just wanted to post some progress made on the 'gentle removal' technique.

every removal would bring my ds more and more into consciousness, until he was wide awake & wouldn't settle again. i now remove my nipple by very gently pressing, easing my finger into the skin next to the nipple to very slowly break the seal. it makes less of a sudden 'suck' sound. not for the faint 'nipple' hearted if your wee one has teeth, but i've only been caught once (once is plenty enough though). also i hold my finger under his chin & apply a small amount of pressure while i'm removing the nipple (a third hand would be really handy here, but it's possible), this seems to reduce the 'empty mouth' feeling for him too.
i think the sudden sound & empty mouth was half the problem. it used to take me up to an 1hr to get my nipple out. now it usually takes one go. he used to root around and open his eyes.
i'm jumping around a bit here, but i also leave my finger under his chin for a couple of minutes and apply more pressure each time i feel his suck reflex. you can feel it slow down and lessen.

hopes this helps someone.

love&light

more improvement!
so, i had created the 'sneaky' way of doing the removal technique and everything was going well, but i was moving further and further away from helping him to learn how to fall asleep on his own (i was so desperate, i did what i had to do to survive). so one night i got brave. things couldn't have gotten worse this night, so i decided to experiment. he always rooted so much after i removed my nipple that he would wake himself up or i would very quickly stick my nipple or a finger back in, but every now and then in the middle of the night he would root for a few seconds, then relax. so i've just started trying to wait a tiny bit longer before helping him. exactly like what ep says about 'waking sounds' and 'sleeping sounds'. sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but he is starting to be more and more ok with being pulled off. this morning he slept for 2hrs (almost unheard of) and as i sit here, he is (for the first time in over a month) sleeping through 7:30pm, 8:00pm, 8:30pm and now 9pm!!!!!!!!! (he usually wakes up every half hr until 10:30pm, then every hour or two after that).
so, sometimes it feels 'too brave' and as i say, sometimes i doesn't work and he wakes up, but i feel we're heading in the right direction now.
it has already translated to a couple of naps over an hour.

love&light

Oh my Goodness Love&LIght - that's fantastic news!!

I wanted to respond to another post you sent but I've been busy. I got an angel wrap today but couldn't get thomas to stay in it. Will try tomorrow during the day as he was too tired tonight after no sleep today

Thanks for this post. I am going to try it tomorrow as our breast sleep association is getting worse and we're heading for the "waking every hour at night" thingy. Tonight, woke at 7:30, 8:30, 9:10pm - getting worse and it scares me.

So 1. thanks heaps for your other posts, and 2. thanks for this one as I am going to be brave tomorrow and try it as thomas' naps are becoming shorter and shorter. Night time hasn't been too bad waking at 3am for a feed then through to about 6:30am.

Wish me luck - will let you know.
Sharon