We have exclusively breastfed our baby since birth and she is now one week away from being 6 months old. She has always fallen asleep at the end of a feed and we never really questioned this. We have now realised that she cannot actually fall asleep without being on the breast and that she uses me as a comforter to get her to sleep.
Now that her appetite is increasing as she is ready for weaning, she doesn’t always fall asleep at the end of a feed and so getting her to sleep at night has become increasingly difficult. For the past two weeks it has been taking us three hours to get her to sleep. She is now invariably asleep by 8.30/ 9 pm. Previously she would be asleep by 6pm and would be breastfed to sleep.
We are looking for advice on how to get our daughter to be able to fall asleep on her own and how to ensure that she understands that her cot is for sleeping in so that she goes to sleep at night and naps during the day in it.
Please accept my apologies for taking so long to provide feedback. I feel terrible particularly because I have such glowing praise for your company! As you know, we had two telephone consultations. In a nutshell I can say, hand on heart, that Mel changed our life. We honestly feel as though we are living an entirely different reality from how things were just two short months ago.
The amazing part is that, having spent a good six weeks of our demand fed/ breastfed six and a half month old daughter eating every two hours day and night and taking 3 – 3.5 hours every night to get to sleep, I don’t think we could see a way out. The sleep problems had also spilled over into weaning problems as our daughter was uninterested in solids due to taking milk every two hours.
Mel gave us advice which we felt comfortable in following in order to teach our daughter to fall asleep by herself. The routine felt like a good path to follow and as had been suggested that on the first night it would probably take our daughter between 40 and 50 minutes to fall asleep. It took bang on 45 minutes!!!!
It took our daughter about a week and a half to settle into this new routine. We now simply put her into her cot, awake, she no longer cries and she goes to sleep by herself. It’s amazing.
Mel gave us a sleep, nap and feed routine. Beforehand we were more guided by what we thought our daughter wanted/needed. She now eats and drinks well and has two naps in her cot during the day (unheard of previously!!!).
I honestly can’t thank you enough. I could go on and on. Kind regards and thank you. Nichola from Nottingham.