Baby comes into bed during night...how to stop?

[MrsMac1397]

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone has any advice.

My dd is 5 months old and has never been a great sleeper. I've worked really hard to get her to where she is now which is following a bedtime routine, sleeping in her own room in her cot, having one feed a night and not stirring too often. I am now actually getting some sleep! But at some point during the night she ends up sleeping in bed beside me or on me.

As much as I love the closeness, She's beginning to wake earlier and look to settle on me so I'm wanting to put a stop to this before she starts sleeping in bed with us full time but not sure how to go about it.

Tonight I tried but it resulted in her being awake for an hour and a half then falling asleep on me on the sofa - I've swapped my nice comfy bed for the lumpy sofa.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Does she have times in the night when she wakes but is settled back to sleep in her cot during the night?

Or do we have a situation whereby the only time she wakes, she then gets brought into your bed?

When is her nightfeed? If she is having an 11pm ish feed when you go to bed, try dropping that feed. It will change the times she wakes in the night for a feed, to break the habit.

... Also, have you tried swapping with DH and seeing if he can settle her more effectively?

We went through a spell where she was waking every half an hour for milk/reassurance/dummy that was because she's teething. I would settle her back into her cot everytime until it got to around 4am then I'd be too exhausted and would take her in with me. That's settled down again and she tends to only wake for her bottle at 1-2am then afterwards at 3/4am where she is looking for me ie will settle and sleep as soon as I lift her. I've taken her to bed with me then to get sleep. But now feel it's a good time to tackle the issue.

I haven't swapped with DH so will give that a go. Thanks