6 month old co-sleep and transition into own cot

[MostlyHoldingItTogether]

Hello,

we have a 6 month old, BF, we co-sleep, I love it. But I’m convinced she only sleeps 12-13 hrs a night because we co sleep and I she just helps herself as and when she pleases.

But I am not getting good quality of sleep and my partner, because for a small baby she takes up a huge amount of room and I am stuck in 1 position every night and I am uncomfortable. Also I am always aware she’s there and what she is doing. So I’m not fully asleep.

Also I want our bed back, so we can enjoy each other like we used to. It’s a bit limited now.

Has anyone else that co-slept got any advice on how to get her into her own cot? I think I’m putting it off myself a little bit. I WILL NOT do the cry it out method.

Floor bed, floor bed, floor bed!

Small double size.

It’s amazing - the best of both worlds. Promotes independent sleep (and easy transfers) but then you have the option to nurse and co-sleep as and when needed.

It’s the best thing we ever did.

That said, we didn’t do it until 18 months. Prior to that, we side car-red a cot to our bed which was also amazing. DS could roll over when he wanted to nurse then roll over into his own space when done.

When he grew out of the side car (it was a space saver cot), we got the floor bed.

We have a next to me crib, but she won’t go in it, because I feed her to sleep. She won’t self soothe 😩.

That's plenty of night sleep, you won't get more than that.
We always had a floor bed. She needs you for comfort in the night right now, so if you want her to sleep by herself she is going to cry. I wasn't prepared to do that, but once mine got to about 13-15 months they both started to be happy for me to move away from them to the other side of the floor bed once asleep and then I used to hop back to our actual bed. Just had a gate on the door. Before that point they needed to be snuggled in to sleep well (and by well I mean waking every 1.5 hours but finding a boob and going back to sleep).

Oh sweetheart of course she won’t self soothe - she’s six months old! She needs help from her most important people to help her feel safe and regulated. My little one would only roll off into his side car closer to one year old. ❤️

I'd stop feeding to sleep if you want her to settle in her own cot.
Introduce some other sleep cues and rock her to sleep instead - even better if dad will rock her to sleep - and then put her in the cot and pat her to keep her asleep.
If she gets upset pick her up and rock back to sleep then put her down and ssh/pat.

Controversial take but I think you’d all sleep better if DP moved into the spare room for a bit. Then you both have a lot more room in the bed, you can roll away from her and sleep in different positions then. You can also go visit DP in the spare bed once baby is asleep. 😅

If you put her in her own bed at this age you’ll be getting a lot less sleep as you’ll be getting up and down resettling her. When breastfeeding co sleeping really maximises the sleep you get as you can feed and both instantly get back to sleep.

I do second a floor bed as a transition for when she’s a little bigger though!