Interesting development with 7mo old cot refuser!

[HugoTheHippo]

DD hates her cot. For a few months now she has been sleeping in her pram at night (were co-sleeping, but it wasn't working for any of us) and still waking regularly, feeding through the night, needing rocking, etc. Last weekend DH and I agreed to make a focused effort to get her to settle in cot which is what we have been doing for last five days - getting her used to it in the day time, then sitting with her at night, comforting her, etc.

Anyway, it has NOT been working, and actually each night has been getting steadily worse; she gets so upset she makes herself sick and I've been concerned she's been developing sleep anxieties that weren't there before.

So last night, after reading a few random articles, we decided to put her cot mattress straight on the floor, and... it worked!!!!

It's only been one night so I don't want to get ahead of myself but although she did wake a few times at first, she quickly went to sleep again even (whisper it) self settling on several occasions. She also went longer between feeds. We put a single mattress alongside the cot mattress so we could lie down to comfort her or in case she rolled out, which she did once, but it was a better night than we've had in a while and MUCH better than trying to get her into the cot.

We are hopeful this could be the answer and will crack on with baby-proofing her room asap, but I wondered if anyone else had stories of success doing this?

[KikiShack]

Not done this myself but just wanted to say good idea and tentative congratulations, and hope it continues to work for you!

[MsSharpe]

I have friends who've always gone from co-sleeping to a mattress on the floor and it's worked really well for them. Their 3yo still sleeps on the floor, just with some futon bars underneath to make it more solid.

Well done, hope it works for you!

[Kittymalinky]

I'm totally trying this when I finally pluck up the courage to oust my cosleeper

[HugoTheHippo]

Well, it's not been perfect, but it is definitely still going better than the cot attempts! She does still stir and wake herself up but it definitely feels like progress and we've not used the pram again yet.