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I suspect she probably wouldn't refuse your boob, even if she wasn't hungry! Lots of babies comfort nurse, so your baby might be doing that. I think I would be concerned with turning her into a snacker - if she nurses both before and after naps, she may get into the habit of only eating a little bit each time she nurses and always need to eat every 1-2 hours, instead of being able to go longer. Though if you don't mind that, then do whatever works for YOU!

You could also try to see an LC and do a weighted feed to find out how much she's eating! Maybe that will give you the peace of mind to know she's not hungry and is just comfort nursing (or not!) and give you better insight into what her needs are!

But if it's not broken, don't fix it! If you're happy with your routine now, keep on doing it!

@lawbee11: She will probably just do it on her own eventually.

We also followed a loose EASY schedule for a long time. Until we sleep/nap trained we did the true EASY routine, but then after training I was so worried she would be hungry and wake quickly that I would nurse before naps but put her down awake (I don't know why I started that!?). This past weekend we went back to EASY and it's been great.
So, anyway, if it works for you now I wouldn't sweat it. She may stretch out her feedings on her own as she grows. I know my LO only started to lengthen the time she went between nursing when she started to become a lot more active during the day, with more fun stuff to distract her from being fussy/hungry.

I would stick with what you are doing. My son liked to nurse before naps too but has always actually put himself to sleep in the crib. That hasn't been a problem for us. DS is almost 14 months old.

It sounds like you're putting her down drowsy which is great. It took us forever to learn this with LO.

I agree with PP's - it sounds like you're doing the right thing and putting her down drowsy. So, technically, you're not nursing to sleep. She might be using you as a little bit of a pacifier, but it doesn't sound like she's depending on it to fall asleep.

@lawbee11: Our bedtime routine at that age was this: nurse, bath or just diaper change, read a couple short stories, turn white noise on, hold and pat back a couple times (hold for like 10 seconds maybe, haha), place in crib (bassinet actually at 11 weeks) and half swaddle (Xander never liked his arms confined, so we just swaddled from chest down), give pacifier (if fussy, often we didn't give him his pacifier), and say "good night, Xander, I love you" and then turn the lights off and leave the room.

Ugh. I would love to get L on a schedule like you have M on!! How did you decide to start? I'm so scared to change what we have going because I don't want to mess with the little sleep we get. And what does your schedule look like? I guess I'm unsure about Schedules...

@scg00387: you have been so helpful to me with my sleep troubles! So, if his last nap ended short, I could bump bedtime up to like, 6:30??

@lawbee11: LO was kind of a lazy eater at the time (not anymore), so he would take maybe 15-20 minutes a side minimum. I think if you start spacing the feedings a bit more, your LO will hopefully take the hint and consume more at each sitting. Since she's only nursing for a very short time and only one side at a time, it really does sound like she's snacking all day long.

I'm not sure about the spitup - J did spit up fairly often (not a lot, but a little spitup maybe with every few feedings), but grew out of it. I think the spitup peaked around 4 months or so then went away. Does she seem bothered by the spitup, or is she a "happy spitter"? If so, it's probably nothing to worry about, or change feeding styles to accommodate (but of course that's just my own experience).

@lawbee11: Hahahaha I know what you mean, LO still does that at 12 months! And he always looks surprised too. Luckily he always stops before he actually spits up.

@lawbee11: our girls sound similar with feedings! We are definitely on an EAESY schedule here too. L eats within a few mins of awaking for 5-10 mins and then I nurse her to sleep for 10 mins or so before naps and bed time. She's only awake during day for about an hour at a time but it's slowly increasing. She also spits up all the time, but is happy like M is after the spit up.
I'm just starting to think about how to go about not nursing to sleep. When M took her naps a couple days ago without nursing, what did you do differently? Just didn't nurse? Rock her or sing? I'm so scared to try to eliminate the nurse to sleep. L is a great sleeper for naps and STTN so I don't want to lose that! Usually she starts getting fussy around the one hour mark so we go to her room, read, swaddle, turn on white noise, nurse, then I place her in crib.

L is 11 weeks. When did everyone stop nursing to sleep? Should I try naps without nursing first? My biggest concern is come march my SO is taking parental leave for 12 weeks while I go back to work for rest of school year. I want him to be able to put her down for naps ok. She will be 7 months then.

I think what you're doing sounds fantastic! If she is hungry or wants the comfort and cuddles go for it because what you're doing seems to be working nicely. We did EASY but then nursed to sleep/ rocked to sleep at bedtime for the majority of my LOs life. Now at 14 months we sometimes rock to sleep sometimes put down sleepy but awake (she self weaned at 13 months and had no trouble transitioning to not having the session at night.) i try to let her call the shots! Don't listen to those doom sayers when you hear "your baby will never sleep through" or "your baby will never nap". There are no absolutes with baby sleep and your LO will do things when they are good and ready.