Transition from crib to cot - advice desperately needed!

[Daisywho]

DD is 8 months old. We’ve just moved her into her cot (still in our room) and in the space of a week her sleep has regressed MASSIVELY. She had been sleeping 5/6hour stretches since she was about 4 months, and more recently was sleeping for about 10-11 hours in total with one night feed in the middle, a long feed but easily settled again afterwards.

Since moving into her cot I don’t think she’s gone longer than 2 hours - sometimes she is up every half an hour. Old habits are starting to resurface eg she now screams as soon as she feels herself being lowered onto the mattress and needs hours of holding and rocking before she can be put down - she hasn’t done that since she was about 8 weeks old!

She likes her cot and plays happily in it when awake, it’s just playing havoc with her sleep. Is there any way I can make this easier for her? (And us?!) I’m back to getting 2 hours’ sleep a night and finding it difficult to function like that with an active 8mo.

Have you got a sleepy head? You can take the sausage out and put that around the edge to make her feel more secure.

And also, I wouldn't allow her to play in a space that's meant for sleep

Yeah, I meant she plays happily in it at 3am when she’s meant to be sleeping! So in that sense she’s not unhappy with the new surroundings.

My HV is very anti-Sleepyhead and insists they go against the safe sleep guidelines so we’ve never had one of those either.

I think that separation anxiety is a massive issue between 8-10 months, as this is when I tried to move DS over and it just didn't take. All of the same issues.

Instead, I waited for just after his first birthday and tried again and it made life so much easier. Does she have a dummy? Or a favourite comforter? Maybe she needs something extra to start associating her cot with sleep.

Ah that’s interesting cranberry - I did read that they sometimes have an 8 month sleep regression, that’s quite common apparently. I don’t know if I would call it separation anxiety though as she’s still in our room in the same place, just in a cot instead of a crib - can the cot really make that much difference and turn a decent sleeper into a newborn again?!

*Yeah, I meant she plays happily in it at 3am when she’s meant to be sleeping! So in that sense she’s not unhappy with the new surroundings.

My HV is very anti-Sleepyhead and insists they go against the safe sleep guidelines so we’ve never had one of those either.*

Oooohhhh at 3am....

There's nowt wrong with a sleepyhead for gawd's sake

I never had a sleepy head but we tightly rolled a towel to put around the bottom of the cot to make DD feel more enclosed when she moved on from the Moses basket and regressed. If you're moving your DD because she's too big for the crib then she may feel a bit lost in the space of a cot

A large muslin that you tuck under your clothes for a day or so (to catch your scent) then placed over the cot matress and tucked in (baby goes on top) may help.

Yes 8 month sleep regression has been bad for all the babies I know. Ours was awful. We introduced a comforter and soft toy at that stage for DC to cuddle up to. Also did the rolled towel at the foot end to make cot feel smaller.