Any sleeping suggestions?

mountainkimi · November 2012

My 6 month old is not sleeping well unless she is sleeping with me. We bought a new home and moved in about 3 weeks ago. Since we knew we were moving, we kept her sleeping in a bassinet or pack n play up until this point-since she was born-next to me in our room. Now we have tried to move her in her own room and she wants nothing to do with it.

Every night is different. Some nights she will sleep a few hours in her room and then wake up on and off until I can't take it anymore and bring her back in my room for the rest of the night. Its not a hunger thing. She falls sleep as soon as I pick her up. She will sleep soundly if she is with me.I am EBF and he just started solids this week.

Any suggestions besides letting her CIO? Its not really my thing. I really need to get some more sleep! I never had this issue with DS. He transferred to his crib/room easily at 4 months old. I feel I have waited too long to do this with her and now I'm paying for it. She just wants to sleep near me. TIA!

acaudill75 · November 2012

I haven't been through this since my girls NEVER wanted to sleep near us. Having said that, I have friends who didn't move their kids out and are still sleeping with them at 2+ yo. I did have a problem with DD1 at about 15 months where she would wake up after about 30 minutes from a night terror, and would cry until I put her in the car and would drive up and down the highway and then she would fall asleep. I would then transfer her back to her crib and she would sleep the night. However, that was ridiculous and after about 2 weeks, I just let her cry it out for about 30 minutes (I locked myself in my bathroom while my husband was out of town; it was horrible!). She cried herself to sleep, and then never had another episode. Now, when she wakes from a bad dream, she usually just lays back down after a minute or two, or we go in there and cover her with her blanket and kiss her, etc., and she's fine. Now, DD2 is 8 months, and if we hear her making noise, we just kind of ignore it and she goes back to sleep. If it is something urgent, we can tell by her cry, or she just gets louder. I would try letting LO cry it out and see if they can self soothe. Good Luck.

llc730 · November 2012

My advice for these co-sleeping situations is always the same. Pick a sleep training method that you can live with. There are several popular ones (not just CIO). However once you decide to start you have passed the point of NO RETURN. Every time you bring her back to your bed you are teaching her that if she just makes a fuss long enough you will give in. It might be a few long nights but you just have to stay strong and consistent.

DiveFrog · November 2012

I am really no help...just wanted to let you know others are in a similar boat.

Our DD is 6 months as well. I recently transitioned her out of her RnP and into a PnP, but still in our room. She has been ridiculously difficult to get to sleep for the past month. From 3.0-5 months she was an awesome sleeper and fell asleep on her own right after she finished her last nursing session. Not so much now. I know some of it has to do with a recent growth spurt, her making some big leaps in gross motor skills and getting her first two teeth. However, she still naps very well so it isn't all related to those things. She goes down for naps so easily for both my Mom, who watches her during the week, and for me on the weekends.

I reached the end of my rope this week...after days and days of 2-3 hrs trying to get her to sleep at night, her not falling asleep until 11-12:30 and her waking up between 2-3am to nurse at night I have been exhausted. So, I let her cry it out last night. DH was not exactly thrilled since it was a spur of the moment act of pure desperation on my part, and not previously discussed with him...BUT IT WORKED! It was not easy. I had to shut our bedroom door and get as far away from our room as possible but 35-40 minutes of crying and screaming later she was asleep and she STTN without waking up!!

I am steeling myself for this evening when we have to do it again. My hope is it will only take a few days and each day she cries for a shorter period of time. In a week I pray that I can put her to bed and she doesn't cry at all....

As for getting her out of your room. Maybe start small. DD often naps in her room in her crib now. And eventually wilI sleep there in another month or two. But I started by trying to get her accustomed to the room and space. I started out just letting her play around in the crib. I would set her in there when I was putting her clothes away, or for a quick 5 min shower, or doing something upstairs. Then we moved to naps and eventually we will try nights.

Hang in there! I keep telling myself this is a phase it will not last forever.

Any sleeping suggestions?

Re: Any sleeping suggestions?

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