Co-sleeping 7month old into cot - at least for the evenings!

[pixiegumboot]

Does anyone have any advice on how to encourage our 7month old into his cot, at least from bedtime (7/7.30ish) until he wants more food. Desperate to have a conversation and some dinner with my husband!

LO is BF and started on solids; daytime naps take place on me as I think he's turned into a snacker (also would like to change this). We have a good solid bedtime routine - until he goes into his cot!

We've tried putting him in cot awake and drowsy - he just wakes immediately doesn't settle. We've tried spaced soothing, and PU/PD - both of which just make him more and more hysterical as the process goes on.

Quite happy to have him in our bed from the early hours as he's in bed with us from 9pm at the moment now. Any ideas gratefully received. Should mention we're not into CC or CIO.

I've just done this with DS.... PU/PD didn't work, neither did sssh pat. Decided to just bite the bullet and put him in his cot and put hand on him on his tummy over covers until he stopped crying (because he realised he wouldn't be picked up) and went to sleep.

First night took about half hour, second night about 10 mins and after that he just goes to sleep when his blankets are put on him. DS was never left on his own when crying though.... not sure if that was what you were after

Thanks NellynoKnicks; I tried that last night and at an hour he was still rolling round grabbing my hand and laughing! Of course, when I picked him up, the little darling went straight to sleep.
He is in a grobag at the moment and i'm considering changing to blanket and sheets so he can be tucked in tight.
Any other thoughts?

Ah... how frustrating.... I also tried using a travel cot and getting in it with him and feeding him (as i would when we co sleep) and then getting out when he was asleep?

Hi
I co-sleep with my 11 month old. You may not fancy doing this but it works for us! We just put our mattress on the floor and I feed him to sleep and then sneak off. He usually goes from 8ish to 12ish so plenty of time to mnet spend time with dh!!

So blankets and sheets last night. Same scenario. Fast asleep then bingo awake on bum hitting cot 7.30pm. Same for husband, he had him asleep for 20mins and then baby wide awake upon hitting cot 8.30pm. So I go to bed with him 9pm, he wakes for a micro second when he's put in our bed and then stays fast asleep until 2am, despite me moving him round our bed 4 or 5 times!
Arggghhh! Really need some ideas; we are going to stay with family for 3wks over xmas and don't want this pattern then. And even CC is now sounding attractive...

pixie - we co-slept with dd until she was about 7 months, What we did; I would bf her off to sleep, cuddle gently for about 10 mins to make sure she was fully out, then lower her into the cot (in a grobag). I know this is kind of cheating but it worked for us! We also propped a rolled blanket next to her so it felt like she was sleeping against a parent. Sometimes I'd have to lower her down cuddling her, then gradually take my arms away.

This usually saw her through for a good 4-5 hours, she was going to bed at about 7 and waking for a feed at 1-2ish, at which point she'd come into bed with us again. It was like that for another couple of months til she really started eating solids with gusto and pretty much night weaned herself.

Have you read the No cry sleep solution? It has a big section on getting a baby to sleep in their own cot after co-sleeping.

Good luck!

Hi jumpjockey
Thanks for your post. We did that up until T was 6 months then he just started waking up the minute he went into the cot for some strange reason........btw, where did your LO sleep for naps? We've just gone back to having him downstairs with us (asleep-most nights anyway), then he comes directly into our bed. Just read the no cry solution and it looks good. Think he may be more ready now as he's turning away from me in the night now, and sleeping on his stomach more.