Nursing Baby to Sleep - Raleigh,NC

Yep. After you finish nursing at night when your baby is asleep, wake her up again gently so that her eyes are open when you put her down to bed. You don't have to stop nursing at night to stop nursing her to sleep. Eventually (it didn't take my son long at all), she'll figure out that falling asleep during nursing doesn't pay off.

If that doesn't work, my friend used to take steps to keep her son awake during nursing, such as keeping a cool cloth next to her and gently wiping it across her son's neck or feet when he started to drift so that he was awake when he finished. Then she put him down, tired but awake. You could try whichever technique is more suited to your baby's personality.

Good luck.

I stopped nursing my kids in their room, and would nurse them for their last feeding in the living room and then take them in their room and rock them to sleep. They stopped associating that last feeding with falling asleep. Of course the first few nights of adjusting were hard, but they learned! You could always have Dad try to put her down after you nurse her in the living room.

I did the same thing until 4 mo. when I did sleep training. I nurse, at 7:30, then give her a bath with her brother if it's bath night, then we put her in her pajamas while her brother finishes his bath, then get him ready for bed. Then at 8:15 we brush teeth & read three books together, then I lay her down in her bed awake, (It took about a month before she didn't cry at all when we laid her down.) and then come back and lay my son down.

One thing that I also did with my son was put lotion on him after his bath...before I complicated the routine with another baby ;)

Good luck! Let me know if you have any sleep training questions, but for the first 1-2 weeks we went in to check on the kids at 5 minutes, then 10 mins later, then 20 minutes later. Now we just wait and their asleep on their own usually w/in 30 mins.

Have you thought about expressing milk and having your husband give her a bottle? If you read Secrets of the Baby Whisperer, you can learn a great and humane way to get her to go to sleep on her own

I slept with my babies (nursing) for 4 months then moved them into crib, but ALWAYS nursed them to sleep even in crib (they cried for a few nights, but then they were fine). Here was my experience. When I was ready to wean him, I just let my husband put him to bed - basically cold turkey. And you know what? It was the first time he didn't cry AT ALL when putting himself to sleep.
Same thing happened when I took away #2's binky. I thought he would be hysterical - I did it cold turkey, and he was just fine.

Maybe not all kids are that easy, but I would urge you to leave the house and let Dad try - see how it goes and make adjustments from there. (I did it after the 1 year mark though - if you just can't make it that long, then give it a try now.) Some babies can smell mama and will want you, that's why I say to leave the house. If nothing else, try to attach her to a "lovey" - a soft blankie or one of your shirts? It will smell like you and it will be familiar from nursing. It might help to comfort her if she does have issues. Good luck.

My Daughter is also 7 months old on Thursday. She was strictly breastfed from birth to 4 months, until I returned to work and had to begin supplementing during the day. I breastfeed at night. She had over the last 2 weeks began to ween herself which is fine by me, I love breastfeeding but I'm ready to give it up! My daughter was like yours in the sense that she got to where she was only nursing at night when she was in bed. About 2 weeks ago I started giving her a bottle to fall asleep with so I could get some things done such as laundry or chores. This worked great. Maybe you could pump and your husband can give her the bottle. Thats what I would suggest, It never confused my daughter going from bottle to breast she did fine. Good luck girl, I hope this helps!

I breastfed my daughter until she was two. She nursed every night before going to sleep (she fell asleep while nursing). We established a bedtime routine where Daddy was involved. He gave her a bath, then we put lavender lotion on her, then pj's, then we read the Bible, and prayed as a family, then I would nurse her to go to sleep. He liked that idea, because our daughter was hard to put to sleep. We still have the exact same routine, without the nursing. I think whatever YOU think you should do would work! (:

I have a 7 month old right now and we do not nurse to sleep (she is not hungry at bed time). Can you try rocking and cuddling her in the chair you usually nurse? This is what we do and I put her down she she is almost asleep.