Help Please....can't get her to sleep in her cot

[bilbo86]

Please can anyone give me some advice....our daughter is just over 6 weeks old and will now not sleep in her moses basket. I have let her since birth fall asleep in my arms at night and then put her down in her basket which was fine however she had been unwell for a few nights coughing and choking so i had her in the bed with us until she was better (big mistake i know!!!). Now when we try to put her in her basket she screams and screams so i end up picking her up and just letting her sleep with us.....within seconds of being in bed with us she falls asleep. i have tried several times during the night to put her back down in her basket but everytime she wakes up and screams....arghhhhh we just don't know what to do? I do realise I have probably brought this on myself but I can't stand to hear her cry

 

[lauramumof2]

What about putting a pair of your unwashed pyjamas in the moses basket or cot with her so your scent is there.

 

[Xena]

I can't help, to this day I have the same problem with Lydia...the only thing that stops her crying and gets her settled is a bottle of milk propped up (yes I know, naughty mammy). It's been a life saver though so stuff the rules.

 

[Urchin]

I agree about the scent thing, I would wear a T-shirt in the day and put it in Brody's crib at night.
(He will now sleep till about 4 am in his cot, in his own room, then have a feed and go into the travel cot in our room for the rest of the night.)

What about trying to get her to sleep in her moses basket by stroking her or "half" holding her, so she's in the basket but also knows where you are?

 

[bilbo86]

Thanks for that I will try putting some of my clothes in her moses basket and see if that helps.

I will alos try sitting next to her on stroking her head into she falls asleep so that she knows mummy is still there!

Will let you know how we get on

 

[chezzabell]

u could also try controlled crying thats what i had to do and it worked

 

[violet-glow]

u could also try controlled crying thats what i had to do and it worked

Stupid question coming up ....

What does that involve??

 

[chezzabell]

where u leave ur baby to cry for 2 mins go in and clam baby down, then let baby cry for 3 min go back in then leave baby to cry for 4 mins then go back etc etc untill ur baby gets that ur not going to go in and pick baby up. it can be very hard took 3 nights but very worth it i say.

 

[Jadie]

Hiya, May be its the Moses baskets she does not like? Oliver had a crib up stairs and a basket down stairs. But he would not go in the basket after 5 weeks old. Even if he went in asleep he wouuld wake up sceamimg. But he was always fine in his crib and now his big boy cot.

jadie

 

[bilbo86]

Sophie has now decided that it is not just her cot she won't sleep in she will now only sleep if she is in my arms or my DH arms! She is just over 9 weeks old now and it is driving us mad. The minute you put her down she pings her eyes wide open (even if she has been sleeping in your arms for a hour) and then starts crying. We can't carry on with her sleeping on top of one of us all day and night you can't get anything done. Just hoping for some suggestions from anyone? Don't know much about this controlled crying....can anyone give me some more advice on that and what to expect?

 

[MrsG]

Hi

Controlled crying is not recommended for babies youunger than eight months old.

Does she have a dummy? I found with my little one that she was quite hard to put down when she was really young, we found having a dummy made all the difference, maybe this might help you.

 

[bilbo86]

yeah she has a dummy which she does take but it still doesn't stop her waking up the minute we put her down!

 

Stupid question, but does she have any feeding problems such as wind? Have you tried to tilt the cot up at the top end so that she is laying slightly up? My son had feeding problems (reflux and struggled to bring up wind in the first few months). This is only a completely wild guess.

Do you want to co-sleep? Or do you definately want her in her own cot? I know Beanie co-sleeps with her daughter Seren so maybe she could give you some tips on making it safer if you daughter just will not go in the moses or cot?

 

[bilbo86]

yes she does seem to suffer from wind after some feeds and we have tried tilting the moses basket up at one end which didn't seem to make a difference (will try again tonight just in case). she goes to sleep very quickly when lying on her belly on top of me however when she is put on her back she wakes up. i was wondering if maybe it is that she doesn't like sleeping on her back .

we would prefer her to learn to sleep in her own cot rather than in bed with us. it was okay for the first few weeks but i think now we would like our bed back for the two of us!!!

 

Put her on her front then! Damien would never sleep on his back because of his wind and feeding problems, would cry and grunt and pull his legs up, but on his tummy he was fine. We had the cot tilted up a little too. Try that babe and see how it works.
If you are worried about the risks involved with letting your child sleep on their front, you could invest in a sleep monitor which checks their breathing. But give laying her on her tummy to sleep a go, and good luck babe