How can I get my nine month old son to sleep without nursing him to sleep?

You need to get him in a routine now or it will get hard soon. Nurse him before bed and then give him a pacifier , his toy or blankie and lay him down and let him learn how to put himself to sleep. He may fuss and scream for a little while the first few nights but this is because he knows you will pick him up. Check on him every so often and lay him back down and tell him goodnight but DO NOT pick him back up. Trust me it works.

your doctors should not be telling you how to parent unless you ask for advise. Our culture is big on self soothing and independence and individuality. Some other cultures focus more on the group aspect and they nurture each other. These cultures tend to have family beds, etc. Neither is wrong. I try to hit the middle. I dont' let my baby cry it out suddenly one night. Nor do I cater to his every cry immeidtately. What I do personally with my baby who is almost 5 months old is to think about what I would want. If I came into the world where it was loud and noisy after only knowing water and muffled noises and my mothers' bodily noises, etc. What would I want. I would want to be coddled and weaned onto self soothing over time. So that is what I have done. My baby will cry for up to 15 min. now at a time. He knows I will come so he is not all panicy, he is just calling for me. Sometimes he will self soothe and other times he keeps calling for me. At nighttime I still nurse him to get him back to sleep. At bedtime I use a soother when he has a full tummy. The most important thing, i think is that they know you care, and will come in and see what is bothering them, but my son now is getting the hang of him having time to self soothe, which he is starting to do now. I think babies need to be weaned onto it slowly. So I would nurse him 5 min. before bed and than put him down without nursing for hte first time

My son stopped taking it in his 9th month.

My daughter was taking it until now and she is 19 month old.

Ninth month is about the time, the babies are teething , plus they are sitting up, crawling and maybe even walking.

What might help is if you give your son something to eat just before he sleeps, something filling, so that it will be easy for him to go to sleep. The mid night nursing session will continue... as that is out of habit plus it is comforting to the baby.

Try giving him some water or again something to eat for the day naps too, as it is important to self soothe atleast during the day.

You cna try using OraGel or some homeopathic medicine for the teething.

Some nights will be tougher than others, but be strong and take cues from your baby, and before you know it, you might actually be missing those special moments :) [I do miss them, but still it is wonderful to see my baby sleep through the night also]

There's nothing wrong with him nursing to sleep. Its very very normal and what he needs. When he is ready he will go to sleep by himself.

Both my children nursed to sleep and it never caused any problems. It wasnt a mess. And so I had calm babies that were able to fall asleep. If breast is what they need then so be it. They learn to 'self soothe' when they are ready not when we or Dr's think they should.