I have always nursed our son to sleep. He is 18 months old..?

Question

and we have a family bed. He will fall asleep in a stroller or in the car but that doesn't work at night when we all just need to go to sleep. I am looking for methods or techniques to get him to sleep while keeping him in our bed. Thanks in advance

Answer 1

First of all, there is NOTHING wrong with breastfeeding an 18 month old baby. The people telling you to stop are obviously not aware that the AAP has revised their recommendations to breastfeed until at least one year and beyond. There is nothing "weird" about breastfeeding an 18 month old - it's a BABY. There is also nothing wrong with keeping your baby in your bed, yes, you are going to get less sleep and it's going to be very hard to quit nursing him to sleep if he's in your bed with you. The only advice I can give is for you to put him in his crib and let him fall asleep by himself, without you there.

Answer 2

Alisha, I was in the same boat about one month ago. I am a big advocate of co-sleeping and breastfeeding. In fact, I plan to keep all my babies in our bedroom until 1. We exclusively co-slept until around 7 months, then our baby went in and out of Pack N Play immediately next to our bed... Kind of like have the 'co-sleeper' attached to the bed...

Anyway, we didn't have another bedroom at the time and in order for my husband to get enough sleep for work, I often found myself nursing our son to sleep in our bed. Although my son is 13 months now and still nurses in the morning, I found that he did not fall (and stay) asleep on his own until we finally moved into a place where he has his own bedroom.

Part of our co-sleeping/night nursing was by choice, but part of it was due to the circumstance of not having another bedroom. From what I understand, it is very difficult to have a family bed without nursing and/or other disruptions at night. It sounds like you need to make a choice: family bed or nursing to sleep/night nursing. The first few days our son was in his own room it was a strain, but after that we have all fallen asleep and rested quite well.

I think in many cases, kids wean themselves from these habits when they are ready, HOWEVER, there is a fine line between letting them go on their own time and making the decision for them at an appropriate time. You have to decide what your priority is... Sorry this may not be what you want to hear, but I think it is time for you to choose: 'family bed' or 'not nursing to sleep'. I'm pretty sure it is not easy to have both... In addition, make sure you think about what is really driving you to keep your 18month old in the bed with you-- is it for your child or yourself?

P.S. My husband logged onto my account to answer a question for someone the other day, so now it says my name is 'Mark'. Ugh! I am a wife and mother, so don't be confused by the name... Now I have to go ask how to change my profile info! haha :) Best of luck.

Answer 3

When I first read this, I though you said 'years' old, and I did a double take. Now that I see where I went wrong, I think you are a good, caring mother, and all I can tell you is you will have a few trying nights ahead as your little angel adjusts to his own bed or crib. We all go through it, and you AND he will be fine. Best of luck.

Answer 4

I am still nursing my 14 month old but now she is at this stage where she just doesn't want to be nursed anymore, so I have just started to give her milk from a bottle.

You need to get you son to bed whilst he is awake as he falls asleep in your arms then when he wakes he doesn't see you there so he gets scared and wakes up. He needs to learn to get himself back to sleep without your help especially at this age or you are going to have a very big problem.

The older they get the harder it is to put them to sleep as they are bigger and capable of tantrums. Start this now, let him cry it out a little when you put him in the cot and let him fall asleep himself so when he wakes he remember that you were not there and will fall back asleep.


All the best

Answer 5

Its time to stop breastfeeding. I am a big advocate of breastfeeding, but after 12 months, it starts getting kind of weird. Its time to let go and realize that he is not a baby anymore!! It is also time he was in his own bed!! I am sure having a baby between you and your spouse can't be good either! I made the mistake of co-sleeping with my first child and had to deal with sleep problems until she was 3 years old when I finally broke the bad habits, and it put a strain on my marriage. I never made that mistake with my second child. He is no longer a baby, he is a growing child that needs to be taught how to be independent from you. He needs his own "big boy bed" where is should sleep at night and at nap times. And the breastfeeding, you really should wean him. I think that it is you that needs to let go, once you do the sleeping problems will stop for him.

Answer 6

A family bed? That means that you, your husband and your baby sleeps in the same bed? That's not healthy for the child. And it's actually liberal to have the child sleep in the bed with you (in retort to the third response). I think that at the very least you should have the child in his own bed and his own room, if that's possible.

Answer 7

Are you asking how to night-wean your child, or what? This question is too vague to give a good answer to, and I fear that you're going to end up with nothing but grief about having a family bed.

Answer 8

Have you tried a bottle? If not when your ready to put him to bed stroll him around in a stroller in your house (if there's enough room) or go for a drive until he falls asleep.

Answer 9

I agree with some of the other people. A child that age should not be sleeping with you, that is a bad habit to break. Since birth my son has been sleeping by himself, he is now 5 and I have not had any problems.

Answer 10

you prolly should let him sleep in your bed. He's 18 months? He should have his own bed before he gets too use to yours and never fall asleep anywhere else.