Even among breastfeeding advocates, there is always some debate over whether or not it is a good idea to nurse children to sleep, especially for naps. For infants, there's not much one can (or should) do to prevent it, despite the recommendations of Babywise-style eat-play-sleep adherents. Breastfeeding releases hormones that create tiredness in the baby (and the mother!). For more details on this, see my related article, "Breastfeeding Babies to Sleep," linked at the end of this article.

For babies under about 8 months, before which it unnecessary to consider the formation of habits, nursing babies to sleep is a natural and reasonable action. It is important to make sure that baby is getting enough milk at the breast – so if the baby is always falling asleep at the breast without emptying both sides, and no amount of foot tickling or burping or side-switches seems to really extend the feedings, that may be a signal that the baby needs to be offered the breast more often so that all feedings are not at sleepy times. If laying the baby down once asleep is difficult, consider swaddling (see the related article on "Swaddling and Breastfeeding," linked below).

After 8 months is when it is appropriate to start looking at routines and habits, and that is when the issue of nursing babies down for nap begins to come up for debate. By this age, most babies naps have coalesced into two day naps and a stretch of nighttime sleep (as a reminder, nighttime sleep periods may still be punctuated by the need to breastfeed, but generally do not include awake/play periods – for an infant this is "sleeping through the night"). Some babies may even be making the switch to one nap a day by this point, although that is a bit early for many.

Thanks to sleep deprivation, most of the focus on whether to nurse babies to sleep revolves around night nursing. Naps, after the early months, often revolve, for moms, more on the ability to put the baby down and be able to use that time productively, or spend some special time with an older sibling. So… should you nurse your baby down for naps?

My advice for naps is simply to do whatever is easiest and fastest for you and achieves the most sleep for the baby. Unlike night sleep, nap habits are a temporary issue. Most children will give up naps sometime between age 3 and 5 (some do this earlier, but in general, I believe children should be napping most days until at least age 3). And I can tell you from personal experience that nap habits and sleep habits can be totally different – kids know the difference. Nursing a child down for nap does *not* generally mean you will also need to nurse them down for bed, or vice versa.

For myself, I weaned my first child from her naptime feed around 14 months, because my husband was available for two weeks over holiday break to put her down for nap instead of me, which seemed a good way to do it (I do *not* subscribe to leaving a child to cry in a crib, so what little weaning my daughter did not do on her own, we did by "sending in dad."). We did it because we thought we *should* -- but then I spent the next two years often arguing her down for her much-needed nap, a largely miserable experience.

With my second daughter, I am still nursing her down for her nap at 2 ½ yrs. When it became difficult to transfer her from falling asleep on my lap into her crib without waking her, I altered the routine to laying down in my bed and nursing there and then slipping away once she is asleep (note that she was old enough by that point to safely sleep in my bed.. for a younger baby, this could be accomplished by placing a mattress, mat or pad on the floor). For bed, she nurses in the family room and then goes back to brush teeth, read a book, and then go in her crib for a song before falling asleep there.

I am not concerned about creating a "bad habit" with nap, because nap will eventually go away. And I am spared the daily battle over going to sleep. Occasionally she resists, but can be redirected by fetching her baby or blanket from her crib to bring to my bed. And she looks forward to our special nursing time enough to make the nap "worth it" to her. All and all, I wish I had done it that way the first time.

This is not to say that my way is the *answer* for napping. Each child is different and even more exasperating, what works seems to change over time. But my advice would be to not discount long-term nursing at naptime as a viable solution (incidentally, when I am not home, my husband is able to get her down using the sleep routine… it just takes a little longer).

Naps are important, and one of the somewhat rare times, I believe when moms have the freedom to truly use "whatever works" because naps are not a permanent issue. If desired, breastfeeding can be an excellent tool for this purpose.

Looking for good books on baby sleep? Here's two of my favorites:




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