Putting down a sleeping baby - aggghh!

[littlebabybum]

Sat here with baby on the boob (4mnths) and want to but her down to bed, this will be the fifth time tonight since 6.45. First time she slept for 30 mins, every other time she's woken up immediately and bawled.

I've tried bouncing/rocking her to sleep and feeding to sleep, both result in awakenings and my spirit being slowly destroyed!

Any tips? Or similar tales of woe?

Cannot help but solidarity sister our day will come

Before about 6m bith of mine would only ever be put down asleep if they'd flung themselves off the nipole, if the just sized off they'd wake with drama. DS is 8.5m and I'm having some success with snuggling him in a blanket during the feed and then laying him down still wrapped up
What's mostly helping is looking at my 4yo and realising that I can't remember the last time she needed my help to sleep.

Yup I remember those days but they didn't last forever! At that age I remember just feeding her to sleep and holding her whilst eating my dinner with my other hand. Sometimes after a long while we could put her down (often in her bouncer in the room with us) but other times she was just held till we went up to bed. It does get better!

The blanket thing worked for me too. Wrap her up in it while on the boob, put her down still wrapped up,, I think less of a temperature change helped...good luck!

Thanks for the blanket advice and reassurance it won't last forever. She woke up again for the sixth time so now I'm in bed with her on me. I'm so tired I feel like crying, it's like this every evening, I've not spent any time with my DH 1on1 since she was born.

Sorry, what was supposed to be a fairly light hearted post has become a whingefest from me!

My DS was like this. Took until he was 18 months for him to sleep in his own bed.

My DD in comparison is a total dream and is put into her cot awake at 6pm every evening and just soothes herself to sleep.

It’s nothing you are doing, it’s just how your baby is. Hold tight, it really won’t last forever.

Massive sleep regression at 4 months. At least 6 posts a day about it on here.

Ah, this time sucks. Literally! Just keep going, be kind to her and yourself. You're doing all the right things, this is just how it is right now.

Things will change soon.

Feed her laying on your side on the bed so you can slip away from her without moving her, or at very least rest comfortably next to her whilst she sleeps.

4 month sleep regression

I did the blanket, but also instead of laying the baby down with my arms, and then having to remove my arms from under them, I'd pick the blanket up with the baby in it like a hammock. And just lower down onto the bed.

We never tried to put ours in a cot until about 9 months. She just slept on the boob while we spent time together downstairs. When she got to the age where being downstairs kept her awake we started putting her down. Each family just has to do what works for them!

There is a book for breast fed babies called The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantly about exactly this situation.

I really liked sleeping bags for DD1 - helped to keep the temperature constant as she was put down into bed.

Although I do remember dangling over the cot, attempting to put her down before un-latching from the boob. Not very comfortable, but I think it worked for about 5 minutes.

I eventually caved and bought some dummies (after weeks of refusing). That helped too.

Best of luck.

Try a hot water bottle in her bed so she’s not going from your warm arms to a cold sheet. And a white noise machine, turn it on whilst feeding and then the noise should be the same when she goes into her bed. Do you use a dummy? I wasn’t really a fan but we were advised to use one when DS was about 2 months and it really helped settle him.

Feed lying down in bed and ninja roll away.

I didn’t breastfeed but both of mine had the problem of eyes pinging open as soon as they were put down, arms flailing. I swaddled until they could roll and just loosened it a bit once I was sure they were still asleep. Kept them nice and warm when they were put down and stopped the arms flying around.

I found talk radio (radio 4) helped as the baby was so used to background chat.

Also a pp has suggested a hot water bottle, they mean to warm the cot, you must remove it before you put baby in!

For those saying four month regression would imply its been better than this before, it hasn't, it's been like this consistently. My NCT group are all going through it and their babies have gone from mostly sleeping through to waking up every few hours. Waking up every few hours would be a good night for us!!

I've tried every dummy under the sun! She hates them!

I like some of the suggestions! Hammock blanket, ninja rolls!

Has anyone used a sleep consultant...?

Sleepyhead in a sidecar crib, hot water bottle or wheat bag in the sleepyhead until its time to put her down, white noise machine on and near her head. Sit right next to the sleepyhead so there isn't far to move her. Once she's asleep wait about ten minutes then take the hot water bottle out and slowly slide her into the sleepyhead. We went through this rigmarole every night for months!

What worked for DS were the following conditions:
Dummy
White noise teddy
Pitch black at night
No talking to baby during the night, just cuddles and shushing
Swaddle him as he fed to sleep so it still felt like I was holding him when he went into his Moses basket.

And then a trick I learned was to pretend I was moving him whilst he was sleeping in my arms, he’d then open his eyes and see I was still holding him. Keep doing this until eventually he’s too tired to look because he knows you’re there. It takes a few times at first but he soon got there. Hope that makes sense!

Another vote for a hot water bottle in the cot then take it out as you put baby down.

For those saying four month regression would imply its been better than this before, it hasn't, it's been like this consistently. My NCT group are all going through it and their babies have gone from mostly sleeping through to waking up every few hours. Waking up every few hours would be a good night for us!!

It’s absolutely NORMAL. Your expectations less so.

Your baby is only just out of the fourth trimester. They will DOUBLE in size in the first year. The brain is developing millions of connections every single day. Including the ones they will need to soon sit up. And roll. And then to crawl. Is it any wonder they need more feeds and have disturbed sleep with all that going on?!

Re the 4 month sleep regression. Ds1 didn't have one. He slept so badly from day 1. By month 4 ,he was sleeping for longer than 40 minutes at a time. Which we an improvement but still crippling.

Take heart OP. He was sleeping through by 15 months. Ds2 started off MICH better and is still waking several times a night at almost 3. YEARS.

Hot water bottle in the bed first, take it out just as you lay her down. Add a bit of a stinky unwashed T-shirt of yours and voila! Sleeping baby. Or at least in my experience with my three.