For all of you whose baby falls asleep at the bottle, being rocked, patted etc have you found it to be a problem ie they rely on it when they wake after their first sleep cycle? My little one is getting harder and harder to settle and just last night she feel asleep at the bottle which she has never done and slept really well hence didn't wake up expecting me to be holding her or giving her the bottle. She used to be a fantastic self settler and was not aided to sleep ie with dummy etc but now the terrible 10 month mark she seems to want to have me in the room to fall asleep.
I have had these issues with all of my children. A midwife said to me once use your common sense, if you are sleep deprived and exhusted do what you have to do to get some rest. I think this is good advice as the first year is hard. My two older girls slept with a bottle for the first year and slowly we got rid of it and now they have their own routine to go to bed and sleep through the night. My 6 month old falls asleep on the boob in our bed and sleeps next to our bed in his cot and i found that because he was born in winter it was more convienient to have him in our bed for the warmth and feeding was easier too. He has learnt this and when he is ready we will get him into his own routine to go to bed too.
Some will consider me a bad mum but i dont care, both my kids where in my arms with a bottle to go to sleep. Once they where asleep in my arms for 10 mins or so, i would get up and put them into bed. I was lucky in a way that my kids didnt wake at night but when they did at night bec they where sick or teething ill do the same and they will go back to sleep and put back into there beds.
By 12 months old they where given there own bottles and put on to there little couch and they would fall asleep by themselves. I would then pick them up and put them to bed. There are three stages that i have gone to with the bed situation the 1st 2 i mentioned and the last is in there own beds. That was a little harder but after 2 weeks they got the idea.
she might be teething and need a little more comfort i have done the sleeping next to her on the floor until she falls asleep but i had to remember that i couldnt fall asleep next to her bec she will get use to me being there when she woke up. One night i did it 6 times and then she started to get the idea that i was just a call away.
There would be alot of mums that can help you but if you want to minti mail me, feel free......
I'm still fighting that with my little girl. Any new change or any thing new into the house makes her unsettled....It's very normal for them at this age as they begin the seperation anxiety issues....Just be consistant as to how you resettle, ie come in for a bried moment and sing, then leave and let her cry. As long as she knows that you are there when she really needs you she will pass this phase. My girl often gets up at night and comes out only for me to tell her to climb back into bed. If there is something that she really loves, ie stuffed toy, make sure that is very close to her so she can see it or touch it to help her feel safe. Also, I play classical music for her at bed that lasts over an hour which helps to keep her in her bed and wanting to sleep....
I did that and definitely had problems! Aaliyah use to fall asleep with a bottle (or have a bottle just before bed), and often was patted to sleep. As a result it took us a VERY long time to get her off it. Eventually (when she was around 15mo I think) I just had to put her down, tell her it was nigh-nighs and walk away. She would start crying, and I would go back in and calm her (saying it was alright, and other soothing words), then walk out again, and she would start crying again - and so the cycle continued usually for a few hours until she fell asleep (the same would happen if she woke up in the middle of the night). I tried giving her a bottle with only water in it when she woke up during the night, and this worked for a little while, but then she tuned into what I was doing and refused it!
Took some time, but she no longer needs a bottle before bed (is actually off the bottle all together at 20mo) and is able to go to sleep as soon as I put her down (sleeps the whole night through too - doesn't wake during the night).
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