Reverting to co-sleeping ok through regression?

[Megank1989]

DD is 12 weeks. Over Christmas, I made a real effort to move her to the next to me cot after co sleeping all through the newborn phase with sling or contact naps in the day. It was working!!! One morning nap and down at night from 9/9:30 with two feeds. I could even get her settled without picking her back up if she woke. I’d get her back in with me for the last stretch of the night but generally was very happy. Suddenly, she won’t stay down in the cot! 10 min in the day maybe (I do have blackout blinds coming) and maybe 30min at night. We have a consistent nap/bedtime routine - white noise etc. I know this is the dreaded regression and am ok with co sleeping until she’s rolling but I’m so paranoid about un doing all my good work. I’m going to keep putting her down to start, even if she ends up with me - but is that enough? Will she just naturally start self settling?

Following 👀

Mine’s slightly older. Will do a decent nap in cot first thing in the morning but that’s it. I co-slept the whole time with my first but would like to get this one into cot. Planned to wait till after 4 month sleep regression though.

Interested in others’ experience, particularly those with babies who were not easy sleepers.

There are no rules at 12 weeks so do what gets you both the best sleep and honestly do not worry about habits etc!

You and baby's sleep is priority and regressions are hard enough. Babies change so quickly that no behaviour is permanent and things get better.

Unfortunately baby sleep is not linear. You’ll make progress and then something will happen - teething, illness, regression/progression, separation anxiety etc.
I think just getting through things the best you can is the best advice. You’ll have success nights and you’ll have nights where you think “what the hell just happened?”.
Just do whatever works best and know you can always try things again later. Good luck x

My two cents is just do whatever works. Sleep will be a rollercoaster of ups and downs and ever changing rules of what they need and want for at least the first year but usually into toddlerhood as well.

In the first year mine had many changing preferences about how to go to sleep and where to sleep and with who. As soon as we thought we’d found a good routine that worked, he’d change it up again!

Mine is 2.5yo and we still cosleep as and when he needs it. He has slept in his own room in his bed just fine for weeks at a time and then something disrupts it and he needs cuddles again. We’re currently in a cuddle phase again and while he still goes to bed in his own bed every night he comes in with us some way through the night.

My baby was a good sleeper weeks 7-11 and then at 11 weeks it just went south. Just at a time when everyone was expecting me to go out more, see friends and family etc, we were having an absolute nightmare. I was suicidal for the next 4 weeks because he was sleeping in 30-90 minutes increments, staying awake for ages in between, needed rocking and breast each time, and I wasn't getting long daytime naps either like when he was a newborn. I coslept for a week. At 15 weeks he suddenly, with no warning, started self settling and sleeping well in his crib, all night.

Then about 10 days later, the day he turned 4 months, it all went south again. Horrible. Co-sleeping only helped a little this time. He's a week off 5 months and we sleep trained him (Ferber). We're 3 days in and it's worked brilliantly. But I will say he was showing signs of self settling and he's a massive baby so we thought he was developmentally ready. I fully expect everything to go south again. I just need a few nights of sleep first 😴.

All to say it will go down and up and down again and at 12 weeks you're not teaching them anything permanent. We got caught several times thinking "oh we're in such a good routine, we're doing so well" and BAM baby would be like nah, fuck this, I don't want to sleep anymore". Do whatever you need to do. You cannot sleep train /let them cry at this age so you just need to power through.