6 month old won't sleep alone in cot

[inlandempire]

Hello, hoping someone can offer some advice. My DD has been co-sleeping with me since she was 2 months as she wakes so frequently on her own in the cot that I was getting no sleep at all. She usually sleeps on me downstairs until I go to bed, otherwise I spend the evening going up and down the stairs rocking her back to sleep. I have partly got in this situation as I haven't wanted to disrupt my DS's sleep at night (he's 2).

She wakes every 2 hours for a feed throughout the night which I can handle...but I really want her to sleep in her own cot so that I can have some of the evening to myself. She will wake every 20 mins looking for me if left on her own. Does anyone else have a similar sleeper and what did you do?

Thanks!

MY first DD was similar to what you describe. I bought a really good book called the no-cry sleep solution, by Elizabeth Pantley, followed her methods and had some success.

For naps in the end I had to make her go to sleep on her own in her cot as I had developed joint problems from all the feeding to sleep and rocking. Put her in her cot, stayed with her, she cried (a lot) the first time (it took nearly 2 hours), less the second time, and much less the third time. Then she started going down on her own. Her night sleep improved too.

My DS of 19 weeks is exactly the same, except he is FF. No matter, he still won't sleep from 7-11 in his cot, only on me. And he's up in the night several times too. So you have my sympathy!

Thanks Narmada. I will check out the no-cry sleep solution, it does seem to be mentioned here a lot.

I am -exactly- the same with my DD, I have NCSS on order from Amazon at the moment, and will try it when it arrives.

I had the feeling though that I would basically be waiting until she was older before she was happy to sleep on her own. I read on here it happens eventually...

I also thought she would grow out of it (I put it down to the infamous 4 month sleep regression) but the wakings are getting more and more frequent - often hourly at the moment. I think I'm going to begin by getting her to sleep only in the cot and picking up/patting till she settles. Each time. You know you're desperate when the thought of doing something - even if it means being up all night - seems exciting!