Suggestions for getting 4 month old to sleep in cot

[peaches27]

Any suggestions for getting a 4 month old to sleep in her cot. She is sharing a bed with her mum, I am her grandma and we all live together. (We want her to go in the cot because her mum wants to spend an occasional night away).

Sometimes if she is deeply asleep she will continue to sleep if we put her down in her cot, but not for that long. We feel she is too young to leave to cry, also she would wake the 3 year old. My daughter tends to keep her in bed with her because its the easiest, she is breastfed, but as she now wants a few nights away we need to get the little un in the cot.

This is a tricky one. Maybe putting the Tshirt that Mum has worn that day in the cot would help her settle? Is she really sleepy at bedtime? If so, she might just snuggle up with the Tshirt mummy smell?

I agree, she's too young to be left to cry.

there is a toy made by tomy that has a light, water and fishes swimming in it. it was recommended to me and it mesmorised my dd to sleep. i also used a sleeping bag that i had slept with the night before so it had my scent on it. you also need to ensure when she does go down, that she goes down awake and settles herself, that way if she wakes, she will settle herself again. GOODLUCK!! my dd still woke once a night for a feed until she was 6 and a half months old

My dd hated her cot when she was tiny and would scream and scream when I tried to put her into it, so we used to put her in her carrycot inside the big cot until she was about 7 months old and bursting out of the carrycot! I wonder if something like that would be worth a try.

I would definitely agree with MamaG that putting a t-shirt worn by her mummy in with her would be worth a try too.

an idea is to let her get used to her cot by letting her play in it regularly over a period of time when wide awake. This way it is not a strange place to her when you put her there at night.

We are trying putting her in the cot during the day when she falls asleep, but she never stays asleep for long.

Try to wake her slightly by winding her or whatever after a breast feed and then put her down awake-she will cry but what I did was graduate from staying with my lo patting shushing and leaning over to gradually just being in the room while he fell asleep to now being able to walk out of the room when he is awake and he puts himself to sleep. A sleeping bag helped him to feel cosier too I think and we also used his cot with toys in it and a mobile above it (the tiny love symphony in motion-it's great) as a play area during the day.

We have toys, mobile with music etc in the cot and she is put in it for short bursts of time during the day to get her used to it. I think at sometime we are going to have to let her cry a little ...

Peaches, I had the same problem with DS. We co-slept too which was easy at night but it meant he wouldn't sleep on his own during the day, unless in the car/pram. Now, 9 years later, I've had DD & I read the Baby Whisperer to help avoid the same problem. She uses a Pick up/Put down technique to get them used to sleeping on their own. It's suitable once they're 4 months & above. Your daughter might have to give up the co-sleeping to avoid any confusion between day & night. Unfortunately, my HV told me that routines are fairly ingrained by 4 months. So it's better to start soon if she wants to change things. Here is a \link{http://www.thebabywhisperer.com\link} to the baby whisperer site. Look in the Message Board part for discussions about this. Also, I swaddle my DD & this helps her stay asleep for longer as it stops her arms flailing around & disturbing her. Best of luck.

i found that if you put two blankets rolled up either side of her she went to sleep in her cot straight away. I think its a security thing. my daughter could feel something there and within weeks was sleeping through the night and also going to sleep by her self. if she does wake up leave her for a couple mins to see it she goes back off. If she hears you go in to the room she might start to cry even more for your attention. If still crying enter the room and just shush her it works for me.she sleeps 7 till 7.

They are all different but my DD is 3mths and falls asleep instantly if she has something by her face. I put a teddy just at the side of her so she can turn her face into it but not so she is suffocating if that makes sense. I also used to use the anti roll ducks next to her but they didnt make a difference. I co slept for her first few weeks so think the feeling of something by her face reminds her of that.