Baby won't sleep independently

[Newboymum1234]

My baby is 4.5 months old and will only sleep if being breastfed to sleep or in the baby carrier. If I try get him to nap or sleep on his own he screams and screams no matter how many times I go in to comfort him. We co sleep because of this otherwise I'd get no sleep myself. Once he does fall asleep if I leave him he wakes up after half an hour and will not go back to sleep on his own. I don't know how to break this, any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm fed up of hearing from so many people that they just put their baby down and they just go to sleep and sleep all night, I don't know what to do!

Pull him off the nipple as he falls asleep, at a gradually earlier moment until he’s falling asleep alone

I think a lot if this is temperament. Would you consider a bottle at bed or another nap time to have a different sleep association.

Thank you, good advice! Will give that a go!

Unfortunately he won't take a bottle, I've tried so many times and he just will not take it! I would try anything tbh! What do you mean by another nap time to have a different sleep association?

I would just do anything you can to get sleep in that case, contact napping and cosleeping for this period

My daughter was quite like this and honestly I just coslept and often had naps with her (or she would sleep in pram or carrier if always moving!). I would periodically try putting her in her cot and it basically never worked for age, and then at some point (and it was more like 9/10 months) something clicked a bit and it got easier to put her down (asleep) in her cot. I still ended up cosleeping a lot. There was very slow progress where sometimes she got a little better, then a little worse until about 18 months when she got quite a bit better. However even now (at 5!), she prefers to sleep in bed with me and needs someone to sit with her to fall asleep.I didn't sleep train and have always been relaxed about cosleeping. Perhaps she would have slept through sooner if I sleep trained, but we've managed.

This is typical of that age. Almost everyone I know with kids had a terrible time of sleep around that age. Contact napping is normal. Do they have a dummy? I found that helped but my DC3 is a similar age to your baby and sadly won't entertain one. Needless to say he's our worst sleeper overnight. Naps all mine have been rubbish as babies.

This too shall pass.

That's really reassuring to hear. Thank you! Unfortunately he will not take a dummy, I have tried many times! As you say I just need to remember this won't last forever, I'm just worried about when I go back to work!

Makes me feel better to know I'm not the only one because it certainly feels like it at the moment! I am going to try sleep training when he gets to 6 months, I'm just not sure what the best method is. Thank you for your support!

My 8.5 month old is the same and has been since birth. She's breastfed and doesn't take a dummy. She will nap for half hours in the day either on the boob, in a carrier or a moving buggy. We've given up on cots She co sleeps and I put her down on our bed in the evening where she will stay for 3 hours sometimes without waking but usually at least 3 times. It's tough going but reassuring to hear others in the same boat

This literally mirrors my situation, my boy is 7 months now (was 4 months when I posted this) and the situation is still very much the same, I'm glad it's reassuring for you because it definitely is for me as it can feel like you are the only one going through it sometimes!

Mine were like this at this age. Around 6 months (or whenever you start weaning) change the bedtime routine.
dinner, bath, bottle or breast, story and sleep.
it takes a while, but eventually little one should/might fall asleep during the story x