really long bedtime feeds

[julz222]

Hi All;
My 4.5 month old (big boy) is on a 4 hour EASY with a dreamfeed, and 1 night feed about 50% of the time. Otherwise sleeps through. He goes down independently for all naps.
He efficiently eats quickly for all of his feeds, Sucking forcefully for 10min, and dawdling for another 5min. However at bedtime he seems to want to eat for at least 30 min, sometimes 40min. He wont go to sleep until he has eaten enough, and usually ends up falling asleep at the breast in the meantime. I try to wake him up a little bit before I put him down but it doesnt always work

Wondering if this is normal, or if feeding to sleep has somehow become a prop at bedtime only.

Would appreciate any thoughts.

[jessmum46]

Could he be overtired at bedtime and using the breast to soothe/wind down?  How are naps?  Tbh it doesn't sound like a prop if he is STTN and settles well for naps.  Personally I'd go with it until it causes a problem

[michaeljacknnugg]

That sounds just like my DS's pattern at that age! If he's sleeping well the rest of the time I'd leave it, too.

[trimbler]

Mine have both liked to linger over BT feeds at various times, I've sometimes found though that if they fall asleep feeding they've been a little OT and sometimes even got a second wind on PD. Have you tried bringing the start of the BT routine forward a bit to see of he still falls asleep feeding?