Sleep training help for 6 month old!

[Member828886]

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice! I have a three year old who is a terrible sleeper and as such we have let her co-sleep with us since she was about 1 (I was returning to work by this point and gave up trying to get her in her cot as I just wanted to sleep!) We now have a 6 month old. I fear we are heading down a similar route as we have been co-sleeping with him too. We put both down to bed at the same time and she will sleep for a few hours before coming to our bed. He (6 month old) has started waking half an hour after we put him down so I spend my evenings repeatedly settling him, before giving in and getting him out of the cot and letting him sleep on me and then bringing him into our bed. The most he has ever slept in the cot in one go is about 3 hours but that seems to be a distant memory! I'm happy to feed him at night and have no expectations that he should sleep through but I would really love him to sleep in his cot for more than 30 minutes! My husband and I have no time together in the evenings now and I'd really like some couple time back. Eventually, I'd like to crack DD but I think DS is the best one to tackle first. Does anyone have any tips and ideas on getting him to settle in his cot and what the best sleep training methods might be? I'm not sure I can handle prolonged periods of crying! I was thinking gradual withdrawal or pick up put down might be the way to go? And do I begin at bedtime or during the day for naps- naps at the moment only happen in car/pram as he won't go in the cot in the day either!!
He is mainly breastfed but has a bottle before bed. He'll take a dummy now and then.
Sorry this is a bit long.

[FATEdestiny]

How about a sidecar cot? You can remove one side off any standard cotbed and it will be stable 3-sided. Wedge it up to your bed and you can then do the settling whilst in your bed, but while keeping baby in the cot.

[Member828886]

Thanks - that's not a bad idea and would definitely give us some more room in our very cramped bed! The only thing is at the moment it would be a case of getting him to sleep and then very, very slowly moving him off and down so he doesn't wake. How can I start to make him laying in the cot without a boob in his face more appealing?! Or just getting him to stay asleep for a slightly longer stretch once I have moved him off of me?

[FATEdestiny]

The obvious answer for a ducky baby is the dummy, so keep working on that.

Then it's just patience. Are you in a massive rush to sort this quickly?

I'd start off feeding to sleep in the side car cotbed. You should be easily able to lean in from your bed to do this. Then when asleep extract nipple and see if you can get dummy in. Stay exactly where you were but with the dummy on baby's mouth rather than nipple. A firm hand on chest/shoulder helps reaffirm your presence. Wait there, check baby settles. Then sneek out ninja style.

Over time, very gradually, make the point when you swap nipple for dummy earlier. But always stay to reassure and settle after the dummy is in. Don't make the dummy swap the last thing you do before seeking out. The aim is it becomes the first thing you do, then settle in cot with dummy.

[FATEdestiny]

Ducky? Sucky

[Member828886]

Thanks for the tips-I will start giving this a go and seeing if it works! Not in a huge rush- if I could get it sorted by the time I return to work in about May that would be perfect and will hopefully be enough time for him to decide he actually does like sleeping in his cot! When we eventually get around to trying to crack my daughter's sleep do you have any ideas? I keep talking about her sleeping in her own room but she starts crying and says she is scared of monsters so I feel terrible