Feeding/rocking to sleep and ‘big cots’

[Babbington]

We’ve just moved our daughter (nearly 7 months) to her big cot. Hurrah! She’s just started sleeping through the night 80% of the time which is fantastic and unexpected. She’s a 30 minute napper.

She goes down well in it but I’m looking at the lower setting for when she’s bigger and thinking - I’m never going to be able to lower her down asleep into that without her waking up. It’s not a dropside cot.

Currently I feed her to sleep at night and rock her to sleep for naps. Naps are more sketchy and night is pretty reliable that she’ll just stay asleep when put down.

How do people do it when they’re in the lower part of the cot?! Surely everyone can’t have these magic babies that go to sleep on their own when you put them in the cot? The only babies I know who do that do it by crying themselves to sleep which I don’t want to do if I don’t have to

Is there another way they’ll start going to sleep on their own without using controlled crying to teach them? Do they just learn this as they get older and I shouldn’t stress about it?

It is possible to lower them all the way down. My twins are 8 months and little hooligans who need the full length bars to contain them! I tend to still feed to sleep, cuddle them close and then very gently lower them into the cot

That’s good to know! I guess practice makes perfect!

Same. My 9 month old has only just been put down to the lowest level after a rather scary drop when he all of a sudden could pull himself up using the bars.

He’s got to be asleep though. If he’s just drowsy he comes on like a light as I lower him down.

There was a divine period of about two weeks where he would put put down and happily roll himself back and forth to sleep. That went as quickly as it came, sadly. Unless my MIL is here, then he’ll do it apparently!