19/10/2026
Your baby over 3–4 months might be on and off the breast day AND night because they’re not sleeping well.
Hear me out…
A little one experiencing fragmented nights and poor-quality naps can spend much of their day overtired.
And what do many babies seek when they’re tired, overwhelmed or struggling to regulate?
The breast or bottle.
Not because constant feeding is a requirement for secure attachment, but because feeding may have become one of the main ways they’re coping with their day. A chance to rest, regulate and reboot.
And so the cycle continues…
Poor sleep → Overtiredness → Frequent comfort feeding → Feeding to sleep → More fragmented sleep.
And this is why simply weaning often ISN’T the answer.
Especially if you still WANT to breastfeed but feel pressure to wean. You absolutely do not have to!
After 12 years of working with thousands of families, I’ve learnt that the ORDER in which we make changes matters.
I rarely start with weaning.
Instead, I look at the bigger picture:
• HOW your little one falls asleep.
• What’s happening when they wake overnight.
• Their daytime sleep, awake times and overtiredness.
• Whether they can settle and resettle in other ways.
Because removing the feed doesn’t necessarily remove the waking.
Sometimes it simply leaves parents with LESS sleep and a NEW sleep association to navigate, like rocking, bouncing or relying on a dummy.
And yes, having a partner take over can be wonderful! But if we’re simply replacing one sleep association with another, we may still be stuck in the same exhausting cycle.
What if those feeds are helping your little one cope with a day they’re already struggling with?
You can’t always fix a sleep problem by removing the very thing that’s helping them cope.
Sometimes we need to improve the sleep, address overtiredness and gently introduce other ways of settling FIRST.
And when we do, the reliance on frequent comfort feeds can begin to reduce naturally.
Of course, babies still need feeds for hunger, growth and connection. Not every waking or feed is a problem, particularly in younger babies.
You might not have a weaning problem.
You might have a sleep associati
