Learn how to stop nursing to sleep, no matter what age your baby or toddler is. I’m breaking it down by each age group so you can have a plan in place to stop nursing to sleep.
Breaking the feeding-to-sleep association can be one of the harder sleep props for moms to break. It’s one of the reasons so many baby and toddler sleep experts teach parents how to start an eat play sleep routine so parents learn how to separate feeding and sleeping from the start.
But many parents get in the habit of feeding to sleep either out of ease, desperation, or another reason.
The problem with nursing to sleep is that babies wake up multiple times in the middle of the night. In fact, we all do! None of us truly sleep through the night, without minor wake ups.
But when we wake up and feel our comfortable bed and see our familiar environment, we easily fall back asleep, without even realizing we woke up.
When babies are nursed to sleep, they fall asleep on the breast and in mom’s arms. When they wake up hours (or minutes) later, they find themselves in a completely different environment—without a breast or their mom!
That can be really frazzling for them and so they come to need the same sleep inducing thing (breastfeeding in this case) that helped them get to sleep initially to go back to sleep each time they wake up in the middle of the night.
This can leave parents exhausted and moms feeling like an all-night milk machine.
If you’re wondering how to stop nursing to sleep, I’m breaking it down by each age group so you can troubleshoot based on your baby’s age.
Your strategy for how to let your baby fall asleep without nursing will vary depending if you have a newborn, baby, or toddler.
Read on to find your baby’s age group and learn how you can stop nursing to sleep and establish independent sleeping habits.
When Should You Stop Nursing to Sleep?
You should stop nursing to sleep when it’s no longer sustainable for you.
If you love nursing your baby to sleep, and their sleep patterns are good with you, then keep doing it.
However, if you’re nursing your baby to sleep each time and it’s becoming unsustainable, that’s when I recommend making a change.
It’s never too early—or too late—to teach your baby how to fall asleep without feeding to sleep.
How Can I Get My Baby to Sleep Without Nursing?
Feeding to sleep becomes a default for many parents, because it works! It can be a really easy way to get your baby to sleep initially.
But once your baby learns to fall asleep on their own, that becomes their new norm and can work just as well. How to get your baby to sleep without nursing will depend on their age and the habits that have already been established.
Keep reading to see how to break the nursing to sleep routine, broken down by different age groups.
How to Stop Nursing Baby Under 4 Months Old to Sleep
If you want to establish good sleep habits from the beginning and want to know how to break the breastfeeding sleep association early on, it’s completely possible.
Newborns are very sleepy in those first few months and it is common and normal for them to fall asleep at the breast or bottle. Try to keep your newborn awake during feeds so they can get a full feed and not fall asleep while eating.
This will be challenging when they are first born, but should get easier as your baby turns 2 to 3 months old.
Practice separating feeding from sleeping by moving the feeding to the first part of your baby’s bedtime routine.
In those early months, your baby will fall asleep while nursing—that’s okay!
Don’t stress over it too much and just continue to separate feeding from sleep when you can. Even a quick diaper change after the feed can help.
Another important component of getting your baby to fall asleep independently is following their proper wake windows to make sure your baby doesn’t become overtired.
Up until about 3 months old, babies can only stay awake for about 60 minutes before they start to get overtired. An overtired baby will have a harder time falling asleep and staying asleep—so pay attention to that clock.
If your baby is having a hard time falling asleep, you can use soothing methods such as white noise, the Shush Pat, and a pacifier to help them fall asleep without nursing.
If you need more help establishing good sleep habits with your 0 to 4 month old, check out my Newborn Sleep Program.
Babies Over 4 Months Old
Wondering how to get your older baby to sleep without nursing? It’s very possible! If you haven’t established an eat play sleep routine, it’s not too late to start teaching your baby independent sleep habits.
If your baby is addicted to nursing to sleep and over 4 months old, you can use a sleep training method to teach your baby independent sleep. A great method for this age is the Sleep Lady Shuffle.
I always recommend starting sleep training at night time first and slowly working your way toward sleep training naps. The drive for sleep is greater at night, so you’re more likely to see success and stick with it versus if you focused on naps first.
You’ll want to make sure other elements are in place before sleep training, including an optimized sleep environment and that your baby is on an age-appropriate sleep schedule.
Use white noise and nursery blackout curtains to optimize your baby’s sleep and set them up for success. I have a few other baby nursery must haves that help create a conducive sleep environment.
If you’ve been co-sleeping and want to transition your baby to their crib, now is also a great time to do that.
Make sure you are equipped with a plan before you start to sleep train. Being consistent will make all the difference in getting your baby to sleep.
If you want a guide on how to stop nursing to sleep for your 4 month old through 2.5 year old, I have you covered!
Get Better Sleep with The Baby D.R.E.A.M. System
If you want someone to walk you through the process of sleep training, let me help. The Baby D.R.E.A.M. System is for babies 4 months through 2.5 years old. I’ll walk you through how to establish daily routines, sleep schedules, and sleep training techniques to help you break the sleep associations you no longer find beneficial! Check it out here.
How Do I Get My Toddler to Sleep without Nursing?
At some point, nursing to sleep becomes even more of a hindrance to sleep and nursing to sleep stops working as effectively.
If your baby is waking up multiple times in the middle of the night to comfort nurse, it has become a habit. We know most babies don’t need a night feed due to hunger at this age.
If you’ve been nursing to sleep long into the toddler years, it may be more challenging to establish new patterns, but it’s still possible! In fact, I believe it’s never too late to start setting up good sleep habits with your baby or toddler.
Many moms think they’ll have to wean their baby from breastfeeding completely if they want to stop nursing to sleep. But that isn’t the case. If you want to continue to breastfeed but stop feeding your toddler to sleep, you can.
For toddlers under 2.5 years old, the Baby D.R.E.A.M. System will be your guide to stop nursing your toddler to sleep. In it, I walk you through the most effective sleep training techniques to use for this age and stage.
If your toddler is out of a crib and over 2.5 years old, you’ll need a different approach. The good news is your toddler can understand way more than you realize at this age.
You can follow the strategy I lay out in my Toddler Sleep Training Guide. Just remember, consistency is key when working with this age group.
Make sure you spend plenty of time in your toddler’s room playing games and creating positive associations. It will help them feel safer and more at peace in their room at night.
How Do I Stop Comfort Nursing At Night?
In my experience working with parents, once they start using a sleep training technique to help their baby get to sleep for bedtime it’s easier to wean night feedings as well.
Once your baby learns how to fall asleep independently for bed, they start to learn how to put themselves back to sleep when they do wake up in the middle of the night.
With time and consistency your baby will learn how to fall asleep on their own and won’t wake up to comfort nurse anymore.
After you tackle bedtime and stop comfort nursing at night, you’re ready to tackle naps. You can stop nursing to sleep for naps the same way you did for bedtime.
Want me to come alongside you and equip you with a plan and the confidence of how to stop nursing to sleep and get your baby or toddler sleeping longer stretches at night? Grab the Baby D.R.E.A.M. System today.
My blog is full of things to help you celebrate motherhood including baby nursery ideas, sleep schedules and sleep tips, fun printables, baby registry must-haves, and so much more.
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