Posted by
taurus2006
18 yrs ago
i've always nursed my 6mth boy to sleep. is this normal for breastfeeding mothers? how else do you put them to sleep - he always wants to have a suck, but i read somewhere that it's no good to have milk in the mouth when sleeping. he sleeps at around 7 to 8pm, and would stir and grunt maybe 6 or 7 times throughout the night till next morning, which i then would nurse him in bed next to me, then roll over and fall back to sleep. is this normal and should this be the way?
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cslee
18 yrs ago
It is up to you whether you and your baby are comfortable with it. Only one problem is that my nearly 3yrs old son still demand for it when he wants to go to sleep. It seems to me that it is very hard for him to go to sleep without breastfeed, unless he is very tired like 8-10 hours since his last sleep.
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crj
18 yrs ago
I think it is a very personal choice - if you like it and it works for your lifestyle, then don't worry.
On the other hand, if there are times you won't always be available for baby at this time, then it would be beneficial for all parties if baby knows how to go asleep on his own.
Our boy is 8 months old and breast fed. I do feed him before bed, but he is always awake when we put him to bed.
We use a 'transitional object' - it is a cloth doll thing. He goes to bed and hugs it as he falls asleep - he chews it too as it is often wet in the morning!
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:-))
18 yrs ago
I used to breastfeed my eldest daughter to sleep until weaning her at 18mo, but I never found her dependent on me feeding her to sleep - for example, when I started playing for a sports team, I would sometimes go out earlier than her bedtime and do the last feed earlier than normal, when she wasn't tired. She had no problem going to sleep after I left, but we made sure there were lots of other elements of her bedtime routine - bathtime, storytime, lullabies etc - so that breastfeeding wasn't the only thing helping her sleep. She also had a "transitional object" (or "lovey") to suck on which she still uses aged 3.
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hi,
like other mums above say, if you are comfortable nursing your baby to sleep and can deal with the night wakings, then you don't have to change anything. and when you hear crying at night, as long as you know your baby is safe (eg not potentially suffocating), wait a few minutes before going to the room as your baby might be able to settle on her own.
but do know that it doesn't have to be that way if you don't want to - it just takes some training. for strict bedtime routines, there's of course gina ford but for something less strict but still structured, try the baby whisperer.
like crj, my baby gets milk before bedtime but he is awake when we put him to bed. i think someone else advised this before that if your baby is put to bed already asleep, if he wakes up, he might get startled to find he is not in mummy's arms but somewhere else!
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