When did you stop bottle / nursing to sleep?

Question

my daughter is 12mos. up till lastnight, i was still bottle to bed.

i decided tonight i need to start to at least try to put her in her cot awake and teach her to go over to sleep without a bottle. im totally against cry it out in the sense of letting a baby cry itself to sleep, so that was never ever an option for me.

so tonight, she had been for her bath, and played a little. when she started to rub her eyes, i lifted her, told her it was bedtime and lay her down in her cot with a dummy. she cried, i left her for not even 60sec (it was killing me listening to her) i went back in, lay her down again, dummy in, 'sh sh sh mummy is here, night night' etc. i put on a little lullaby light. and i continued this till she went to sleep. all in it took 15min from the point i put her in bed till she fell asleep - which i thought was quite good, i expected to be there doing this for hours.

so the Q is when did you stop bottle / nurse to sleep?

how did you start the new bedtime routine and how long did it take when you started it for baby to go over to sleep?

and lastly, give me hope, will it get better provinding i continue to do this every night, i feel like i got off lightly with it only taking 15min!

thanks

Answer 1

I had massive problems with getting my 3 month old son to sleep.  He would just lie awake and cry for hours, then when he finally went to sleep he would wake every hour or two hours through the night and cry again!  Talk about pulling our hair out .... we were absolutely desperate for sleep!

It was a baby sleep audio program recommended by a friend that finally saved us. We followed the advice and began by creating a baby sleep routine which included bathtime, dimming of the lights, putting Paul into his crib, final nappy change and then lullabies. We also made recommended changes to his naps during the day and used some of the other recommended techniques. Within two weeks he was sleeping through the night most nights with just the odd night where he would just wake once!

Definitely start by creating a good baby sleep routine though and you could find that solves most of your baby sleep problems.

Good luck!

If you want to take a look, the audio program is at http://www.babysleepsolution.com

Answer 2

It is up to you, you sound like you are doing a grand job, there are no rules about taking bottles off babies! Or getting them to sleep! All kids are different, some are brilliant sleepers and some are ill a lot! My kids ages 16,13,6 and 2 all have liked having someone with them when they are little till they fall asleep! They have all loved their bottles till about aged 3 too! My older two sons, were treated the same way i am treating my younger 2, and they have grown up to be well behaved, and very happy confident lads! I still remember my 16 yr old having a dummy and too many bottles and me having to stay with him to get him to sleep, and let me tell you time goes so quickly, I know you would probably prefer to be downstairs watching eastenders or something, but those times are precious, and before you know it your daughter will be out as a teenager and you will wonder what all the worrying about bed times and bottles was all about! From my experience, if she goes to sleep happy in 15 mins, then great! If she doesn't, it isn't a problem! She has you, and I know from what you have said about your daughter, in previous q's and a's that you are a good mum! Just do what you think suits your baby! But like i say, there is no hurry! Bottles did my older two no harm what so ever!  

Answer 3

My son is is months old and I differ between breast feeding him to sleep or putting him in his cot after his bath with his lullaby light show, it just depends on his mood.

15 Min's for the first try... you jammy thing!! ;o) x

Answer 4

I never did feed to sleep or hold so no crying no problems x

Answer 5

I think i did my boys at around 7 or 8 months but i did them in exactly the same way as you. I left them for a bit longer than 60 seconds sometimes but only a couple of minutes. My first child didnt have a dummy but he had a blanket that comforted him enough. Some nights it did take an hour but i was persistant and it definately paid off. Now my boys both go to bed, no juice no dummies nothing for comfort, they are both able to get themselves to sleep.

Answer 6

at 3 months old.  My daughter BF between 8 and 9 pm and then I rock her and sing to her for about 20 mins and put her down when she is half asleep and I allow her to soothe herself to sleep.  She has been doing this for about 1 1/2 months now.  I do not let her lay in her crib and cry though if she starts crying I pick her up and rock her until she is asleep.  Some nights she needs more rocking/singing and other nights she just falls right to sleep.  She also sleeps 9-10 hours a night.  She started doing this at 9 weeks old.  She is an amazing child, very calm and happy.  I think 15 mins is not alot of time at all to get your little one down.