Getting newborn to sleep in cot

[abadoo]

DC2 (1 month old) simply refuses to lie down on her back. She doesn't seem overly refluxy and I have been winding her after feeds (she's breastfed) but within 5 mins of being put down in her bassinet (next to me) or her cot (in her room) she's up again wailing. I've been resorting to co-sleeping and she usually ends up on her side, peacefully sleeping a couple of hours at a time.

Any hints and tips to get her to sleep in her cot would be hugely appreciated. I'd like my bed back!

[PisforPeter]

Aw, she is so young, I wouldn't expect her to be in her own room yet

[PisforPeter]

Elevate the head of bassinet slightly in case she has silent reflux, hopefully will improve with time. I like the concept that the early days are 'the fourth trimester'

[abadoo]

Thanks. I like that concept too. Still no progress but I guess I will just ride it out for a bit longer

[Highlove]

Think it's pretty normal, if exhausting. We took shifts on the sofa till my dd was about six weeks - she just wouldn't be put down, no matter how fast asleep she seemed to be. Eventually I gave in and co-slept for another month or two and we all got more sleep that way.

[ThinkIveBeenHacked]

I have ds in a crib next to my bed and I swaddle him to make him feel snug, and find if he gets upset, my hand rested on his chest usually sends him off to sleep - coild you lay in your bed and pop your hand into the basket onto her chest?

[SellMySoulForSomeSleep]

My DD only slept on her side. Being on her back really annoyed her. she grew out of it by 12 ish weeks. I just did whatever worked. She had colic. Could it possibly be that?

[TheJourney22]

My DS only slept on his side next to me for 5 Months!

Ride it out .... It will change.

I'm a fan of 4th trimester.

So tiny. They still think they are attached to you

[LavalavalavaLamp]

Dd was like this, I put an awful lot of effort into getting her to sleep in her Moses basket, then her cot. Looking back I think it was wasted energy and I should have been more patient but anyway a few things that were eventually successful; putting her down on her side, resting my hand on her for ten minutes or so, or longer if I drifted off. This morphed into putting her down on her front and rubbing her back and shushing a little. She's poorly and having a bit of a regression at the moment (8 months) but for a while I could just breastfeed her to sleep, plop her down in her cot on her front and walk out.

[ALittleFaith]

Ah Velcro baby, yes, I had one of these! I would have a cotton sheet under DD while she was feeding and could then transfer her most of the time into her Moses basket. It's the shock of the cold sheet that seemed to wake her up.

[HappydaysArehere]

My grandson would only sleep in a car seat when he was newborn. It sloped back and he looked really comfortable. He just wouldn't settle in his lovely little cot. This went on for several weeks. It sorts itself out.

[Gennz]

I am by no means an expert as my DS is only 8 days old! But he had developed an aversion to the moses basket which I thought might be him not liking sleeping on his back, and particularly seemed to want to sleep on us at about 4 in the morning. My sister who is a more seasoned parent than me pointed out that the blankets we were using probably weren't warm enough, we hadn't put him in warm enough clothes, and that as the temperature drops at 4am he probably really wanted our body warmth (not neccesarily to be on us or to front sleep). I really didn't want to get in the habit of co-sleeping (though he is in the same room as us).

He's now in a merino onesie & footed leggings under a thick cotton sleep suit (as opposed to a shortie cotton onesie and sleep suit), we've swapped out a thin merino shawl for a thick wool cot blanket (plus the cotton blankets we had on before), we have the heater on low with room temp at constant 21 degrees, and we warm the moses basket with a wheat bag before he goes into it. So far he's gone into it quite happily, no 4am protests for a couple of nights now and no initial settling and then screams 5 minutes later. (Though he is currently waking to feed every 2 hours but that's another story...)

[Gennz]

I was so paranoid about over-heating him I froze him instead! Poor baby.