Hi guys, I finally stopped breastfeeding about a week ago and it has been emotionally difficult for me, but it was time. The problem I’m having now is that I nursed my daughter to sleep since she was born and it’s been very difficult for her to fall asleep without it.

I wanted to hear some ideas on how to help her get used to falling asleep without nursing. Please don’t tell me to sleep train as it’s not for us. I’m sure it’s great for some families and that once sleep trained, babies go to bed very peacefully. We just decided we don’t want to go down that route.

So far we have a pretty solid bed time routine: dinner, bath (used to be before dinner, just changed it so she would be more relaxed), dimmed lights, bottle, brushing her teeth, sleep sack, paci, bedtime story. We also have a little music box with calm music and white noise she’s used to. One of us stays with her until she falls asleep, but it’s taking a long time lately. She babbles and moves all over the crib, stands up, throws her paci on the floor, giggles... after all that she ends up lying down and falls asleep while holding my hand. I tried rocking her to sleep but it also didn’t work and I don’t really want this to turn into a habit if I can avoid it.

She has no problem falling asleep at nap time. We read a book together and she falls asleep before the story is over. I stopped nursing her in the afternoon a few months ago already so she is used to it.

Also if it makes any difference, here’s her schedule:

7am wakes up, bottle and breakfast

11am lunch

12-2pm nap (I usually wake her up if she’s not up by 2)

3pm snack

6:30pm dinner

7pm bath time

7:30/8 pm bedtime

Thanks in advance!