How To Get Baby To Sleep Without Bottle

GENTLE SLEEP TRAINING

Well mama, it's time to start sleep training! Don't worry, if you follow the guidelines from Live Love Sleep, I will give you some strategies and a step by step plan to deal with the two weeks that it will probably take to get your baby on track, and learn this new strategy for getting themselves to sleep.

Here's the good news. You don't have to let your baby cry it out! Not only that, but you don't have to leave the room. That's right. You can stay with your baby if you like. We use much gentler approaches to teach your baby the skills needed to break the nightly bottle habit and begin sleeping through the night. Check out our Alternatives to the Cry It Out Method.

But your baby really does need to start connecting the steps that are involved in putting themselves to sleep independently so that they are not relying on that bottle. Otherwise, your baby will most likely keep waking for that bottle. It could go on well into the second year so you really want to make sure you break this habit now.

You can go in and be present and comforting as your baby learns how to fall asleep independently. Your baby will learn a new way to fall asleep and they will start sleeping a solid night, which will be better for them. It may take about two weeks. But it is definitely for the best! Read more about our Sleep Philosophy here.

WHEN TO START SLEEP TRAINING

Parents often ask me WHEN is the right time to start sleep training. Babies are old enough to learn how to self soothe a little after 3 months of age. So either your baby is currently going through the 4-month sleep regression or is over a year old, NOW is the perfect time to get started.

My general guidance is that once a baby is about 15 lbs or 6 months of age, then they are generally going to be able to physically sleep through the night. It's just a matter of teaching them how to do so and how to transfer those calories from the nighttime hours to the daytime hours.

The good news is that if your baby still needs a night feed, you can still teach them these healthy new independent sleep skills while keeping one or two night feedings. I generally work a feed or two into my sleep plans when working with babies under 6 months old.

And if you're still feeding you toddler to sleep, that's ok. It's not too late to sleep train! I work with lots of toddlers to break the bottle feeding to sleep habit too.