Opinions on whether to put babies in the same cot/room for daytime and nighttime sleeps

[Clairebwfc]

Morning all,

I'm reading conflicting advice on this and wanted to call upon your first hand experience please!

My DS is having trouble staying asleep at night, waking up every hour or so, and it's not hunger related. I'm wondering if this is something to do with the fact that I am putting him into his cot for most of his daytime naps which last about an hour. Could he be associating his cot with short naps after which his mummy comes to get him, and is therefore getting confused and annoyed when I expect him to sleep longer in there at night.

Is the consensus to put babies in their cots for ALL sleeps, or to differentiate between daytime and nightime sleeps by, say, putting them to sleep in their pram for daytime naps and leaving the cot for night?

Thanks for your advice

p.s. DS is 4 months old

Personally if I'm at home I put DS in the cot for all daytime naps and at night too. He just seems to know it's night and if he does wake up he opens his eyes for a second and lies his head back down again. The general advice re. waking in the night seems to be shush and pat them and don't pick them up (as long as they aren't hungry/ill) and hopefully they learn you won't pick them up and they may as well sleep instead!

Ooh, I don't have any answers, I'm afraid, but just marking my place as I'm curious about this as well. I think DD (3 months) can also distinguish between day and night though, because she's pretty good at sleeping at night but TERRIBLE at napping. She seems to only be able to nap on me, which is somewhat limiting... But, for her at least, it seems to be a whole different skill.

So yes, a very different issue, but interested to see how other babies nap.

Good luck with the night wakings. I'm not sure how we got DD to resettle at night, but it's possible that it's due to us being quite deep sleepers and not going to her every time she stirs , but more by luck than judgement...

Thanks so much - it's a dilemma isn't it! He was ok at settling himself previously but has got into terrible habits now. I am going in and rubbin back his back etc but not picking him up every time, unless he's hungry. I am hopinh that eventually he will get the message and go back to sleep without crying. I can live in hope anyway!

I'm not sure the 'cot for night only' theory holds in my case.

However my DD is waking constantly through the night - I've put it down to 4mth sleep regression. Their sleep goes completely squiffy and they become a nightmare to settle. It supposedly improves (ha, I hope!) soon after 20 weeks.

"Then, magically, they start sleeping through the night."

I got so excited when I read that, god I'm desperate gullable!

I never put DS in his cot for naps, it wasn't really a theory, there just never seemed to be a point. I doubt it makes a difference though. Just do what works for you! I was lucky to have an obliging baby who would just suddenly fall asleep when tired without any fuss at all, and once he was asleep barely woke up, getting him down in the evenings was hard, but once he was there it wasn't too bad. Then again I also co slept... and had low expectations!

Pickled they DO magically sleep through... just possibly not until they're 2 or 3 (Honestly. They really do get there eventually. :))

4 month sleep regression? DS is 10 weeks, not a brilliant sleeper, was hoping to be all sorted out and sleeping through by then ( well, better than he is now at least!) Every time I hear ' it gets better' it gets later! :( I was told not to use cot for daytime naps, DS naps in his pram carry cot, in the car, on walks or on me. Not sure if it makes a difference, he'll sleep anything from 2 to 6 hour stretches at night with no apparent pattern.

Sleep regression - I agree with all of the above!

My four month old is waking every 1-2hrs throughout the night (hence time of this post!). I was told on a thread I posted a few days ago that it really does get better, and fairly soon. He was sleeping so well until 3 weeks ago! Apparently they have a large growth spurt about now too.

Hope you are sleeping

LO is in his cot for 2 daytime naps and nighttime (his third nap is normally in the buggy/sling while we're walking). He's 3.5 months old.

After his middle of night feed we normally bed-share as I'm too tired to fanny about with trying to get him back into his cot.