nurse-to-sleep

[jennlin]

am i creating a bad habit when i nurse-to-sleep my dd every night? she's 13 wks, and on very rare occasions, h will rock her to sleep instead. at what point, do we put her in her room, close the door and hope for the best?

[Deleted]

I think we changed things around 6 months. Up to then, nursing to sleep wasn't a problem for me. It's a parenting choice, not a health issue. Do what feels right. When you get tired of nursing to sleep (or you start feeling like it's an issue) change it then.

I really believe that up to at least 4 months, a baby isn't aware enough to worry about sleep habits at all.

[AmyRI]

We didn't have him put himself to sleep until 6 months. I agree with Token that under 4 months and they really have no idea how to self-soothe.

And it doesn't have to be a "close the door and hope for the best" sort of thing - it can be done gradually and in many different ways. When you get closer, look into the different sleep training methods and see what you think would work for your family.

[grey56]

I was so anti the whole nurse-to-sleep thing.....then I had a baby. I LOVE it now. She sleeps really well so I am going to keep doing it until we need a change. My sister says....it's only a problem when it's a problem. Do what feels right!

I will say, if I want to go out in the evenings, I have to nurse her first, etc. It's just faster than pumping. But friends don't really understand. Obviously, middle-of-the-week outings are rare.

[shouldbworkin]

It wasn't a problem for us until DD started teething and biting meas she was drifting off to sleep. That's when I started putting her to sleep awake, but drowsy and she had no problems with it. She was 7 or 8 mos old at the time.

[kelly1014]

DD is 4.5 months old and we nurse to sleep every night/nap. I'll be honest, I'm sick of it already and I know it's a bad habit. The whole process to get her to sleep at night is anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. She nurses to sleep super quick before naps, but nighttime is killing me. I need a new plan.

[jena]

DD stopped nursing to sleep at 9mo. I didn't change anything, she simply stopped falling asleep while nursing. At that point I would nurse her and then hand her off to DH for rocking/singing until she went to sleep. Honestly, it was awesome to get out of bedtime duty.

DS stopped nursing to sleep at 29mo when he stopped BFing completely. One of us lays with him until he's asleep.

We have never done the put them down, close the door, and hope for the best thing. If you want to do CIO, then read the Ferber book first before trying it - it's not recommended until 6mo. There are other options and other books if you're interested... happiest baby, sleep lady shuffle, etc.

[Ashley&Scott]

DS is 4 months & I nurse him to sleep frequently. He doesn't need to nurse to fall asleep but will often fall asleep while nursing. We just go with the flow.

[mainerocks]

I nursed my LO to sleep for about 13 months. I felt guilty about it all the way but wish I hadn't. It worked out fine for us and the transition to going to bed without me was quite easy. I'm sure every kid is different, but it was not an issue for us.

[samomto2]

Really it is only a problem when it becomes a problem for you. If it's working right now for you then don't worry about trying to change it. Eventually without doing anything, babies/toddlers will move away from nursing to sleep on their own schedule. I promise they will not nurse to sleep forever, even if you wanted them to. For us at about a year DS would nurse and then pull off and fall asleep on his own, occasionally. At 2 he nurses and pulls of most nights and nap times before falling asleep on his own, unless he's really tired.

[curbsideprophet]

DD still nurses to sleep (she is 8 months). Some nights she comes off and then falls asleep on her own. I figure this might start to happen more as she gets older.