IDEAS FOR CONSTANT COT CRAWLING/WAKING BABY NIGHTMARE

[splodge2001]

DD (6.5 months) was a decent enough sleeper. Would wake briefly around 5am ish and I'd settle her back with her dummy before a morning feed around 6/7am BUT - that was then, when she slept in her moses basket, all snug.

Then we moved her into a cot three days ago and shes been waking constantly, loosing her dummy and exploring. Last night i was trying coax her back to sleep between 3.30 and 6.30, she kept crawling around, getting her arm stuck in the bars etc. She sleeps next to my side of the bed.

I can't take another night like that. I'm wondering whether I should get a large moses basket and place it in the cot so she has fewer distractions - she's an extrodinarily exploratory baby when she's awake and I can't see her calming down at night whilst she has so much space.

Any other ideas experiences?

You could try using a cot divider- you can attach it half way down the cot to minimize the room she has to wriggle and maybe put some rolled up blankets along the sides of the cot to stop her arms getting caught in the bars.

Is she getting upset when she wakes? If not, I would just let her go, she's probably just getting used to new surroundings.

The rolled up blankets will also prevent dummies falling out. We used to do this and put about 3 dummies in there so my ds would inevitably find one of them!

Hope this helps, there's nothing worse than lack of sleep!

Thanks TOK - have a feeling she'd try and get over the cot divider - they say up to 7months - and she's a mad explorer!

she is getting upset. any advice on how to make the effective size of the cot smaller? i think im going to get a large moses basket and stick it in the cot.

Hi Splodge2001. We had similar issues with my lo. We started with putting him in his moses basket in the cot for his naps during the day. When we got him in his cot he was doing the same and getting arms stuck between the slats. We weaved a blanket between them for a while. When we got rid of the blanket he did learn not to do it. If not I did see a mesh thing on the internet you can put round the cot to stop getting arms caught and still enable the babies to breathe. We also have a grobag for him so he doesn't wake up cold as he is forever belly crawling round his cot. Hope that helps and you get some more sleep.