How do I get my 5 month old daughter to sleep in her cot???

Question

I made the big mistake of puting our daughter in bed with us from day dot, now I am having huge problems trying to get her to sleep alone. She screams to the point of hysterics if I put her in hte cot awake. Also she wakes every 2-3 hrs and will not go back to sleep with out being on my boob! She is on solids now and still not sleeping any longer. I am so exhausted and really need advice please help me.
Also she refuses a dummy or a bottle.

Answer 1

you caught it early

just put her in her bed dry and full she will go to sleep
put her to bed and leave the room close the door also and LET HER CRY SHES DRY AND FULL the worst mistake you could make is going and picking her up.

shes young so she probably wont cry just put her to bed nap and bedtime

get her into her bed its good shes not on a pacifier one less thing to break later.
like i said a full baby will sleep.
in her own bed she will sleep longer. as long as your in grasping range she will nurse every 2-3 hours put her in her own bed in her own room
let her scream she will be fine and make sure when you lay her down that shes sleepy

now is the time to start a good routine
a boob or solids or both
a nice relaxing bath with bedtime soap
bedtime lotion
a short cuddle no feeding she shouldnt need it and a story while cuddling
she should be tired and drowsy lay her down turn on some soft music. turn out the light leave and close the door
refrain from the monitor if you have one til you know shes asleep

she will sleep longer and better in her own bed

Answer 2

Where does she sleep when she naps? Try putting her in the cot during nap times. Then at night start in the cot, when she fusses, tend to her. Then put her back in the cot. Do this for a few days, then start letting her fuss a bit. Adding 5 mins before you go and comfort her each time (Fuss 5 mins, comfort, back to cot fuss 5 mins comfort, next time 7 mins comfort, then 10 mins etc) This will take you a few days but when I have done this with my children with in the week they were sleeping in the cot by themselves. All of my children co slept until 6 months when they were no longer night nursing. When I made the move, i made my husband responsible for 1/2 of the comfort time so I made sure that the week was going to be one where we did not have a lot of planned activites (Holidays may be a bad time...ight change in Jan). It seems like forever at fitst, but really it was very quick. Good luck.

Answer 3

I agree with the previous poster who suggested first putting her cot right next to your bed to make the transition easier. I also agree that there's nothing wrong with co-sleeping, but if you're trying to move her to a cot, then I'll assume it's not working out for you.

Please try the gradual transitioning with the cot next to your bed before leaving her to cry. I really don't think leaving children to cry is ever beneficial, and particularly not at this age. She isn't yet properly aware that she's an entirely seperate person to you - leaving her to cry doesn't 'teach' her anything, and is likely to simply be extremely traumatic to you both.

This sounds like a simplistic suggestion, but have you tried relaxing music? If you're willing to delay the transition, you could play the music for a few weeks as you breastfeed her to sleep, or lay with her on the bed until she goes to sleep. This might then create a cue that will help her in going to sleep unassisted, or at least without the need to feed to sleep.

Answer 4

Put something that smells like you in there with her.Don't let her cry.Babies need that feeling of comfort.You can't exspect her to change overnight.It will take sometime to change her habbit you let her get into.Try giving her the bottle during the day and dip the nipple in some kayro syrup mixture[water and kayro.make it sweet to taste, and see if she will take the bottle then.The nipple on the bottle might be the problem too.Change nipples and see.It will take some time.

Answer 5

well in some cases babies are familiar with the parents odor ...u could feed her change her and take the shirt off ur back and give it to her so she smells u next to her if not u could try kinda making a nook in her cot out of blankets that will remind her of being in the mothers womb because its a little snug and very warm.

Answer 6

Have you tried putting her cot near your bed to start off with? At least that way she wil still be able to see you and it might make the transition a bit easier for her.

Answer 7

Theres nothign wrong with co-sleeping as long as you enjoy it. It is normal for ALL babies to sleep longer and sounder when with mom. We co-sleep but when I put even the newborn down for a nap in her bassinet alone she will only sleep an hour versus if I lay with her she will sleep 3 or 4.