Sleep training cot position

[Kaw12345]

Hi all

We're planning to do some sleep training but DD is currently in the cot attached to the bed (full size, she's too old for a next-to-me). Feels like a simple question but should the cot be away from the bed before we do the training? Currently she wakes up ~5 times a night and has to be fed to sleep so I'm apprehensive about moving the cot away from me. I've wondered if the cot being next to me is making me respond too quickly when she wakes in the night, but also I know that sometimes when she wakes and sees me asleep next to her it helps her self settle.

Thanks!

If you want to leave the cot attached to your bed, what will happen if she tries to get out or comes looking for you during sleep training? Is she too big for a next to me, but not mobile enough yet for that to be a risk? Even then, what about when she becomes mobile? Or alternatively is she old enough to reliably get off safely?

If you have a solution to the safety side of it, I think whether you move her bed away from yours before sleep training or as part of is down to your judgement of what suits you and your child. I eased mine out of feeding to sleep and kept them close, gradually ending the feed when they were more and more awake, but that's slow, two steps forward, one step back, and not for everyone. A lot of people seem to have success moving baby into a different room and sending daddy in with water instead of mummy with milk.

So she's in a regular cot with one side down at the moment. Needs to stay in the room as she's still 5 months old. I guess we can keep her there until we are starting to see some longer sleeps so its not too much for her at once. Ending the feed during the night when she's slightly more awake gradually sounds like a really good idea, that's definitely a step forward from where I am now. Also a lot less disruptive than a lot of the other techniques suggest for the middle of the night. Thanks for the advice!

I think sleep training could be difficult if she is not in her own room.

Ah, I think most of the stronger sleep training techniques aren't recommended until at least six months anyhow. You should be fine to try gradually ending the feed more awake, though.

If you want to end up with an alternative 'sleep cue', you could try putting some sleepy music on or rubbing their back/patting them whilst they're feeding, so when the feed ends, they still have the other thing to help ease them back to sleep. I didn't really do that in any organised way, although with both of them, I could sometimes use a lullaby from earlier in their bedtime routine to get them back to sleep at night – singing is only really less effort than feeding once they're in a different room, though!