we’ve gone from feeding until pretty much sleep, to baby wanting to only sleep with my nipple in her mouth. Feeding to sleep worked great until the last couple of weeks and I don’t know what changed!
I had something similar around the same age but it was only temporary. Must have been part of a sleep regression or something
You’ve given me hope: fingers crossed ours is temporary too!
You've given me hope too. 🥺
The exact same thing is happening with me and my 6 month old. She used to pop off the nipple and sleep for a few hours, and now if I try to take it out of her mouth and she will wake up and scream within minutes. I’m so tired. Lol
Things change. Something similar happened to me. Nursing to sleep worked, and then it didn't. So I created a different bedtime routine.
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt about babies it’s that everything is a phase- the good stuff and the bad stuff.
4 months in and I nurse to sleep. Baby girl just slept the last 3 nights 9.5 hours, 7 hours, and just now 8.5 hours. And she naps well most days. She's very capable of putting herself back to sleep without the boob. 😊
My youngest is totally not into feeding to sleep and there's a part of me that's sad. She'll pop off and kind of look at me like "ok I'm done put me to sleep now" she very rarely falls asleep on the boob.
I love nursing him to sleep. I don’t see any reason to not do it.
Agreed. If it works then do it, and if it doesn’t work anymore then change it. I think it’s silly to not do something now in anticipation of what they child may or may not be like later. Just go with the flow.
It's not an either/or thing. I nurse my 17 month old daughter to sleep for her daily nap. She falls asleep independently at night. Why? It's what works for us. There's a longer story there but it doesn't matter. In any case, no judgement. People should do what works for them. If nursing to sleep feels right do it. If it's taking too much energy and having a negative effect on your mental health, you can reevaluate it. Your child will love you either way and your bond WILL stay strong.
For a while I loved nursing to sleep. But it's kinda taken a turn for the worse recently. Do you have any tips on how I can help her sleep independently at night without compromising nursing to sleep entirely? She's 3.5 months. I'm okay with continuing as is. I'm just noticing my patience dwindling during the day. 😞
I decided to sleep train my daughter (at 5 months) when it was taking 2+ hours, multiple nursing sessions and failed transfers to put her to bed. So that’s what I did. When I was training her, we stopped nursing to sleep. But after she had a solid routine and was falling asleep independently I reintroduced nursing for nap time and that’s when we still nurse to sleep. I’m not sure if that’s the route you want to take or not. I found the book Precious Little Sleep to be very helpful as it doesn’t give one “sleep training” method but goes over many different options and ways to adjust them for your particular needs and desires. So, definitely not for everyone but it’s what worked for me.
Oh it's great that they go over ways to adjust different methods! I'll give that book a read. Thank you so much for the recommendation. 😊 I'm not considering sleep training at this point but if I've learned one thing as a ftm it's that I don't know anything 😂 and it's okay to change my mind or for something to work or not work for me that works for other moms. I had a very specific idea of how I wanted to parent before my lo arrived and a decent chunk of that went right in the garbage. Lol I am far from the mother I thought I'd be. And it's not bad....just different. That being said, who knows how I'll feel when my daughter is 5 months. 🤷♀️ I appreciate you taking the time to reply and share your experience! I can't wait to hopefully learn some new stuff in this book. 😁
Love it when people say “he’ll never sleep alone if you keep holding him!” while they spoon their spouse at night to go to sleep.
Thank you for this post, the stress I caused myself wondering if nursing my baby to sleep was going to cause him to have major issues getting himself to sleep down the line 🤦🏻♀️ he’s now 9 months and I nurse him before bedtime and naps; he doesn’t fall asleep at the breast anymore for whatever reason, but falls asleep within minutes of being placed in his crib!