7 month old refuses to sleep in cot

[Lozzylou1]

Hi.

I feel like I may have “made a rod for my own back” however I have been ebf because my baby point blank refuses a bottle. I resorted to co-sleeping as she never went in her next to me as a newborn.

I would really love to get her in her cot. Sometimes she’ll take naps in there but it’s a hard hard battle.

Is sleep training the only answer? I don’t want to leave her crying in a cot

I wouldn't want to leave her crying either

Have you tried sleeping with the sheets for a couple of nights before putting them on the cot so that her cot smells the same as your bed?

We sleep trained at 6 months but also didn’t want to leave baby crying so we did a kind of gentle method of being in the room with him until he was fully asleep and gradually over the course of a couple of weeks getting further from his crib. We never just left him to cry for ages on his own.
This worked really well for us, but he did already sleep in his Next to Me crib at night (with multiple wake ups and a bit of fuss).
Also, just remember that crying is their only form of communication, so if you change anything they’re used to then they will cry a bit as they’ll be confused about what’s happening or how their routine has changed.
Maybe have a research of different sleep training techniques and see if you think any could work for you.
Make sure baby’s bedroom is appropriate for good sleep - pitch black, white noise if you want, a good temperature, eight night clothing etc.