Moving from co-sleeping to getting 3 month old to sleep in cot - help!

[Sparkeleigh]

Hi,
We've sort of fallen into constant co-sleeping with our 3 month old DS. We used to be able to put him into his moses basket once he'd fallen asleep, but now he's too big for it and we're having no luck getting him to sleep in his cot.

The cosleeping works for him, and he'll do 4-5hrs at a time but he's really wriggly so I end up getting thumped awake and my DH is finding it hard to sleep from worry that he'll suffocate under the duvet.

Anytime we try to put him down in his cot while he's asleep, he'll either jump as he touches the mattress and start screaming, no matter now gently we set him down or if we've prewarmed it for him, or he'll stay there for just long enough for us to relax and think that it's finally worked and then start screaming.

I normally feed him to sleep then lie with him against my chest before rolling him onto his back beside me. He'll wake up if I hold him in the cradle position after feeding him.

I'm out of ideas to get him to sleep in the cot. Any suggestions would be very welcome...

[ArtemisTheHunter]

No wisdom to offer I'm afraid Spark but I'm offering solidarity and hoping someone else will come along with success stories and hope! We are in a similar situation with 5.5 mo dd. Fell into co sleeping early on to save sanity but now need to get her into her cot as none of us sleep well any more. We are just persisting. It took 4 hours last night before she finally went down for more than half an hour at a stretch but she did settle eventually. She became a dreadful sleeper anyway when the 4 month regression hit so it's no worse than the last few weeks have been!

[Sammie101]

Does he take a dummy? Maybe you could sit next to his cot and sooth him until he falls asleep and then leave? Hopefully after a few days it'll get easier and you'll be able to put him down and leave straight away.

I was petrified of putting DD in her cot when she outgrew her Moses basket but after the first night she figured out that she prefers it in there and now will not fall asleep on me (which sometimes makes me a little sad because I miss the peaceful cuddles ) but makes life so much easier!

[rach2713]

Have you looked into either taking the side off his cot and putting it next to your bed so he's still next to you but you have space. Try putting his favourite blanket on the sheet we done that with or lil girl it's warm abd soft she sleeps great

[Sparkeleigh]

Thanks for the replies! Sorry to hear you're also having problems Artemis, I'm dreading the 4 month sleep regression!

We managed about 20 mins in the cot last night, then after that it was just persistent screaming when he went in/woke up after a few mins so we gave up and ended up cosleeping again. We try soothing him into sleep and when he wakes but he seems to go from peacefulness to full on screaming really quickly so we pick him up then and settle him and we are back to the start!

We haven't tried a dummy, I was thinking about it but DS seems to be teething and gets terrible wind pains when he sucks and chews on his teething toys so I was afraid a dummy would be the same.

I think taking the side off is a great idea, I have to convince DH though, he thinks the structural integrity of the cot will be comprised or that the baby will fall into the gap between the bed and the cot... I'll have a Google, I'm sure I've seen something about using a sheet as a bridge between the two though.

Thanks again for the replies!

[SarahAnderson]

Could check out a proper co sleeper side thing? (Like the NCT bed nest) Then move it into another room once established?