Gradual retreat vs co-sleeping

[OlivesTree]

Until about 2 weeks ago my 5 1/2 month old DD was pretty good at night. She would go into bed about 6pm then df at 10, followed by one or two night feeds after which she would go straight back to sleep, waking happily between 7 and 7:30 am.
Now she has decided that sleep is not for her and is waking frequently all night long and will only stay asleep if she is continuously patted. For the past few nights we have been co-sleeping so we get some sleep, but being in such close quarters it ends up being an all night long bf and I am feeling exhausted.
I have been thinking about starting the gradual retreat method (what worked for us thread) as I would like her to learn to self soothe, but we are now both so knackered I am wondering if I should just go with the co-sleeping thing for now. She is already over tired and I am worried that gradual retreat might make this worse, but I am also concerned about the potential long term dependency of co-sleeping which I don't find particularly restful anyway.

I would be grateful for some advice.

Also, did anyone find that starting solids helped their babies sleep better at night. DD is ebf.

Hiya we have been following a gradual retreat method for our DS (6 months). It is v. similar to what is outlined in the 'what worked for us' thread, however instead of just going straight in with putting down completely awake, we rocked him to sleep for 3 nights and then held him to sleep for 3 nights before attempting to put him down awake. This idea comes from the millpond baby sleep book and I think is helpful if you have always fed to sleep (not sure if this is the case for you?) and it breaks the feed to sleep association very gently.

It is still early days but like your DD, my DS was sleeping in our bed and basically bf'ing all night long and I was shattered. The priority for me was to try and get him in his cot, and after only a week of this method he is now in his cot all night with only a couple of wake ups which is a massive improvement. There has been some crying though, but the most was 40 mins on the 1st night - in general it seems like a fairly gentle form of sleep training.

As your DD has generally been a good sleeper though it could just be a temporary growth spurt / unsettled period which will work itself out, and if co sleeping is working for you at the moment then just go with whatever gives you the most rest. However if you are completely exhausted and co sleeping then maybe you have nothing to loose trying something else!

Thanks Watermint. This gives me hope! I used to bf to sleep, then moved on to rocking and she goes down in her cot awake and is patted off to sleep, but oh the night wakings!! More than ever before. Are you doing anything specific to reduce these? I ordered this book of Amazon a few days ago I hope it arrives soon!

I think you will find the millpond book v helpful, I did! it has lots of different gradual retreat sleeping plans for all different circumstances. It is very pro night weaning after 6 months and has suggestions for how to do this which i guess could help with your multiple wakings, but your DD may be a little young for complete night weaning.

I'm happy to still feed my DS during the night but not 8 times! I followed suggestions for only trying to feed every 4 hours and offering water at other times which has helped the night wakings. This is impossible if your co sleeping though I think, although the no cry sleep solution book has suggestions on continuing to co sleep but cutting down on feeds iirc.

Oh no. Ultimate goal is definitely NOT to be co-sleeping! I miss being able to stretch out. Have been looking for Mr Postman all morning. I am feeling quite determined today, especially after reading your post.

OlivesTree - wondering how you were getting on with this as am thinking of starting gradual retreat with DD and need inspiration!!