Up until a couple of weeks back Syd has been in a bedside cot. This has worked well, he is right next to me, but we all have enough room.
Except that since he started getting about a few months back I have been unable to put him to bed until I go up for fear of him crawling across our bed and falling out, meaning he has been falling asleep downstairs with us and snoozing on the sofa.
The last few weeks tho he wakes up after a certain amount of time and will not settle until he is in bed. Which is fair enough- but I don't want to go to bed at ten-ish every night. So I put the side back on his cot and moved it away from the bed. Brilliant. Except he won't sleep in it now. So we have been three in the bed for a couple of weeks, and it's frankly a bit annoying for all of us.
It's too hot and too small.
After the fourth night of waking up with more of me hanging over the side than on the mattress while the baby sleeps sideways, I decided to take action. He WILL go to sleep in his bed!! It's a double issue because he has also been feeding to sleep. I may be mad to try and tackle both at once- but in for a penny!
I lasted about two 3 minute sessions of letting him cry. I don't like it. And nor does he. Those of you who have succeeded I take my hat off to you , I am a total wuss. Instead I sat next to the cot. He was still crying, but cross instead of distraught. I don't mind that so much! After a few minutes he settled down a bit, although it took 45 minutes before he actually went to sleep. Not too bad for a first attempt! He did have a spell back in our bed in the middle of the night, but I managed to shift him back into cot at about 4 where he stayed until this morning.
Am determined to be more stubborn than him for once, and hopefully within the next week or two he will settle more easily. Do you have good sleepers? Do you have any tips for me of is it just a case of stick with it?
Love Miss sleeping like a starfish Cisco xxx
We had great success with the sleep training until the wee fella started teething - it is amazing how abruptly the crying would stop and sleep take over.
ReplyDeleteSaying that we still bring him into our bed if he wakes up (and cries) around the 3am / 4am mark.
As he is normally wanting to be on the go from 6am it is not so much of a stretch!
Best wishes.
Hey, I could never let mine cry though although sometimes now I wish I had, I think it would maybe have done us all more favours in the long run. Easier said than done now! When I've had things like this I've just had to persevere. Somebody told me once if you do something 3 times it becomes routine , not quite true but kind of! Good luck, sorry I don't have more useful advice, I am no sleep training queen, am currently struggling to keep my 2 half year old to stay in her new bed!! x
ReplyDeleteHi honey. Really don't know if this would work with Syd as I think all babies seem to take to different stuff. Is he still having naps in the daytime? I started H off sleeping on her own in the cot just for nap time. Easier to get used to if it goes awry during the day than at 3am. I used to sit in the room with H until she went to sleep while she got used the cot as I didn't like the idea of her crying either. So if she cried while I was in the room at all I'd pick her up and comfort her straight away and put her back down until she got the idea. Used to wait until she could barely keep her eyes open before popping her in the cot which helped. As time passed and she got more used to it I'd put her in more and more awake. Took about a week and a bit for her to get used to it but can get to sleep alone in her cot fine now even though some nights in the beginning I was in her room for 45mins or more each night. Helped her sleep better through the night too. Not a peep out of her now with the exception of times when she is teething and sometimes needs a cuddle or two in our bed to settle her. Just do whatever you think is best and don't let anyone tell you different. You know Syd best after all! Wishing you lots of luck on your mission. You'll do great. XXXX
ReplyDeleteOh dear... So our little man sleeps in our bed and falls asleep feeding too... I'm dreading the day when I have to move him out... He's such a terrible sleeper that until he's sleeping through or only waking 1-2 a night it's just not worth it for me. Then again I thin kcould we be waking him up so much? Ugh! This sleep malarky...
ReplyDeleteSounds very like the hap-hazard method I used with all of mine. I have 2 that sleep through and 2 that wake in the night but settle back easily so I'd say stick at it.
ReplyDeleteThe wise words of my husband were that they won't be in our bed at 14 and so far it looks as though he's right - best of luck! xx