Sterling took two 30 minute naps today. By the end of the day, she was a cranky wreck. I decided to put her to bed at 8:00. We took a bath, which involved some good splashing, then read two books. We turned on the night-night music and did some nursing and she's finally asleep. Nursing to sleep is a habit that we'll eventually need to break, but I'm hoping that as she becomes more accustomed to her bedtime routine, we can get her away from it. If not, I'll just put her to bed by nursing her until she's 3. Hopefully not.
The books say that she needs to learn to put herself to sleep. I'm still working on that one. One thing at a time - we're getting a set bedtime (8:00 right now, moving towards 7:00 after we have the routine set) and a bedtime routine. Then I'll work on getting her to fall asleep without nursing her to sleep.
Don't stress about nursing to sleep. It'll happen on her own time, and very naturally. Around 6 or 7 months, Clara started staying awake through her bedtime feeding, although she was tired, and she started falling asleep on her own after I laid her into her crib. At this point, she is over a year, and I still nurse her as part of her bedtime routine, but there are also giggles, books, and snuggles involved. We can have the most playful bedtime routine, and she'll still fall asleep quietly a few minutes after I lay her down. It'll happen!
ReplyDeleteThanks Rebecca! That's good to hear... :)
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