Breaking our Co sleeping habit! Help!

[Hmw1982]

Hi :) I wanted some advice as I feel like I'm being really cruel :(

I started Co sleeping with my daughter when she was around 5 weeks old as I breastfed exclusively and it was just sooo much easier. Now she's nearly 17 weeks and has started waking up every hour (if not more frequently) she's not even hungry she just half heartedly sucking on boob for comfort :(. I'm exhausted beyond belief and she must be quite tired too, so last week I put her cot up in our room to try and give us both space to sleep. She always feeds to sleep too... Ekk.

Anyway I fed her to sleep and then transferred her into her cot where she slept for only 20 minutes before waking and crying. I left it a few minutes and went in to talk to her, then left it again. After 40 minutes she was asleep. She's now waking up every half an hour or so, crying for around 2 minutes max and then dropping off. Is she just getting used to her cot? Am I damaging her in some way? I feel awful and want to bring her to bed but I'm so tired I don't feel safe driving or anything.

Any advice is welcome xx

[allypally1983]

When our daughter was around 5.5 months we put her in a crib in her own room and at the same time stopped dummy, rocking to sleep, white noise...all the crutches that we had been using to get her to sleep. The first night it took about 40 mins for her to sleep then she woke about 4 times in the night and settled again after about 20/30 mins. From then on it got shorter and shorter until after about 5 days, she settled on her own and slept thru from 7-7. I think you're doing fine, it was the best thing we ever did. She slept well and so did we, we were all happy and rested. Stick with it, she'll be fine

[allypally1983]

By the way, she's now 2 1/2 and has been sleeping great since

[Hmw1982]

Thank you! She settled really well after her 3am feed and slept till 8.30! And tonight she went down without a whimper and has stayed asleep in her cot for 3 hours now.. I can't quite believe it! :) xx

[allypally1983]

That's great to hear. It makes such a difference all round when you all sleep soundly. Well done, I hope it lasts x