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Hi Bridget,

I also have an 8 month old son and I hope my experience can shed some light on your situaton. I breastfed for the first 4 months and noticed that while I was nursing, my breast became his sleep association; he would often fall asleep and then I would carefully place him in his crib, then he would wake up and I would either try it again or swaddle and he would fall asleep and be placed in his crib. He woke every 3-5 hours during those days. At about 4-5 months, we transitioned to formula and one night we just tried it; the famous words we hear…put him in his crib awake so he can learn to fall asleep on his own; we found a "favorite" blanket to tuck him in at night and a cuddly teddy bear (he's got two…a mama bear and a dada bear) :) We worked hard at our night time routine, and have had to make adjustments along the way to suit him (i.e. he's in bed between 6-6:30pm, up between 5:30-6am ; which works for us). We often make reference to moma bear and dada bear and we cuddle them too…to help him associate his crib as a safe zone; and he does. He's now able (since the new year) to sleep through his nights. Of course we have relapses but overall he's made leaps and bounds. I'll hear him at night (during his sleep cycles) cuddles his bears and then fall back asleep. He no longer needs us to fall asleep.

Hope this helps, take care,

Chantal