Breastfeeding moms...help!!!?

Question

My baby will only fall asleep if I let her nurse herself to sleep! Sometimes I wanna just rock her to sleep and I wouldn't mind being able to have a babysitter from time to time! But I can only have a babysitter for an hour or 2 at a time. She won't fall asleep without nursing - and she won't drink from a bottle. She's 8 months old...

Answer 1

dont worry
my baby did exactly the same.
try to leave your baby once with the baby sitter, you might be surprised!
and this time will pass, I can assure you.
what I did, is i breastfed and then I left...

my baby never accepted the bottle...and i think it is much better this way. She will never have to be weened form the bottle.

When I was finally ready to stop breastfeeding, the night was the last feeding i stopped giving.

enjoy your baby, it will not last forever....

Answer 2

My daughter was the same way. I would leave her with a babysitter, usually a relative, and when I would come back she was crying and had been the whole time I was gone. This went on until she was close to a year old. She would also fall asleep at the breast so I had to start letting her cry herself to sleep. She would cry for about 10 minutes and then fall asleep and this only lasted a few days. After 3 or 4 days she figured out that it was bed time and went to bed without any problems, I did this at about 10 months. I learned with her to put the babies to bed awake right in the beginning so with my next two I didn't have this problem.
Also, have you tried a sippy cup instead of a bottle? My daughter also didn't take a bottle but she would drink from cups or sippy cups.

Answer 3

This is common. Really, your baby will only be small for a short time :) You will someday look back on these times and smile. Some babies never take a bottle, and rest assured, bottles are not a nessesary requirement for babies. My daughter was just like this too.

Just think, she's 8 months old, your in the home stretch! You might try expressing some milk for a sippy cup so that you can have longer time out and have a sitter occasionally. In another few months she will be experimenting more with foods also and won't be so focused on nursing.

You've done a great job nursing to 8 months, way to go mom!!!

Answer 4

Yeah, my daughter was the same way. I totally freaked out about it and worried like crazy the first time I left her with a babysitter......and it only took her 2 minutes to fall asleep with the babysitter.

Try to introduce something else at bedtime -- by 10 months, she should be able to drink a little milk from a sippy cup (without a stopper), or just try not nursing her at bedtime and see what happens.

Answer 5

I know exactly what you are talking about mine is 11 months old I have tried a half dozen bottles he wouldn't take any now he drinks from a sippy however nobody will baby sit for more than 2 hours but this is the way I think of it they are babies for such a short time so enjoy it because before I know it he won't want to cuddle with me he'll be an adult longer than a baby

Answer 6

Breastfed babies often refuse a bottle given by the mother but will take it from someone other than the mother. You may also try feeding her with an eyedropper.(You may be surprised at the results.)
As for the nursing herself to sleep every baby is different but she is old enough to stop doing that. I'd try a little tough love and let her cry it out as long as she is not really hungry and just nursing for comfort.
GL and hope it helps.

Answer 7

My little guy did the same thing. If he got hungry enough he would take a little breast milk from the bottle just to tide him over. Try nursing before you leave, just put your little girl to bed when you get home. Her going to bed late a few times is ok while she is waiting for you. You might be suprised the babysitter might just get her to sleep without the milk at all. That happens too sometimes.

Answer 8

I guess maybe your baby takes more naps than mine, as she is awake for around 3 1/2 to 4 hrs during the day before and after her first nap. Have you tried a musical stuffed animal that you've slept with first to get your scent on it? I got my girl to accept Mr. Clown instead of me as a sleep aid.
You shouldnt be the only one to put your child down for a nap (on weekends or at night) or else your child will come to expect and demand you. Since that's already the case, slowly start getting Dad involved (or your sister, friend, someone else close to you) for this. I didnt realise the importance of this early enough, so I had my girl demanding me if she woke up in the middle of the night and didnt care if her father was around or not... she kept on crying until she gotme. Then she would let herself drift off to sleep. Urgh! Finally broke that habit about 2 mths ago (at 9mths), thank goodness.
Good luck

Answer 9

I have no advice, I can only offer my sympathies- my daughter was the same at that age, and she is just breaking out of this habit now that she is 17 months old. I am starting to lie down with her in my bed, with the lights turned out, and more often than not, she gets the idea that she is supposed to be asleep, and falls asleep without the need for me to breastfeed her to sleep. She has a little suckle earlier in the evening though.

I wish you all the best.

Answer 10

It sounds like nursing is her security blanket. You need to find a stuffed animal or blanket and try to give her that instead of the breast and naptime. If that is successful then continue to do the same at bedtime. You could even try to give her a straw cup or sippy cup and tell her that she's a big girl now and big girls drink out of a cup. My daughter refused to sleep without the bottle so I finally took the bottle away all together and gave her nothing but the cups and she never asked for another bottle. You are going to have to experiment and see what works but most importantly be persistant.