How to stop 6 month creeping into big bed

[Loulovesummer]

hi all

as title says ….

DD is 6 months. Used to be fine sleeping through but over the last few weeks has become really reliant on getting in bed with me.

sadly she does have a dummy (was told to give her one By peads due to reflux issues as a newborn) which does make my life hard. She wakes up realises it’s not there and then starts whimpering until I put it back in!!

however what I’ve noticed lately is that she wakes up getting upset wanting to come in with me. I fight it through most of the night and just keep settling her back down but by around 4am I’m so exhausted I just cave and put her in with me. She goes back off no problems there, but it’s the dependency on getting in with me that concerns me. Now she’s older I don’t like that it’s becoming a habit.

anyone had the same issue and have any ideas on how to stop the big bed creeper!! lol. If I’m honest she doesn’t go down on her own for naps and is very dependent on me for everything sleep related so not sure if that is the problem here!!

Now she’s older I don’t like that it’s becoming a habit.

She’s only 6 months old, let her sleep with you. Why do you seem intent on making life hard for both of you?

6 months is tiny. You’re warm, safe and comforting to sleep next to.

If she has ever slept through, and if she’s only really fussy from 4am, you have a good sleeper! I’d just go with it.

Co-sleeping, as long as you’re very, very careful can save your sanity and everyone gets some sleep. She is still tiny and wants to sleep next to you because that’s a very natural instinct.

Evidence suggests it's biologically normal for infants to want to be near their mother. We are carrying mammals; not 'pack' mammals. She feels safe, secure, can smell her ma.

Please look at Lullaby'trust website; how to bed share safely if you're thinking this is an option. You'll need to adapt the 'C' position amongst other things, if not already.

She is only 6m. Not big at all.

Agree

She is not ‘getting older’ she is half a year.

our first came into our bed when he woke up until he was 4, then it stopped.

our 2nd is 3, and comes into our bed anytime from 2am - 7am. It will stop in its own time, for now - he wakes up cold and alone and we are his safe place, he can come for a cuddle whenever he likes!

I was you with my first child. Spent hours next to his cot settling him, shushing, patting, moving closer to the door night by night. It worked after 3 weeks so that he stayed in the cot. Then along came a cold and bam back to square one. Then I learnt about the harms of sleep training and felt awful.
My second is now here and I will not be sleep training again. She'll sleep in my bed for as long she she needs to. I haven't got the ability to squander so much of my sleep nightly in an effort to make sleep better when I also have a toddler to run around after. I now understand that leaving a baby to cry is psychologically damaging, even if you're there shushing.

So she's miserable sleeping by herself but goes straight back to sleep when she is close to you because she feels comforted and secure? I honestly don't understand why you want to deny her that.

Thanks all, I’m not against it as in I don’t want her with me, I just don’t like to co sleep out of fear that something bad could happen.
I just don’t think it’s safe personally. I’d much rather her safe in her own bed and learn to sleep that way at night, than something happen in the bed with me.

I know 6 months is young that’s why we contact nap all through the day, but the point I was trying to make in my post was that she has been fine and always slept in her own crib through the night since very young but recently has changed that. If she only wanted to be with me at night from day one I wouldn’t be asking the question.

My daughter came into my bed with her pillow and big Ernie almost every night from when she was 1 until she was about 4. I could never see the point in making a fuss in the middle of the night and disturbing everyone's sleep, and just moved over and let her go back to sleep. When she was ready, she stayed the night in her own room.

Babies change. My son slept wonderfully until 7 months, never had a 4 month regression, I thought I had hit the jackpot. Then BAM overnight at 7m, multiple night wakes for hours despite there being no visible change to naps, eating, development. Lasted 2 months then as I said before, we sleep trained. Illnesses changed sleep again but not as badly. Then he slept well again until BAM overnight at 17m he stopped sleeping again. This time we had learnt our lesson and one parent coslept with him, alternating nights, until that episode passed at 20m. My point is, don't tie yourself in knots wondering, because I did, obsessing over sleep and wake windows and naps. Totally futile in the end and I wish I'd saved us all the hassle and heartache and coslept earlier.

I loved contact napping with mine but did have to start putting them down in their cots for naps at around this age as they wouldn’t sleep well enough day or night if I didn’t. Took a couple of weeks to get them used to cot rather than me, but as soon as I cracked it for daytime naps they were more willing to stay in the cot all night too.

Soon she will be able to find her own dummy too. You can try putting a couple in the cot and using the glow in the dark ones. Mine littlest is 8mo and she can find her own dummy 95% of the time now.

Agree with PP, it sounds like you have a good sleeper so don’t stress too much about it and go with the flow.

I can't really advise because I don't really get the problem. I love having my 9 month old sleep with me, she sleeps better, I sleep better, what's not to like.

What bad thing do you think will happen at 6 months? This risk of SIDS drops massively at this age anyway, if that's your main worry, and if you follow safe sleeping guidelines and plan for cosleeping it's perfectly fine.

I hear you @Chocochoo I couldn't have done the co-sleeping and if I didn't sleep how was I going to work, drive, mind the child etc.

I found moving mine to a bigger sleeping space and putting lots of soothers in the cot bed worked.

Crikey mine's 10 and still does it. Six months is nothing love. She's a baby. It will go fast. Just enjoy it.

Have many dummies she has? I had the same issue around this age, so I kept like 5-7 in my daughter's cot.
Soon, she will be able to put it back to herself, and she won't wake you up.

I don't think you should start co-sleeping (as others suggested) if you have an already good sleeper. It's just a phase, it won't last long.

Are her teeth bothering her? My DD is 5.5 months so still in our room. Some nights she stays in her next to me all night. Some days she wakes at 6am and I bring her in with us as she will go back for at least an hour. Some nights after the 3/4am feed she's in with us. I think the in consistency we have at the moment is due to teething.

6 months is still so young. They are all very different DD1 didn't come in our bed really after 3 months but DD2 is very content and happy in there x