When Should I Stop Nursing My Daughter to Sleep?

hi there, i am also a mom of a 7.5 month old! my daughter is a great sleeper too, although she does not fall asleep when i am nursing her (i wish she did), but my 1st daughter did and i loved it. during the day, i would bottle feed her breast milk and so that would not put her to sleep, so she learned how to put herself to sleep during the day. at night i nursed her until she was sound asleep and then put her down. she was totally fine, don't wake her up just to get her to learn, she will learn through daytime naps and eventually when you stop nursing, she will learn to fall asleep on her own at night. I was so worried when my first daughter stopped falling asleep when i fed her.....but i put her down the first night, wide awake and sat down on the floor to see if she would cry and within 10 minutes she was dozing off. it will be fine i promise, but for now, stick with what you are doing...it is working and my theory is always "whatever works". Congratulations and best of luck!

J.

I don't see anything wrong with it especially if she is sleeping through the night. I am still nursing my son to sleep at 29 months. I never thought I would be a late nurser, but I see him to continue to benefit from the nursing. Now his second set of molars are coming in and it has not disturbed him except for more nursing and when the teeth have come in the nursing subsides too. He is naturally starting to pull away on his own. And this is what I wanted. I didn't want to do any sleep training or take away his comfort. They are only young once and for a short time. It is a short sacrifice for long term benefits of an emotionally healthy child who feels safe and loved.

Hi L.,
With my daughter, now 9 months, I always fed her at the beginning of our routine. I wasn't able to breastfeed so our routine was bottle, bath, PJ's, book, and then bed. I used to feed her in the living room with the rest of the family, but as she got older, that became a distraction. Now we do it in the bedroom. I also turn on a baby melody cd right before I lay her down. She knows when she hears it that it's time for bed. I lay her down, she grabs her binky, and within 10-20 mins she's out. Hopefully this will help you. Goodluck.

I nursed my daughter until she was 18 months old. At one-year, I began weaning her but at 18 months she was still nursing twice a day . . . once first thing in the morning and once at night as she fell asleep. I never woke her up as the books suggested either.

At 18 months I first weaned her from the morning nursing, and then two weeks later we stopped the evening nursing. To my suprise, weaning the morning one was harder on her than weaning the evening one. Instead of nursing her to sleep, I rocked her to sleep. Then, when she was about two years old we started putting her in her crib while she was still completely awake. We had my husband do this, because she is more clingy with me. She is now able to get herself to sleep without any problems.

I am sure it depends on the child, but nursing my daughter to sleep did not impair her ability to put herself to sleep when she go older. In hindsight, I wish I had weaned her a little bit earlier . . . not for her benefit, but rather to give me more of a break!

I decided against giving my daughter a pacifier to replace the nursing since she was already so old. -I didn't want to start another habit that I would be trying to break a few months later.

Best of luck, and I think it is great your daughter is sleeping through the night (my daughter didn't sleep through the night until I completely weaned her at 18 months)!

With my first baby I had a similar routine, I gave him a bath and then nursed him to sleep. I did this until he was about 8 months. At that time we switched to nursing first, bath, then my husband would rock him to sleep. This lasted until about a year old. He was not good about putting himself to sleep, so I didn't force it. At a year, one night we decided to just put him down awake and amazingly enough he went to sleep on his own without fussing. Every child is different, so I am not saying that this is how it will go with you. I think that up until about a year there is still time to change their bedtime routine without much trouble. The book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child says that it is fine to put them to bed asleep. Now, my daughter is 7 months and I am trying to decide if I want to change her routine as well. It is great that your daughter is sleeping so well.

Good lord, this is not a bad habit and you'd be crazy to wake a well-fed, happily sleeping baby. Really. This is a wonderful experience (at least it sounds like it is for you) that you won't have for long, so don't be in a rush to give it up. You might miss nursing your baby to sleep once it stops (and it probably will stop before you know it, naturally). Your baby knows what she needs and has plenty of time to learn how to soothe herself to sleep. At this point, if she's sleeping through the night, you're doing better than a lot of folks with a seven month old. From my experience and some of my friends, night-nursing is the last to go and babies don't often give that up before they give up daytime nursing. Truly, most cultures nurse their children into toddlerhood. I think we're a little too focused on getting our children to the next step, when really, if you follow their lead a bit, they let you know when they're ready to move on. My son and I were both ready to stop nursing at ten months and I cried the last time I nursed him. I would have gone for longer if he wanted to and if I knew how much I would miss it. We definitely have structure and routine, but I typically follow his lead on changing and test it out slowly. Best of luck to you. Remember, you're the best mom your daughter could ever have and you'll do right by her if you trust your gut.

Hi L.,

My son is also 7 months old. He nurses to sleep and we love it. We do the same type of routine as you do. I don't think this is a problem, as a matter of fact, I love it! My son does go to sleep on his own during the day most of the time, but I sometimes nurse him to sleep for his naps as well. I would say if it feels right to you, do it! That is what I live by. I feel like the books all contradict each other, so I try to do what works for us.

As for the pacifier, I wouldn't introduce that...just another thing to get rid of later on!

Good luck on the decisions, I hope this helps!

Helo L.,
A subject I know all to well. I am also a first time mommie, age 36. I am currently still nursing my son of 14 months still at night. Its his comfort, and pacifier, since he sucks his tongue. I to started out just as you. To be honest I don't think anything is wrong with you nursing your daughter, its a beautiful bond. I will say it has been trying and difficult to leave my son for long period of time and hours,even at daycare.I went back to work when he was 10 months old. I feel if you enjoy it go ahead. It is definately a hard bond to break. Good Luck. keep me posted.