Transferring baby from arms to cot

[HalloHello]

My 4mo is going through the 4 month sleep regression, waking every 1-3 hours overnight. It's awful but I know what it is and hopefully we will be out of it soon.

What I am really struggling with is how, once I have fed and soothed him back to sleep, do I get him back into his next to me cot? No matter what I do, he wakes up as soon as his head touches the mattress. He'll settle fine next to me if we co sleep but I just don't want to get into co sleeping if I can avoid it! He's in a sleeping bag. I just feel so helpless and get so frustrated because he wants to be asleep but just won't stay asleep after transferring!

Speaking as someone who has just come out of the 4 month regression (hopefully!!) I would suggest just going with the co-sleeping if that's how you can get a decent amount of sleep. It's all about survival at this stage. My LO has just turned 5 months and until a few days ago we were fully bedsharing as she'd only sleep with a nipple in her mouth and eyes pinged open the second I tried to remove it/put her down. A week later although she's still waking 1-3 hourly she's doing the whole night in the cot and is really easy to put down. I worried about her getting used to sleeping with me too but that doesn't seem to be the case. I also moved her cot away from the side of the bed to the foot and no idea if that's also helped with her not smelling me at the end of every sleep cycle and fancying a snack! Solidarity though, this is brutal!!

I do not remember having it this bad with my first, I never co slept with her! Very reassuring to know it may end soon!!! Sounds exactly the same as my boy, he is such a Mummy's boy anyway (which I love don't get me wrong, he's my last baby so soaking up all the love!!) And don't even mind waking up regularly to feed him if that's what he needs but it's the not being able to just chuck him back in his cot that's hard! Might just embrace co sleeping as you say!! He's 5 months in just under 2 weeks so hopefully see the end of this soon 🤞🏻🤞🏻 thank you so much for your message! Hope your sleep continues to improve! Might also try moving his cot further away too, thank you!

We had advice from friends of waiting for 12 minutes for DD to go into a deeper sleep and then transfer- generally worked for us. No idea how much trial and error went into them figuring out that length of time

I waited 20 mins till in deep sleep and put down ridiculously slow so he didn't feel a drop.

I used to wrap mine in a thin blanket while holding them so that when they fell asleep they were snug and there was no temperature change going down onto the mattress. In colder weather I would take a hot water bottle up at night to keep their spot warm while feeding and just remove it again to put them back in the cot

Came on to suggest the hot water bottle but see pp has beat me to it

Thank you everyone. I do wait until he's in a deep sleep, he still stirs and eventually wakes 🙈 I think a lot of the issue is how hard it is to actually put him in his next to me, I can't seem to bend in the right way to make it a smooth transition!

Just to add I used to put my pillows in side crib during day and when she got up in night. It seemed to help. Maybe it's the smell and warmth

"I do not remember having it this bad with my first, I never co slept with her!"

My first was a SPECTACULARLY bad sleeper for 2.5 YEARS, my second is a dream! He's struggling with teething atm so I just put him into bed with me so I can sleep. Different kids, just have to try and respond to the child in front of you, I'm finding very weird to be more hands off for a change

I found putting baby's shoulders down first helped a lot then it's like a slow slide to remove your arms.
Pretend you're in the crystal maze and meet the challenge.

@olderthanyouthink

"I do not remember having it this bad with my first, I never co slept with her!"

My first was a SPECTACULARLY bad sleeper for 2.5 YEARS, my second is a dream! He's struggling with teething atm so I just put him into bed with me so I can sleep. Different kids, just have to try and respond to the child in front of you, I'm finding very weird to be more hands off for a change

Yes!!! Same!!

Teething gel (the medicated one for when they are very upset or before bed). If he's as bad as my first, half dose of paracetamol takes the edge off the pain