Need advice with baby

First let me say that I'm so proud of myself for making it this far. DS was 6 months this past 13th. I only made it to 5 1/2 mos with DS2 and half of that was supplementing with formula. I have PCOS and just don't respond well to the pump. I pump as often as I can and nruse as often as I can and work so hard to make enough milk for DS2 while I'm working. I work FT.

My problem is DS2. If he's tired and wih me then he wants to nurse. Period. I cannot get him to sleep without nursing him. If I'm even in the house, he wants me to nurse him to sleep. How do I break him of this? I don't mind doing this sometimes but it doesn't matter if I fed him an hour ago, he'll want to nurse himself to sleep.

Also, DS2 sleeps in our room in a Rock-n-play sleeper. He still nurses several times in the night. Same thing, he wants to nurse himself to sleep. Lastnight, I kid you not, he nursed probably 6 times because he kept waking up. I want to move him to his crib but don't know how to do it and at htis rate, I'd NEVER get sleep because I'd be in there constantly nursing him. Should I let him CIO? I'm not opposed to this if it's just that he needs to learn to put himself back to sleep. It's not that I don't mind nursing in the night because I don't and it helps keep up my supply but anymore than 2 times a night, 3 at most IMO.

Anyway, TIA ladies for the advice!

Personally at 6 months *I* don't feel that it's a big problem to nurse to sleep. It's very common because it works. At 6 months my son was still colseeping with us, BFing to sleep, and waking to eat several times a night. He's now in his crib and mostly STTN, so this stage doesn't last forever! If it bothers you that much, maybe start up a bedtime routine where nursing isn't last before sleep (maybe end with books and rocking). It might be rough for a bit though because he's natural desire and routine so far is nursing to sleep. DS is quite a bit older, but I do his night routine and end with nursing. Before he falls asleep (but he's almost there), DH comes in and takes him. He reads to DS and puts him to sleep.
I'm an AP mama, so the closest to sleep training I personally recommend is No Cry Sleep Solution. There are sections in there dealing with room sharing, co sleeping, BFing, and even transitioning over to their own room.

Unless it's really bothering you I wouldn't worry about having to train him out of the nursing to sleep. He's still really young.

I do recommend not ending with nursing for nap or bedtime. I would nurse, give 5 minutes of reading before nap. We did the same before bedtime, but read for longer, like 10-15 minutes.

As far as waking up in the middle of the night, *sigh*, I am still dealing with that at least once a night. We started with the crib in our room, then around a year old moved her out of our room. It helped somewhat, but it isn't always the solution. good luck!

I know this is a bit controvercial, but have you tried giving him a paci? I know a lot of times my Trystan just wants to have something in his mouth, so he'll throw a fit and I think that he's hungry when he's not. He'll latch on, suck for a few minutes, and then go right back to sleep! In that case I give him a paci and cover him up, and he's good for the rest of the night!

My DD is 17 months and still nurses to sleep and wakes several times per night and I work full time. Its not a problem unless its interfering with your ability to function at work. Most babies, given half a chance, will do exactly what your DS is doing. How you deal with it is a very personal decision. I'm also an AP mama, so CIO isn't an option for us. We've had success with the Jay Gordon method but that's really meant for much older babies than yours.

If this is pretty normal then I'll just let him do his thing. We do use a paci but he went take it half the time. He'd much rather have me instead.

Thanks ladies!

Both of my boys were like that. It's very normal. Evie is my first baby that doesn't typically fall asleep while nursing. She usually unlatches and takes the binkie first. But lately, it's all she wants is nursing. But when I fall asleep while sitting up nursing her in her rocking chair, I can't be for sure that she fell asleep nursing unless she is still attached. :lol:

What I find interesting is that Evie will sleep longer and nurse less often if she is sleeping in the bed next to me. But if she's in her crib, she'll wake and want to nurse more frequently. She's also teething right now and I think that breast feeding has a lot of good pain killer components to it, not just the soothing, but the chemical release in the baby's brain while nursing. A nursing session is better at soothing pain than a binkie, IMO.