Sleepyhead weaning

[SISI22]

Hi everyone! Hope your all well!

I need some advice on how to get my 5 month old DD out of her sleepyhead. I know it’s not recommended for them to sleep in it over night but it started when we went abroad when she was 3.5 months old and the travel cot was far too big for her as she was used to a snuz pod and she wouldn’t settle so I put her in the sleepy head in the cot and she slept the whole night through.

Since then she’s been in the sleepy head every night and I really want to get her out of it as she’s starting to roll when she’s on the floor and I wouldn’t want her to roll out of it even though she doesn’t and can’t yet but the issue I have now is soon as she goes in the cot (no longer the snuz pod) she gets so hyper and excited she lifts her legs up and slams them down, she rolls around but then she can’t roll back onto her back yet so doesn’t settle and I just can’t seem to get her to sleep in it at all. There was one night she was asleep and I took her out of it and then by 1am she was awake hyper and kicking her legs around and wouldn’t go back to sleep.

Sleep wise every night she wakes up quite often every time her dummy falls out and still have a feed. I wonder if removing the sleepy head will make her sleep better in the night in the long run as the constant wakings is tiring but then I’m scared for that reason to go cold turkey as I just don’t know how to get her to not turn hyper when being in the cot.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Sorry for the long message.

Thanks xx

I forgot to mention she is still in my room next to my bed x

Following as I'm doing this too! Although my baby just turned 7m.

So what I'm trying is:
Take sleepyhead cushion out of the cover. Place it under a normal cot fitted sheet but place the side bits a bit further apart. Over time I plan to push the sides further and further apart so baby gets slowly used to not being so squished during sleep time. When the sleepyhead cushion sides reach side of cot I'll remove it entirely and cross all fingers, toes and limbs that baby still sleeps!

I remember with my eldest I didn't get rid of it for ages! I think I only got rid once he got up and crawled out of it 🤣 (which incidentally was an easy way to deal with the transition as he just did it himself!)

Also.... 5m you could still be suffering from bad nights due to 4m sleep regression. We chose to ditch dummy for sleep times at 5m due to the constant waking for dummy replacements. No more wake ups now and they figure it out super quick!

I had a similar issue with my son when he was 3 months. He was growing out of the Sleepyhead but wouldn't settle without it. In the end I took the cover off so it was just the cushion part of the sleepyhead and it made a bigger sleeping space as I could stretch it further round the crib. After a few days I replaced it with a rolled up a cellular blanket either side of baby. I would say this isn't following guidelines but he was in the next to me crib close-by and the only solution my sleep deprived brain could come up with. Someone is else might have a better solution.

Exactly what @FinallySomeNormality is doing worked a treat here.

We tried for two months without and had barely any sleep, in the end I gave in and got the sleepy head Grande 🙈 @FinallySomeNormality I wish I'd thought to do that!!!

I got the sleepyhead grande

Thank you everyone! @FinallySomeNormality sounds like we literally the same lol! I love how he just came out of it hisself lol that would make things 100% easier lol!

With the dummy I’m so worried about removing it she’s not obsessed with it and sometimes she does fall asleep without it and for example her dummy came out a hour and half ago and she’s still asleep but then randomly she’ll just wake crying then if I put it in she’ll stop if I didn’t have the dummy I’m not sure how long she’ll cry for, what happens when you did this?

@20viona @SurreyMay so glad it worked for you guys I will try that tomorrow. I just don’t get how and why she gets so hyper in the cot without it! Fingers crossed! My partner keeps just saying to leave her in it but I just worry too that her shoulders and arms aren’t as comfy as they could be if they was flat!

I have seen some posts about the grande!

2months with hardly sleep from it ugh that makes me nervous! But then she still wakes up alot in the night anyway now so I keep toying with the idea of trying it I just want some sleep 😩😂

@SISI22 honestly, after about 2 cries the first night when I didn't go in to replace the dummy he just stopped crying out for it. Those first 2 wake ups he cried out off and on for about 5mins - I just went in and out my hand on his chest and patted him instead of replacing dummy. By the second night we had no wake ups except one at 5am for a feed which is fine. He was more attached to ut at nap times as I think it helped him to switch off during the day, so naps took a little longer but he was happily going to sleep without it by end of first day and by end of third day he no longer woke mid-nap moaning for dummy too. I've done this with both my boys now and it's never anywhere near as hard as I've expected it to be! And by the 3rd night we're all sleeping much better as the only wake ups are for feeds.

@FinallySomeNormality Oh wow! That’s amazing i will deffo try that then thank you!

She is so hard to get to nap she just fights it too much and gets so hyper! She still doesn’t nap at the same time each day because she just fights the naps so much some times she takes ages to and sometimes she doesn’t she also still wakes up at different times in the morning even though she always has the same night time routine and in bed at the same time every night. Luckily she’s good at going to bed it’s just naps and keeping her asleep! Even her naps are only about 30 mins long she just hates sleeping I think lol x

@SISI22 Did it take you long to transition your little one out of the sleepyhead in the end? X