How do I stop my 5 month old nursing to sleep?

Do you want to stop feeding to sleep? If it's not a problem for you, I'd carry on. She'll eventually stop! X

I wouldn’t mind at all to be honest but I have to start back at work in a month and she’ll be going to nursery so ideally I wanted to get her into formula or at least combo feed as I’ve never been too successful in expressing 🫠 xx

I did it by nursing when baby wakes up from a nap and not before the nap. And at bedtime nurse first, then your bedtime routine- bath, etc. Its easier to start the change at bedtime because baby is naturally more tired then. Also make sure her wake windows are just long enough. Too short and baby isn’t tired enough and too long and they’re overtired.

I had to do this with my LO and he stopped at around 7 months. Then when he learned to crawl I would have to feed him to sleep on the bottle. That stopped too. Most things are a phase for them and I think they will surprise you when they go to nursery because they will learn a whole new routine there.

Heyyyy! Please do not worry about nursing your little one to sleep! I was in your boat about 5 months ago and was panicking about little one going to nursery and being able to nap when I boobed her to sleep! And you know what… her key worker puts her down so much better than I do & I still treasure the nursing to bed at night. ♥️

Yea her wake windows where 2 hours so I shortened them to 1 and a half because I think she was getting overtired and she would sleep 45 mins but now she’s only sleeping 30 mins and can sometimes take me 1 hour to get her to sleep and her feeding is so inconsistent and all over the place because I’m feeding her every 2 hours 😟 I feel like she never takes a full feed… she wakes after I put her down at 7 about 4/5 before 9 and then she’ll do a few hours if I’m lucky then wake at 1/2 and nurse and then have to bring her into our bed because she just will not settle and then she’s awake at 5/5.30 wide awake thinking it’s time to get up ! I just don’t know what I’ve done wrong or How it’s got so bad but I feel like a total failure

Awww that’s actually made me feel so much better thank you !

thank you :)

I’ll give this a try!! Let’s see haha thank you!!!

Hi! I’m a sleep coach.

I would wean her off slowly by reducing like 2 min each time and then use a sleep technique. Sometimes with babies you need to do it cold turkey though, it depends of their temperament.

Www.instagram.com/little.sleepy.bear/

Habit stacking worked for us - so I would introduce bum patting and humming/singing the same song. Then once you’ve been doing that consistently unlatch before they’re asleep and carry on doing the bum pats / singing to get them to drift off. Gradually the other sleep associations you’ve created are their cues and you can move the feed earlier in the routine. My son is 15 months now and I can just put him in his cot and turn the light out but he got to a point where it was uncomfortable for him being held as he was getting so big. Ultimately they WILL go in their cot independently so don’t worry too much about that but definitely this way was really gentle for us. X

This is what worked for us.

I chose a song to sing to my girl for every nap and bedtime, while still nursing or rocking depending on how she wanted to fall asleep that day so that she associates that song with sleep and I also added in patting. I done that for 3 weeks.

3 nights ago I done normal night time routine but instead of feed/rock to sleep I lay her in next to me and lay next to her, sang the song and tapped. She kicked and screamed for 10-15mins then fell asleep and only woke once overnight x

No advice but just to say don't spend your last month with her trying to "fix" something that might fix itself.
Babies are far more adaptable than we give them credit for and if she's at nursery you will literally be amazed at how different they can be!
Enjoy your last month of contact naps and snoozy feeds - if that's what you want to do anyway! 💛

You are already doing great mamma! Just hang in there. Main source of nutrition for the baby is milk, for sn year. Breastfeeding is the best thing you can do to your baby. Even if you join work, you can still feed your breastmilk by simply offering pumped milk. I did for 1.5 years. addressing ur current issue-
Babies undergo regression around 5-6 month. For me, co sleeping helped & feeding in side lying position helped me & is a bliss!! I have written an article on feeding side lying position. happy to help with link or if u have any questions! All the best!

Thank you so much for all the advice! Love the idea of singing to her whilst nursing and gradually using it to just sing to her in her cot so I’ll be giving this a try for sure ! 😁 xx

I was so surprised how well it worked. I spoke to a child psychologist who recommended this, she also said that crying while I’m there to comfort her is not the same as being left to cry & is not damaging to their attachment