Any sleep training tips?

[Tianna476]

My 6 month old baby son will only sleep in my arms or in my bed at night. Each time I transfer him to his cot he wakes up. He knows the instant his body touches the mattress and he wriggles, rubs his face and wakes up, and then won't settle back to sleep.

He's still in his tutti bambino cozee bed side cot in my room. I have tried co sleeping with him and this works but I would prefer him to settle in his cot.

He has baby eczema (from a dairy allergy) which makes him constantly itchy so I think he is looking for comfort hence only sleeping in my arms or right next to me.

Does anyone have any tips on how to get him in his cot?

Thanks

Bump

We used Lucy Wolfe’s stay and support method to transition from rocking to sleep to putting our baby down awake in the cot. It’s basically a gradual retreat so first few nights you sit by the cot comforting them with touch and words, then move further away and reduce your input over the course of a couple of weeks. It wasn’t entirely without crying, the first night especially was tough, but we were there with her, not leaving her alone. we went from hourly waking to getting an 8 hour stretch within a week. It hasn’t been a miracle fix as I wanted to keep a night feed but it has drastically improved things for us. Hope this helps.

Thanks so much. I'll look into her method!

Good luck, and hope you’re okay! It’s so so tough. She has a book, we actually paid for a sleep consultant in the end as my DH couldn’t be bothered to read it and we wanted a hand hold through it... but her method was essentially the same (and much cheaper if you just follow the book!)

Sure you’ve probably tried everything already for eczema but I have had it myself and found Aveeno worked better for me than aqueous creams etc. Hope you find something that helps x

I know it's really hard but especially as you know they're in discomfort I would carry on with co sleeping and try to help the eczema.

It's so hard! Have you tried warming the cot a little with hot water bottles? My daughter would wake because I put her down and the sheet would be cold on her back. This fixed the problem (of course until teething/ regressions etc).

I put one of my used pillowcases in my LO's cot and tuck it in where her head is so when she rubs her face into the mattress it smells like me and that usually works

cam you baby proof a room, put a mattress on the floor for a floor bed and get him to sleep then sneak away? you can cosleep as and when necessary/ you want to but sneak away when you don't want to. we have this set up and its great, never have to try and transfer him or put him down.