Introducing a Lovely

My daughter would not fall asleep without me. One night, I was completely exhausted and took off my t-shirt, thinking if it smelled like me, maybe she'd let me leave the room and go to bed. It worked. From that night on, she slept with a t-shirt every night. She's 10 and still sleeps with a t-shirt, completely tattered. It was the best lovey in the world -- it was easily replaceable any time it got lost -- went to JC Penney one vacation and simply bought a pack of new white men's t-shirts -- worked great.

My son really struggled to sleep as a baby, too. He never took a pacifier and was very dependent on nursing for comfort.

The "lovey" that ended up helping him was for me to give him whatever little undershirt or cami I had been wearing all day! He would snuggle right up with it and settle down :)

What can I say? He's always been a mama's boy.

Give it a try... it's so easy and doesn't require a new purchase.

I would try a little patience. Children arent always going to do what we want them to do. How long has this been going on? It can stop tomorrow.
Is your 11 month olds crib in your room? if so move it to another room.
If he wakes up do you immediately go to him? Try letting him soothe himself.
Try a night light.
Change your bedtime routine. Putting him to bed at night later.
Try not picking him up when he wakes lay him back down and rub his back.
He may just need a diaper change, try night time diapers
Try not nursing him when he wakes.
Does he nap during the day? if so try to keep naps to a minimum, if he goes to daycare check to see how many naps he has there, daycare providers love napping babies!
Theres a lot you can do that are simple changes, getting him hooked is only creating more problems for later down the road and why would you do that?

I can't even imagine getting a child hooked on an object on purpose. Still what I found with my kids was there was no rhyme or reason to what they attached to. Why I am saying this is it seems like you think this is a great solution to a problem of an inability to self soothe. It isn't, pretty much the only way to get a child to self soothe is to force them to work through it. Then they will pick something other than feeding to go back to sleep.

From day one I had four of the same type blankets on hand. I wrapped her in them until she was three. Now she is too tall for them but she uses them to help her sleep. You may think four years old is too old to be attached to an object but I don’t. I never had anything that helped me sleep as a child, I cried for hours on end from having nightmares all of the time. My Mom was never a loving caring type of Mom. I suffered a lot growing up so I can say that yes I OVER COMPENSATE for my little girl all of the time. But she is a happy smart little girl that has a blanky at age 4 that helps her go to sleep. She plays with the tag and that’s what she likes about it. I’m not ashamed or embarrassed, she’s smart, and we don’t drag this thing into restaurants or to dr.’s appointments, simply in her room and the car to help her sleep.

My daughter nursed twice a night at 11 months. Then she dropped one feeding until 13 months, when she slept all the way through. I did nothing to force or even encourage her to sleep through. I just nursed her each night until she didn't need it anymore.

You could try holding the same blanket each time, one with soft and satiny parts. I haven't tried it.

I used the store bought security blankets. The kind that are soft on one side and silky on the other. We gave it to our children earlier...simply left it in their crib. Eventually they were "hooked". Starting later, I'd probably just add it to the nighttime routine if you think a lovey will help.

Whatever you choose, make sure you can get multiples. Lovies can be a blessing and a curse. They are great for calming a kid down, but it can be a complete hysterical disaster when you can't find it. With my son, we had about four of the same blanket because he was a master at losing them. And he was inconsolable without it. My daughter has held on to the same one. Which is good, because hers has been discontinued. So buy an extra if you can after you are sure he will use it.

Dont know about going from nursing to not mine decided to wean off until one feeding then just whined a little and since I didnt get up he went back to sleep, no big deal. My older daughter went from a paci to a toddler fuzzy pluch blanket with a little resistance but not a whole lot. Hope you find something that helps.

I would go with a teddy-blanet. You know, the tiny ones with a stuffed head at the top? The twins that I keep have them and they are so cute! I think it sounds like a great gameplan! Smart mama!

Try finding a small blanket, cute little teddy bear blankey lovey or even a nicer burp cloth. Put the item under your shirt over your breasts for an hour or so, that way it will smell like mom. He is more likey to use it to soothe himself if it has a familiar scent.

Good Luck.

M.

I gave my DD a lovey that we bought on the day she was born. It was a little blanket about 1 square foot, that had a little rabbit head and arms sticking out the middle. She LOVED that thing! I only allowed her to have it at home, because I didn't want her to need to take something with her everywhere.

Then I lost it. I felt sooo bad! She wouldn't take another lovey, but she got over losing that one pretty quickly. After that, she was happy with any random stuffed animal for the night.

Personally, I LIKE the idea of loveys. I feel that they provide a measure of comfort to small children, who are trying to learn how to cope in this big scary world. My DD, even when she had her lovey, was always an excellent self-soother.

I will say though, that even when my DD had her lovey, she still woke up in the night. She was almost exactly like your son, waking multiple times in the night wanting to nurse.

I stopped letting her nurse, until we reached a certain time. It was tough for a couple of nights, but I flat out REFUSED to nurse her until after 2:00am... even if that meant that I had to hold and comfort her until that time. Then, I would REFUSE to nurse her again until it was time to wake up for the day... Again, even if it meant I didn't get to sleep. After a couple nights, she stopped insisting on nursing. Then she stopped waking up except for that one feeding. After a few weeks, I cut that one out too. :)

I will add that she slept in my room with me... Even after I cut out her last nighttime feeding, she still woke up every night, at least once until I moved her into her own room.