# Anyone have a Pantley-Pull-Off success??



## Jane456 (Jan 24, 2008)

My first son nursed to sleep until 22 months when he weaned on his own. It was exhausting, and despite a variety of different sleep strategies, nothing seemed to change him. It was just who he was.

My 4-month-old daughter is threatening to follow the same path and I am just so tired of it all. Really, tired of finding a quiet activity for my 2.5 yr old to do for the 30-40 minutes it takes her to really, really fall asleep (after trying 17 times to pull away and her flailing and looking for the nipple and re-inserting and nursing yet again, until she's dead asleep) and him coming in 43 times to tell me he needs a new book, waking her up, and making me frustrated at both of them. Honestly, if I had all the time in the world (and nipples of steel) I'd love nothing more than to lie with her and nurse her and enjoy just being with her. But I don't, and I am resenting it, and I get short and cranky with her which definitely isn't fair to either of us.

So I'm re-reading my NCSS, thinking I'll give it a go one more time... But really, has it EVER truly worked for anyone? I searched the boards - and I see a lot of people trying it, a lot of people saying they gave up and just nursed-to-sleep. Is it even worth trying or is there effectively no proven success rate??


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## Cartesia (Mar 26, 2008)

I think I MIGHT be having some success.....
My babe is 13 weeks and has never been easy to settle. We were nursing to sleep for, oh, 40-120 minutes, which is how long it took him to fully fall asleep. I had tried the Pantley Pull Off but to no avail, since my LO could probably root his way through a steel door....

Then I re-read the section and noticed that she suggested to repeat the pull-off every 10-60 seconds. I was waiting a lot longer b/c I know it takes my LO such a long time to drop off. So, I was pulling off, he would protest, I'd give him back the nipple and then wait 2-5 minutes before trying again, hoping he would be deeper asleep. Didn't work. So, this past week I have been doing it EXACTLY the way she described and guess what? After 3 or 4 nights of a gazillion pull offs, he is now down to one or two and we are only nursing about 20 minutes at bedtime. Even better, I can pull him off in one or two tries for all his night nursing, instead of the 7 or 8 it used to take. Could be a coincidence, could be that he is a little older, who knows, but maybe its working??
Also, it seems like Pantley suggest to pull off when they are drowsy, not all the way asleep....NO WAY will that work for us right now....I'm counting it as a major success that he can fall asleep and then stay asleep when I pull him off. I just can't imagine this baby EVER falling asleep without major parenting but again, who knows.

I would be very interested to hear if anyone else had success with NCCS.


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## EzzysMom (Mar 24, 2008)

I have had moderate success, it has made going to sleep/bedtime much better. She will nurse for a time and then she will actually just stop and roll away, or accept that I stop her when I just can't take it anymore. Then I just sit next to her and wait until she hasn't moved for 60 seconds and then I can leave and go have my evening.

Naps are another story, I can't get her to stop nursing then lately unless I've got her napping in the car or stroller.


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## Cartesia (Mar 26, 2008)

Oh yeah, I forgot to add that it really helps when I sit up right after pulling him off. I used to try to ease the transition super slow but I guess the heat-seeking babe needs a little more space to be able to conk out.

I wanted to sleep snuggled with him but he seems to sleep much better a few feet away from me. So, I took the side off a crib, raised it to the same level as our bed, bungee corded the heck out of it & now DS sleeps on a flat, heavy quilt that starts in the bed & then once he's out I scoot it into the crib, then scoot it back to nurse whenever he wants. Seems to work & I sleep better when his very active flopping around is on his own mattress.

My NCSS success seems to be that the pull-off is much easier but I'm not sure it helps him with staying asleep. Although last night I THINK he settled himself from a big waking...I'm not totally sure - I usually wake up right before he wants to nurse but last night one time I was actually deep asleep and I woke to hear him make his pre-crying grunts. I honestly can't remember if he then nursed or if he just fell back asleep but I think he fell asleep b/c my left breast was fuller for the next feeding & that would have been he one he nursed on....

I enjoy nursing at night but I do have a sense that he is sometimes frustrated with not being able to fall asleep when he wants to. Sometimes he pulls off on his own & seems to try to settle into sleep and then cries a when he can't. He will go back on the nipple then, but a little reluctantly. I don't have an agenda for him to be an "independent sleeper" but I do want to give him the opportunity to develop whatever he is trying to develop.

So far I like NCSS because it can be flexible and creative. I don't do any of the charting b/c that would drive me nuts. Mostly I think it is about gentle persistence and keeping an open mind about what is possible for the LO at any given moment, which is always gonna change!

Right now my DS will only nap if I wear him and bounce continuously on a birth ball....that's what I'm doing right now, in fact!....so, following the NCSS nap book, I am gradually decreasing the amount of bouncing that it takes for him to fall/stay asleep. It does seem to be working.

Also, he cries a little before falling asleep for naps. It is about 5-10 minutes of non-escalating protesty cries and then he conks out. He does this in my arms, in the sling etc. I found out that if I started bouncing in VERY specific (and exhausting) ways - like super slow (not easy) or super jiggly (also not easy) - he would stop crying BUT he needed that specific motion to continue at every vulnerable part of his sleep cycle or he would wake. Up until 12 weeks I just bounced in whatever ridiculous way it took for him to not cry. Sleep when the baby sleeps? Ha! I was doing aerobics when the baby slept. So this mama made a commitment to herself that it is not OK to keep losing weight scary fast by "napping" the baby. Now I continue to bounce him in the sling but I refuse to do more than a fairly gentle bounce. Guess what? The LO is adjusting and I can actually type while he naps for the first time. My dream would be for him to nap in the sling while I am NOT in constant motion or perhaps to nap in a baby hammock (we have one, but so far he's not a fan). The NCSS nap book offers suggestions for babies who will only sleep in motion or babies who will only sleep in a sling, but mine combines both and I'm not sure how it will change.


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