GENTLE REMOVAL PLAN - For frequent breastfeeders, night time bottle feeders and pacifier users (No Cry Sleep Solution)

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**Pantley's Gentle Removal Plan Listed Below**

Many babies associate the action of sucking with sleeping and end up needing to suck to fall or stay asleep. Pantley doesn't consider this a negative sleep association, but says that it usually isn't practical (especially for an extended period of time) since most people have busy lifestyles and therefore have to do a lot more than just
take care of their baby 24 hours a day. There's cooking and cleaning and taking care of other children and possibly employment...you get the point.

Frequent bottle-feeding babies
There are a few reasons bottle-feeding to sleep isn't the best way to go in the long run. First, it can leave liquid in her mouth resulting in cavities. This can happen with babies that are nursed to sleep but isn't as common. Second, your baby may overeat since she feels like sucking to fall asleep but may not actually hungry resulting in her taking in more food than she needs. Third, wouldn't you rather sleep at night instead of getting up to prepare and give bottles every couple hours (or more)?

Pacifier use
If you choose to use a pacifier, it is suggested from 3 months (if breastfeeding) to 2 years of age. Before three month of age it can interfere with the establishment of breastfeeding (although I've heard from some sources that this isn't true) and after 2 years of age it can cause dental problems and speech delays.

Pacifier use can result in a sleep problems when baby needs it to go to sleep or stay asleep but it keeps falling out. When baby gets older you put several around her crib so that she can find one and reinsert it when she wakes during sleep times.

How to diminish the sucking-to-sleep association
Changing sleep associations will take weeks if not a month (or even more) so you need to be prepared to make some short term sacrifices in your sleep if you want long term future benefits. Use the gentle removal plan to help diminish the sucking-to-sleep association:

PANTLEY'S GENTLE REMOVAL PLAN:
When baby wakes, reinsert the pacifier or bottle or breastfeed. Instead of letting baby fall completely asleep sucking, wait until he gets relaxed and sleepy then remove whatever he is sucking on shortly before he falls asleep. If baby starts to root and tries to continue sucking (which he probably will do at first), gently try to hold his mouth closed by placing your finger under his chin or by putting a little pressure on his chin just below his lips. Rock/Sway/say comforting words to him while you do this. If he struggles or fusses, then reinsert whatever it was he was sucking on. Repeat the process until baby falls asleep. And repeat it every night until baby can fall asleep on his own and doesn't have frequent night wakings.

The length of time between each removal depends on baby, but Pantley says that it is usually between 10-60 seconds. She suggests counting while you do this to give you an idea of how long things are taking and to keep you nice and calm.

Pantley suggests you work on this technique at bedtime (especially when baby initially goes to sleep since babies often want to fall asleep the same way for the rest of the night) before you try it at naptime unless your baby is really good at going to sleep for naps. Once night time is going well, work on naptime.

Changing the last step in your pre-sleep routine may help your child go to sleep easier. For example, if you normally read a book then nurse right before bed, try nursing then reading a book before bed.


Related Post:
No-Cry Sleep Solution, The: Sleep Solutions for Older Babies (4 months to 2 years)