Breastfeeding to sleep

There’s nothing wrong with nursing to sleep, it’s normal, healthy, biological and developmentally appropriate. It’s because as a western society we seem to be obsessed with sleep ‘training’ and leaving them to ‘self soothe’. Surround your newsfeed with things that fit your ethos & what feels right.

Olivia hinge IBCLC has a whole story on Instagram about sleep. While she’s no sleep coach, being a lactation consultant, part of the profession is to promote & protect normal infant behaviours.

I’m going to continue nursing to sleep, I’m doing it right now. Keep doing whatever’s working for you.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw0llzyvhas/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cs35BI0AzFu/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

https://www.instagram.com/p/CwS-3gsoKGI/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0zVWVpTSHZevKpUHoC5qwvPe8BZN9TQywzDhh3kJcJCsfUfd5Sxr6dUpn92kzbZhYl&id=411977425899963
^ the goat, Lucy Webber

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, some people just want to find other methods that work for them. Like this works for you.
I think HVs are of the same opinion…well most!!

My little boy has only contact napped and gone in to his crib at night once in deep sleep (since 8 week jabs). I don’t want to rely on this, and want to help him to self soothe when he wakes in the night. Apparently being in the same environment helps them with this, so it’s something I’m trying.
It’s not that I think rocking or feeding him to sleep is bad.

If it works for you and you’re happy with it, keep doing you! Xx

I thought it was such a strange concept when I saw it, I’ve honestly never heard of it before reading it on this app! Thankyou I will have a look through these links now x

https://www.instagram.com/p/CS8tqdko7iL/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
^this is my personal favourite Instagram account for biological norms for sleep.

I think it’s strange too, seems to be an obsession! It doesn’t fit my ethos so personally we won’t be sleep training etc. If it doesn’t fit with you the best you can do is drown it out and surround your newsfeed with information which suits you & your methods. Personally I loooove nursing to sleep, makes me feel warm. X

I hadn’t even considered that I should be getting my little boy off to sleep any other way 😂 i consider him to be a really good sleeper waking 2/3 times a night, they’re only tiny still!

I’ve fed my boy to sleep for every nap, bedtime and night wake since he arrived 😊. It works for me and him and my partner, he’ll do everything in his own time and one day it’ll only feel like a blink of time he needed this to sleep! I’ve seen some studies that say it reduces adult mental health issues etc to not “sleep train” so we’re avoiding that as well. Everyone is different though (including babies!) and if it wasn’t working for us I would be doing something else 😂.
I say this but he is sleeping dreadfully overnight but I’m pretty sure it’s a regression rather than habit

I do it all the time 😂😂🤦🏼‍♀️

I think it depends on your situation, for example I have a toddler so I can’t feed to sleep all the time (I do sometimes) because I don’t have the time. Also if your baby always has this sleep association then it can be harder for them to fall asleep independently in the future, you might not mind now but when you are back to work or fancy a night away it might be problematic? But there isn’t anything wrong with it at all, I’d say there are very few EBF babies who don’t! In any case what works now might not work later but you just roll with it and do what you think is best for you 😊

I always feed to sleep here,unless she falls asleep In the car or sling

dependance breeds independence, children learn to fall asleep themselves with time. Nothing to do with breastfeeding. Suddenly babies who are breastfed can’t ever have a night away from their mum? Not true. Explain the children who go to nursery perfectly fine. Breastfeeding causes no issues going back to work, it’s perfectly do-able. Children & babies ARE dependent on us, you don’t create a dependency.. there already is one. They depend of us for safety, security, food. They can’t do anything themselves. You’re fear-mongering for absolutely no reason.

Feeding to sleep works for us! I just didn’t want there to be any medical reason it wasn’t advised ( I thought the reason might be something to do with reflux) which was why I asked. I’m a single mum so I’ve never left my little boy nor do I plan to for a long time as I can work whilst I have him. I feel good about the bond/associations breastfeeding and feeding to sleep is giving my son. He needs to know I’m there to settle and I think that’s lovely, all I want to do is make him feel loved and safe. Definitely agree we’ve all just got to do what works for us x

i think you have misinterpreted what I meant! I’m pro breastfeeding I fed my first for 19 months until she didn’t want to anymore!! I just said why some people don’t feed to sleep but that it’s an individual choice dependant on your own situation and instinct and that it can change over time

apologies that/if I have! I may have been a little hot off the mark (oops), just something I read time and time again that we shouldn’t be comforting babies/children to sleep in fear of dependency and developing individual sleep. X

My daughter always falls to sleep still on the boob…. I shouldn’t stop her though surely? X

I feed to sleep for all naps and all throughout the night, if she wakes after a bedtime feed I pop her on the other boob until she falls asleep. If she wakes and dad is putting her to bed he will rock her, but she’s reliant on boob when sleeping with me and I don’t see a problem with it x