Help with 6 month old sleep

[Cdl84]

My nearly 6 month old will only nap in my arms after being rocked to sleep in a dark room with white noise on. He wakes immediately if put down. I don't really mind just holding him but I'm going back to work part time in a month and worry about how he will sleep at nursery.

When can I realistically expect him to be able to nap in his cot and any tips on where to start with achieving this? Whenever he is put down asleep he wakes and starts crying. When put down drowsy but awake he lies there for a few minutes getting more and more fidgety until he starts crying.

Also hoping to move him to his own room in his cot at night as starting to get too big for next to me crib, but not sure how to achieve this either. Currently he is fed to sleep at night and then gently slid across into the crib, but wakes if put down after rocking. It's like the vertical drop, however slow, wakes him up. I'm not able to tolerate much crying and just want to pick him up! Any advice gratefully received!

Firstly, swap your next to me crib for a 3 sided full sized cot. That takes the pressure off having to move him at the same time as starting nursery.

Pretty much any flat pack cot (and most are flatpack) can be put up with one side left off the cot do it's 3 sided. Then wedge it up against your bed - strap bed and cot legs together if you can.

I'd then work on cuddling baby to sleep in the (full sized) cot. So put baby into the cot, breastfeed lying down if you need to - but with baby in-situ in the cot all the time. Unlatch baby before asleep and snuggle in close. Firm hand on chest gives baby the feeling of your closeness. Face close to baby's means baby can feel/hear your breath. With a full sized cot (especially if it's a cot bed) there is plenty of room to do this when 3-sided.

They key is baby goes to sleep where they stay asleep - in the cot. Transferring a sleeping or sleepy baby never works long term. Baby needs to learn to go to sleep in the cot.

So for naps, bedtime and any night wakes, follow a pattern of:

• feed to drowsy, snuggle with hand on chest until asleep then extract yourself.

• feed sat up, then put into bedside cot and snuggle close until asleep, with hand on chest. Offer top-up comfort feed if needed (not moving baby) but not full feed)

• seperate feeding and sleeping, but snuggle close in bedside cot with hand on chest to settle to sleep.

• seperate yourself slightly when going to sleep, but keep hand on chest at all times until asleep in bedside cot. You'll still be lying down eye to eye, but not physically close.

• 4th side on cot at this point. Hand on chest to go to sleep and you lying on your bed close by

• hand on chest and you standing next to cot to settle to sleep. This marks the time baby's cot could go in own room.

• hand on baby just to initially settle baby, then just staying close by

• hand on baby to settle, then leave the room

Thank you for the advice. There isn't room for his cotbed to go next to my bed but I could maybe get a smaller cot to use temporarily. I know putting down a sleeping baby wouldn't work forever as it has been getting harder to do for the last few months! I will try your suggestions.