Squashed against cot on a night…

[CJ98]

My daughter is 10 month old and has been in her cot for the last few months in her own room. We put her to the bottom of her cot every night but wakes up half way through the night with her head squashed against the top of the cot. We bought a bed bumper to go around the top of her cot to try and stop her from banging her head but when she’s moving during the night it’s not protecting her the way we wanted… Does anyone have any recommendation on what I can do to stop her from banging her head.

Please do look up the safety around bed bumpers. They could cause a much worse safety hazard than her bumping her head.

Please take the bumper out - they just aren't safe. Babies get tangled in them and trapped. She'll get used to the shape of her cot, you'll just have to reposition her a few times.

It’s totally frustrating when they move around like this but, like most things with DC, it will stop.

I do agree with the others though. You need to get rid of the cot bumper straightaway.

DO NOT USE A BUMPER. They are not safe and increase the risk of SIDS. If you have to reposition baby then do. They will grow out of it. Are they in anyway upset by being up against the cot?

https://www.lullabytrust.org.uk/baby-safety/safer-sleep-information/keeping-a-clear-cot/

Does she have a sleeping bag? x

Just want to update and say I forgot to mention but we did remove the bed bumper months ago and haven’t used it since as we realised it wasn’t safe for her.

She has a sleep sack that we use every so often. We stopped using it during the warm weather we’ve just had as she was getting too warm.

she screams on a night when she’s squashed against the cot. It doesn’t matter how many times we reposition her she goes back to the top within minutes if not hours.

Is she crawling yet @CJ98?

No bumpers! They pose a far greater risk than banging her head on the cot. If it’s just how you’re finding her in the mornings that’s a complete non issue- if she was bothered she’d be crying over night. If it’s disturbing her and therefore your sleep then try a travel cot until this phase passes since they have soft sides. Using a sleeping bag instead of loose covers if you’re not already- they’re safer and will travel around with her because it’s really very normal for them to move all over the cot at that age.

X posted. Use a travel cot then. Do not use a bumper. How they’re even still sold here I don’t know, they’re banned in the US and Canada (probably other places too) which tells you how dangerous they are to babies.

The other option (which worked great for both of mine who have never slept in a cot) is a gate on the door and a mattress on the floor. If she rolls out she just plops on the floor, no biggie.

She’s more sliding backwards than crawling. Bum up in the air and then she’s pushing backwards.

It sounds like she’s working on crawling then and this is an annoying phase but should pass soon.

If I remember rightly learning to roll, learning to crawl and learning to walk can all through sleep out as they want to keep practicing those new skills.

Bit of a bugger for you though when you’re going through it

Does it make her upset when it happens?

She’s recently just learnt to roll over, crawl & pulling herself up within the space of a week so it’s been a bit of a stressful time when she’s waking multiple times during the night.

She screams multiple times during the night when it happens. Last night she had me up at 12:30, 2, 4, 5am and then 6am. Both of us are absolutely exhausted with the lack of sleep where getting and when both me and my partner are working sometimes being up from 6am it’s becoming exhausting.

Oh sounds dreadful. Could you move her onto a floor mattress? Then at least she’d bump her head on the wall and not bars. At this age mine went through a phase of flinging her legs around in the sleep sack and wriggling loads. Total nightmare

Travel cot is the answer. Recommend the Red Kite one if you don't have one - cheap, relatively compact and takes one minute to put up and down.

Oh goodness that’s no good for any of you is it. It does sound like a phase that will pass as it’s coinciding with all these new movement skills she’s learning. Could you safely do a floor bed, or a travel cot, temporarily? I think they might be your only real options.
you could also try the sleep sacks again? I just ordered today 0.5 tog ones (the weight of a thin sheet) and then place baby in correct clothing for room temperature.

How are you both getting on now @CJ98?

I think we’ve just come to terms with the fact she’s going to wake herself up by moving up the cot as it’s what happens around this age 😂🤦🏼‍♀️

We had to have one end of my eldest’s mattress raised to help with GERD.

Might this help?

She’s always been one of those babies that prefers to head to be tilted slightly (she doesn’t like laying flat) but found that this wasn’t helping either

I don't have advice but my 8 month old does this occasionally. He's currently working really hard on trying to learn to crawl too. That being said, he wakes up just as much, often even more than your baby during the night for totally unrelated reasons, usually wanting milk. So the poor sleep might have been there anyway in fairness to your baby! I'm sure this phase will pass soon. Travel cot could be worth a try though?