What you'll want to do is take an objective look at your final steps in putting your baby to sleep and make some changes if necessary. You may want to use massaging, cuddling, or sleepy-time music to help get your baby to fall asleep. Eventually these steps will take over for nursing or bottle-feeding, and then they too will fade away, and your baby will be sleeping longer.
"I have changed the way I'm putting Carlene to sleep, and it's working! Instead of nursing her down, I just feed her until she is relaxed and then I let her do whatever she wants in the very dim room with me. When she rubs her eyes and looks sleepy, I put her in her crib. I stay there and stand next to the crib, and encourage her to sleep. I say, 'Shhh, it's night-night time, close your eyes, sleepy girl,' and I tell her that it's OK to go to sleep. I rub her head or her tummy. She shuts her eyes right when I do this. It's been a major breakthrough."
--Rene, mother of 7-month-old Carlene
