6 month old and something needs to change - help!

[Moirmummy88]

My daughter is about to turn 6months in a couple of weeks. She is ebf and we are about to start solids in the next week or so. She has always been fed to sleep for night and naps or would be in the sling. I have a 2.5 year old son also and this worked well when I had them both at the same time in the early days.

Fast forward a couple of months and she is becoming increasingly difficult to settle to sleep in the sling and am now also having difficulty transferring her to the cot once she’s asleep if I feed her so her naps are taking a real hit - she is also a catnapper! For her sake, this pattern is becoming unsustainable but I am at a loss as to how to settle her To sleep when I have a toddler running around my feet - he wont stay and watch tv or anything for long enough. She is completely unresponsive to patting, rocking and shhhing and won’t take a dummy. Night aren’t great either and we have fallen into a habit of co- sleeping after 10/11pm but that’s a problem for another day!

Any suggestions much appreciated!

In terms of survival, your best option might be a bedside cot. Remove one side off a normal cot (easily done with an Allen key) and butt the cot up to your bed.

It then becomes a cross between cosleeping and independent sleep. You can cuddle/feed baby to sleep lying down in the cot but then extract yourself once baby is asleep.

Thanks for your reply @FATEdestiny. We are currently sharing a kingsize bed at the moment and I tend to sneak off to the other side once she’s asleep so your idea might well be great for when she starts rolling and moving around more.

Just naps to figure out as they are the biggest issue at the moment...toddler always seems to time his tantrums just as I’ve got her off in the sling!

I have a similar problem with DS1 3.7 and DS2 9 mo.

Fortunately DS1 is at nursery 3 days a week but on the days he's home it can be difficult! I do a bit of a mixture of things.

I tend to muddle through the morning nap with using the iPad and a snack for distraction for DS1. I try and bf DS2 downstairs and then carry him up once asleep. I focus my efforts for a longer nap on the post lunch nap.

I sometimes plan an activity for the afternoon. I do lunch early (11.30ish), bf the baby and then get straight in the car. Baby usually falls asleep and sleeps for the journey and can usually be carried in the car seat to prolong the nap.

Otherwise I put them both in the double buggy and go for a walk unless weather is horrendous. I leave DS2 asleep in the buggy when we get home and shut him in the kitchen so DS1 can play without disturbing him too much but I can still check on him and hear him when he wakes.

It's not perfect but my babies have never been the "self settling" type so I've had to roll with it!

P.s we also co- sleep from first wake! Only really managed to get DS1 in his own bed when he turned 3!