Weaning off boob as a sleep aid - advice needed!

[srisky]

My 6 month old goes down for naps & bedtime without any help but when he wakes at night the only thing that settles him is a few minutes of comfort sucking. I really would like to wean him off this, as he is definitely not hungry but sleeping no more than 3h at a time (often less) is tiring me out (sorry, I know there are those that have it much harder & I am probably being a wimp). The main problem is that he does not seem to be able to self soothe - he has various props including a comforter, teddy & music from the monitor which we only use at sleep times.

Any advice is welcome! Thanks.

[Smiler]

Sympathy, sleep deprivation is horrible.

I co-slept, which helped in some ways and hindered in others, then at 12 months did Dr Jay Gordon's night weaning, which took 5 nights of hell but worked! And carried on feeding in the day/early eve. Info is online, but think it's for 12 months plus.

Another option, if you're thinking of winding down breastfeeding, would be mix-feeding so you can get more of a stretch of sleep sometimes.

[klove]

Well done on getting him to sleep by himself! We really struggled with that and the subsequent waking up every three hours (at best) really did my head in. We decided to do some sleep training at 7 months and it wasn't as bad as we had expected.

My partner was in charge at night and when our son started to crying, he went in and cuddled him rocking and humming... basically anything to calm him down and get him to sleep without the boob. He cried for an hour and fourty minutes, then went to sleep. The second night was exactly the same but by the fifth night he only woke up for about five minutes. We then stopped picking him up and just soothed him in his cot, shhh- patting him. Each night got slightly better until he slept through on night ten (woohoo!)

Just to add that by this stage he had been eating really well for a month and I really felt it was just a habit he had formed, rather then hunger. I was so worried about all the crying but he woke up all smiles even on the first day and really bonded with his daddy with all the cuddling. Another massive plus was that it helped prolong his naps.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do, there's so much advice out there but only you know what's best for your son (and you!). PM me if you need any more encouragement.

[srisky]

Thanks both for your very useful advice.

I was exclusively bf during the day (dream feed was a bottle of formula) but he was becoming increasingly distracted that he was hardly feeding and compensating overnight with very long feeds, which is when the 'habit' developed. I started formula feeding about a month ago and managed to quickly drop day bf altogether without any problems of engorgement etc, which is quite telling about how much he was taking in during the day! Since exclusively ff during the day he only suckles for a few minutes at night in order to drop off, so he has essentially stopped feeding at night and is only using me for comfort. He then wakes in a good mood in the morning and is no rush for milk, so I am happy he is not hungry overnight. As for solids, we have recently started but he doesn't seem that fussed by it so I am just offering a small amount of food once a day an hour before his bottle so he gets used to the sensation.

For the past 2 nights I went cold turkey on the overnight suckling. Last night he woke at 0030 & 0230 and settled quite quickly with a little patting. He then woke 0400 and was up until 0530 :( Nothing would settle him (except looking at the street lights or jumping on the bed!) and eventually he got tired and fell asleep. I am hoping that tonight it will be better....just need the stamina to see it through!

Just to add, part of my need to wean him off comfort sucking (apart from sanity's sake) is that every so often I work nights and so I need him to be able to drop off again without me by the time I go to work next spring.