6.5 month old suddenly refusing next to me crib, only sleeps in bed

[BusyLizzie21]

Hi all,

I’m going through a bit of a difficult patch with my 6.5 month old who is suddenly refusing to sleep in his next to me crib but will quite happily sleep in bed with me.

For some background - he went through the four month sleep regression and we had about three weeks where he woke every hour. We used the pick up put down method - this worked really quickly to help him settle in the crib at the beginning of the night and after about three weeks he was able to connect sleep cycles. We then went through a lovely patch of good sleep where he was waking for just one feed a night and sleeping in the crib really well.

He is still in the crib in our room. This weekend was really busy as we had his christening so his naps weren’t great, I thought maybe over tiredness could be contributing to bad sleep. He had a good day of naps yesterday though and still a bad night. With difficulty, I settled him in the crib at the beginning of the night, he slept in there for two hours then woke up and eventually started crying. I tried to settle him into the crib again but he screamed every time I put him back down. I fed him and tried to put him back down again and he screamed. He is breastfed. We ended up co sleeping and he slept fine just waking up for one feed. It’s like he’s suddenly developed an aversion to the crib.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar. Could it be teething? Separation anxiety? Just a phase? I find co sleeping really uncomfortable and would rather he be in the crib though it seems like the only way to all get some sleep at the moment!

Thanks - and sorry for the long post!

I don't think you can work anything out with data from just one night. If you want him in the crib just keep trying. Make sure there's nothing that could be making him uncomfortable (wet patch, rough sheets, a hair on the sheets etc.)

maybe prefers the room in the bed. Try him in his own crib rather than the next to me.

At 6.5 months, unless particularly small, he must surely have nearly outgrown the next to me? At that age they want more space to move around at night and the confined space of the next to me doesn't provide the same comforts it once did.

He's likely too big for the next to me now, try a bigger cot

Agree baby is likely too big and doesn't have enough room.

Had similar with my 2nd who was a very good sleeper but then waking randomly around 6 months. We'd been away so she'd had the taste of freedom in a bigger travel cot and just did not have the space in the side sleeper back at home.

Or it's just one of those random phases that you can't work out what's upsetting them & they revert back to normal!

Thanks for your replies everyone.
We moved him out of the next to me and into a cot for the past two nights. He’s still sleeping in our room, I don’t feel ready to move him just yet.
The first night he managed three hours in the cot and last night he managed two. His nose was blocked last night though so I’m wondering whether he’s been coming down with a cold for the last few days which is why he’s not wanted to sleep on his own. Who knows - we shall see.

It’s chaos theory at this age sadly when it comes to sleep! Hope he was a bit run down and he settles back down. Could be teeth coming in. Maybe he is going through a growth spurt and hungrier than usual.

just do whatever is easiest to get you all through it. Mine are all in primary school now and advice when eldest was born 10 years ago was to be strict, do cry it out etc. I hated every minute of it. If I were to have a baby now they would most likely be in the bed with me during difficult patches. Quite honestly I find it weird babies are meant to spend hours and hours on their own at night in the dark

Totally agree @Gagamama2! Everything just feels so random.

He has just had a 15 minute nap at a time where about a week ago he’d sleep for an hour. I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong 😔

My DS really struggles when he has a blocked nose, he wakes up a lot.
Keep persevering with putting him in the cot. And I do recommend moving him to his own room with a video monitor.. I find that just that few minutes of deciding whether to get up and see my DS is often enough for him to settle back by himself.

You're not doing anything "wrong" changes to sleep can just happen so quickly & randomly. Sometimes it's because of things like a blocked nose but sometimes what you thought was a good routine has suddenly been changed as they have just outgrown a particular stage!

Thanks everyone. I think we’ll have to wait for his cold to pass and reassess where we are then. Had another difficult night last night, sleep deprivation is so hard!! He managed one sleep cycle on his own in the cot and in the second cycle kept waking up. He’d settle again fairly quickly with a hand on his tummy, but when he’s waking every five minutes doing that doesn’t feel sustainable when you’re onto the eighth time!

You're really not doing anything wrong. We're all weird for expecting brand new humans to instantly behave in predictable, replicable ways which suit our schedules! Who knows what's going on with your baby?? Just comfort as best you can and hopefully over time things will improve.