Help! are we mad to start co-sleeping at 7 months

[Hatescolds]

hi
dd2 is 7 months and been a poor sleeper since about 10 weeks. has been worse and better but is dreadful at present.
on solids 3 meals a day and i swapped to bottle feeding at 6 months in a misguided attempt to help her to sleep.

Currently she settles easily at 7 pm ( goes to sleep with dummy) and will usually sleep ( with occasional wakening for dummy) until 2 ish- dh gives her a dream feed at 10 . and then is when fun and games start usually do not manage to settle her and she comes in with me where she is easier to settle - still does not sleep for longer than 2 hours but is more easily settled and does not disturb dd1( 3 who needs her sleep- i didn't know i was born when she was a baby!)

anyhow have ordered a side along cot- dh cannot sleep with her in the bed and no where else for him to go really and plan was that around 2-4 she comes in with us for rest of night. My idea was that hopefully she will stay later and later in her bed. HV and MIL have said we are being naive and there is no way she will learn to sleep in her own bed if we keep bringing her in with us and we have to leave her to settle in her cot

are we being mad? will it just be harder work later ? am reluctant co- sleeper but she seems to want to but would ideally love her to settle in her own cot

Funnily enough, was just chatting eith someone on facebook about this.

We had DD in our bed from about 6 months (whn she hated her moses basket) to about 9 months when she happily went into her cot.

It was just easier to sleep with DD than not sleep at all - simple as that.

When I decided to pop her into her cot [we found sex difficult] I spent a few nights of picking her up if she grumbled and putting her back in. Took till about 11 o clock on first night then second night was 9 and we didnlt look back after that.

I really do believe DD felt much more secure as she knew we were always going to be close if she needed us.

I thyiunk you should def try having cot next to your bed and see how it goes... Also... does she need the dream feed if settling her is so hard? Maybe wait till she wakes herself.

Try something and see how it goes for all of you. You know best.

Do what feels right for you as a family. Things obviously aren't working as they are so trying something new won't hurt.

DD (22 mos) slept in a Moses basket to begin with, then with us and at various points in her cot, sometimes for weeks but when she got ill/was teething etc she always wanted to come in with us.

We always let her and ended up co sleeping full time until recently (am having DC2 in a couple of weeks) and there has been absolutely no problem getting her to sleep in there.

We bought her a big bed (as she sleeps like a starfish!) and kitted her room out nicely with a nightlight etc and settled her in with lots of cuddles. I think that some DC will only do things when they're ready.

Don't listen to the 'rod for your own back' comments, we had exactly the same thing and were told everything from we were spoiling her to 'why are you giving in to her?'. We're glad we didn't listen! :)

Agreee with above. Stupid rods.

DD loves her cot and now her bed. I really do think that developing a good relationship with bedtime and sleep is better than suffering and battling.

Thanks so much

it does feel like the right thing for dd but is hard when everyone around you is so opinionated .
is very reassuring that others did this and worked for them

thank you

Get hold of Jay Gordon's book on co sleeping.

Many babies simply prefer co sleeping and although you pay a price, your baby will benefit if it is a baby that craves that closeness.

It is a very western notion that the baby must be on its own-and I think an unnatural one. Ignore the HV- they just trot out the same lines they have heard from others.

If your baby gets good sleep and you do too then surely that is the most important thing?

Good luck with it.

My baby loved her moses basket, it was quite large so she stayed in it until 6 months.

Then at 6 months she was on a cot mattress on the floor of our bedroom as she just could not be in her own room yet.

Lots of bad sleep and night waking from 6 to 9 months and she ended up in bed co sleeping quite a lot. I was panicking as I also felt I was doing the wrong thing...teaching habits that I didnt want her to have... but in the end I needed to get some sort of sleep and it did help.

Then in the middle of month 9 she went into a cot in her own room and its been going ok so far. Now at 10 months she occasionally comes in my bed at 5am when she wakes and I just cant bear to start the day that early.

But she is fine in her room... so I think these things pass. And much to my surprise I did not 'teach' her to only sleep with us...they will at some point be ready for their own room.