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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

My baby won't sleep anywhere but....

13 replies

rockinmum · 01/09/2008 12:38

with me. She's coming up for a month and we really need to get her sleeping in her cot but she refuses to.

Any tips (think DH is fed up of the spare bed!!!)

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

posieflump · 01/09/2008 12:40

I used to b/f to sleep then lower into moses basket gingerly and used a dummy if lo would take it , if the sucking motion contiued so did the sleeping
also spent a lot of time cuddling and sleeping togther
get dh to do this as well so you can feed, pass to dh and then get some sleep yourself, me and dh used to take it in turns throughout the night

FrannyandZooey · 01/09/2008 12:41

it's fine to carry on sleeping with her if you enjoy it - might need to get a bigger bed though

TrinityRhino · 01/09/2008 12:42

shes four weeks old...or no quite
she still thinks she is part of you

just hold her, rock her, co sleep

solo · 01/09/2008 12:42

It's what they get used to I think. You could bite the bullet and put up with a few nights of objections from baby until she accepts that that is where she sleeps...or get her to sleep and put her in the cot. Why can't Dh sleep in the bed with the two of you? I did it on the occasions that Dp was back for the weekend.

aGalChangedHerName · 01/09/2008 12:44

I slept with all 4 of mine and DH slept in a bed alongside our king size. Carry on with it if you want to. It is easier than getting up 10 or more times a night to settle/feed etc.

Did that for 3 months with ds1 and i was knackered!!

Chooster · 01/09/2008 12:45

The things that worked for me was to make sure DS was wrapped in a sheet / blanket / sleeping bag if the baby is big enough, then lay them down very gently into the cot and keep the pressure of your hands on the baby for a little while - i.e dont try to slide your hands out straight away. If your DD can feel you (I find it really worked if I put my hand across the side of my DS's head / face) then maybe she will feel safer? Heartbeat sounds can also help, there are little bears you can get with play the sound of a heartbeat so it sounds familiar to your LO.

1 month is still so young though, so dont stress too much. Both my DS's have needed cuddles and have only been happy initially sleeping on me / DH... they do change.

CatIsSleepy · 01/09/2008 12:49

dd was like this for both naps and night-time and generally woke up if I tried sneaking her into the moses basket
then around 9 weeks or so we tried again with the moses basket and she was fine
so it's early days yet

zebedee1 · 01/09/2008 13:25

early days, but you could try popping a hot water bottle in her cot for a bit to warm it up before you put her in, she is probably used to your body heat.
Or you could carry on co sleeping, I found DS slept best like that for the first few weeks and no you won't create a rod for your own back, as catissleepy says, they do go in their cot in their own time.

angel1976 · 01/09/2008 14:01

I agree that it's early days... You will be surprised at how much difference a little time can make. Tried to put DS in a cot at 3 months old (screamed like nothing you have heard everytime he is put it in and he 'knows' even when he is sleeping!). At 4 months, we had no choice but to put him in a cot as we travelled long haul to see my parents overseas and couldn't take Amby with us. Day 1 and he went into the travel cot fine! Mind you, the travel cot was much smaller than our full size cot/bed. He came back 3 weeks later and went straight into a cot with little problem (other than a few unsettled nights) and now sleeps happily in there! Give it time... I was so paranoid he was never going to sleep in a cot but the reality was he just needed time!

JoyS · 01/09/2008 14:10

Swaddling works for us, just wrap her arms up so she can't move them.

Naetha · 01/09/2008 14:21

DS was exactly the same until he was about 10 weeks old, and if he's feeling off colour (he's 8mo now) he'll still only sleep on me.

Swaddling helped a lot, other than that it was just a case of remembering the mantra - "this too shall pass".

And it will, and you'll look back on those times wistfully when your baby just lay there, and didn't try to pull your face off, throw himself backwards, headbutt you etc

Grassy08 · 01/09/2008 19:32

Thank god I read this. I've been trying to put my 3 wk old into the moses basket at night. She seemed ok when I brought her back from hospital but now is impossible to settle - I must stop reading all those stupid books that say what babies should be like by 3 weeks and look for real mums advice instead. I'm going to bring her into the bed with us tonight as I know she'll be much happier

sasamax · 08/09/2008 17:42

DS slept in my bed until he was 1 - altho I had an armsreach cot, I was far too lazy to put him into it in middle of night. I spent so much time stressing about how I would get him into cot that I forgot to just enjoy sleeping with my baby. Now with DD (12 wks), I am not even trying to get her into cot - just enjoying this close time and staying nice and cosy. Armsreach very handy to prevent falling-out risk mind you. There is time enough to move her when she's a bit bigger.
Co-sleeping rules - just relax and enjoy it!

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