baby is almost 5 months old, trying to break her of cosleeping?
Byshes been sleeping with me and husby since birth and we want our alone time now lol i just bought “what to expect the first year” and it says to get her on a routine, for the past week at around 9oclock i give her a bottle, bathe her, read to her and put her to bed awake. she cried for 10 min the first night, didnt cry the second night, 3rd night cried for 5 min and last night for 5 min before she fell asleep. the problem is that she wakes up 4 or 5 times in the middle of the night, sometimes she goes back to sleep on her own and sometimes not so much, last night i got so frustrated i just put her in bed with us.
when she wakes in the middle of the night i give it like 2 min before going in there and rocking her or giving her a binky. should i keep doing this all night? my mom said to just let her cry and not go in there because when my daughter sees me it makes it worse… is this true?
also i know shes not hungry cos she stopped night feeding when she was 2 1/2 months. and i usually change her diaper once in the middle of the night and rock her back to sleep.
please any stories are welcome, tell me what worked for you!
thanks in advance
she is NOT hungry. a mother knows her babies signals and this is not one of hunger. when shes hungry she screams bloody murder till you feed her. these cries are more like whining cries like “pick me up!” cries
yeah i tried the playpen/bassinet in the room. she hates it even more lol
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10 Comments
April 18th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Try putting the shirt you wore that day into the crib with her. A lot of times the scent of you is all they’ll need to go back to sleep.
April 18th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
“i know shes not hungry cos she stopped night feeding when she was 2 1/2 months.”
Have you at least tried feeding her? Just because she dropped her night feeding then does not mean she does not need it now. This is prime growth spurt time and she may be needing to eat more often than she did before.
Personally, I would find ways to get your alone time while allowing baby to sleep with you still. We sleep with all 3 of our kids, but still get plenty of alone time after they are in bed. We put them to bed and then come out into the living room for alone time until we go to bed.
So we still get time together, yet we still get the wonderful bond of sleeping all together.
April 18th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
My daughter slept with me for nearly a year and I couldn’t put her in her room because she would cry. I spoke to my health visitor and she told me about controlled crying. You start with 5 mins then let the time increase between checking.
Also if she cries during the night…go into the room without putting anylights on or making much noise, don’t pick her up unless she needs a nappy etc.. and leave as quick as possible.
It only took a week for my daughter to get used to it and it almost broke my heart letting her cry but its fine now and she loves her own room.
As long as your daughter is comfortable and not in danger you can let her cry.
Hope this helps
April 18th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
She is hungry
April 18th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Whatever you do, don’t put her back in your bed and be consistent. At 5 months its still normal for them to wake up at night..with my son I’d rock or rub his back until we went to sleep and give him the binky. If that doesn’t work after a few minutes, you should walk out. Don’t make her cry for a while before you go in…either go in after a minute (sometimes they wake and go right back to sleep) or not at all. Good luck…the sooner you get her into her own bed, the better off you’ll be!
April 18th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
What to expect the first year has some info that is not really correct. You’d be better off with the baby book, by Dr. Sears.
It might be too soon for her to sleep on her own. Try sneaking out of bed before she wakes up to let her sleep alone for a bit (still supervised, of course). Also, try having her crib in your room to let her get used to it.
April 18th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
what if you sidecar the crib to your bed? put her to bed in your bed, then when you go to bed, move her to the crib – she can still see you and still knows you’re there. once that’s working, put her to bed directly in her crib.
once she’s going in it consistently, start putting the side up so the crib is next to your mattress but separate.
once that works, move the crib away from the mattress just a bit – couple feet or so.
once that works, put a sheet up between the mattress and crib.
after that, moving her to her own room should be fairly easy.
April 18th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
My son is also 5 months we kinda half and half lol. We put him to bed after we have gotten him asleep ( that is something you can try instead of putting her down awake). Then he will wake up to eat around 2 or 3 am sometimes he will even sleep intill 5 am just depends on his mood I gusses lol, We have been pretty lazy so when she wakes up I just grab him and a bottle and bring him in our bed then of course we will all 3 fall asleep but it is not comfortable for me so I really need to keep putting him back in his bed when he is done eating. My son will also sleep all night when he is in our bed from the beginning but we try not to so it will not become a habit for him.
Make sure your daughter is well fed before bed and maybe she will stay asleep for at least 5 or 6 hours in her bed.
April 18th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Have you tried putting her in a bassinet/play pen in your bedroom? That would get her out of your bed but still have her close enough for comfort.
April 18th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
I got the same book and tried to follow their advise but had to tweek things here and there for what works for me. I cant stand to let my baby cry and sure you cant too.
She coslept with us till she was 4 months. However, i switched to her crib but put the crib in same room. She still wakes once or twice but only to eat and goes back to sleep. If she isnt hungry, i give her the binky and she’s fine.
When my baby sees me, it doesnt make it worse, instead it calms her so i would definetly go check on her after a few mins like you’ve been doing. It wont last much longer, sure she’d outgrow it soon.