Making DS cosy so he'll stay asleep!

OK.. since living with my mum for the last 2 months, Tallon has slept on and off in our bed, coz his cot is in our room, and quite frankly.. I got lazy. LOL. I don't mind him being in our bed.. quite like it! but now he won't sleep in his cot AT ALL. Not even through the day.

Feeding to sleep isn't working very well these days, unless he's really tired, and if I put him in his cot awake.. he just rolls right over and stands himself up.. and then gets upset if I leave (fair enuf). If I put him in asleep, he wakes at 40 minutes on the dot.

He will however, sleep for a couple of hours if he's on my mum's lap! argh! He'll also sleep in our bed (with us) for a few hrs before waking.

My questions are:

He seems to like being next to my pillow in our bed - is it too early to give him a pillow in the cot?

And is there any way of making him feel more 'cosy' in the cot to help him sleep - just as if he were in someone's lap? At the moment (at night anyway) he's just in his sleeping bag, and put in the cot with nothing else.

He won't take a dummy either :( It's mainly daysleeps that i'm concerned with atm.

Any suggestions?

Anyone? Please? Help?? LOL

We had major screaming fits last night if we even attempted putting him in his cot.. and he was asleep! He screamed in his sleep if I even tried to put him in the cot. DH suggested it could be the 'descent' into the cot that he doesn't like? Argh - who knows.

Liz, sorry your having such a hard time with Tallon at the moment. Sorry I have no solutions for you though :(

Tehya is 21 months old and still does the same thing so if you work out something let me know.

I think it's the whole security thing. They just like to know that we are there.

As for the whole descent thing, somedays I will cuddle Tehya so close as I am bringing her down to the cot and keep my head next to her. Yes it's a pain and nope it doesn't always work but hey, you do what you need to. Other times i she starts being feral when I try to lower her I take her into my bed and lay down with her. She usually crashes out then.

Thanks Trish. It's frustrating coz I can plop him down on our bed and he stays fast asleep.. whether I'm next to him or not.. and moving him from there is a bad idea, results in the same screaming. And through the day, I have to be on the ball for when he wakes up, or he'll just crawl off the edge of the bed!

That's why I wonder whether having a pillow or something next to him in his cot might be worth a try? Is it 12 months tho that is recommended to go without a pillow?

Yeah I do think it's about 12 months. Saying that though, Tehya still doesn't have one. I generally don't give them one until they go into a bed.

I can't transfer Tehya either. Even from the car now she is getting harder to transfer to her cot. It's a right PITA !!

I'd happily put Tallon in a big bed of his own if I could stop him crawling off it. LOL.

He sleeps with our big pillows surrounding him on our bed, and often nuzzles his face up to mine - so I've kinda broken the pillow rule already LOL. Surely a proper cot pillow won't hurt? They breathe better or something I think. I've got one somewhere - think it's in storage tho. I might be norty and give it a go when we move. It's only for being next to him, not to use AS a pillow iykwim.

I've tried a toy, and he doesn't like it. He also rolls around a lot now.. and bashes into the side of the cot which doesn't help. I'm considering sleeping with his sheets so his cot then smells like our bed. LOL. I'm getting desperate!

Not that I mind him sleeping with us through the night.. but thru the day it's a pain.. and well... we want to be able to TTC #2 soon! Not much of that going on with him sleeping between us! LOL.

Same issues here with Alexa..... so not a fun time!!!!!!

I have given her a really flat pillow though... but she still fights sleep till the bitter end!!!!!

Perhaps they're still going through a 'stage' Mitch. I'm still trying to get my hands on The Wonder Weeks. LOL. Maybe it's completely normal.. and all these other babies that sleep contentedly AREN'T normal! LOL. (I'll keep telling myself that anyway ;) )

Rylee is only just over three months and I have the same problem - she screams her head off as soon as I lower her into the cot in the day - I have no solution unfortunately - just hoping it is a stage and it will pass - grrrrrr......sorry ladies no help from me!!
Laurin

Well ladies.... at least we know we arent alone with this problem!!!!!

maybe we should swap numbers & that way we have someone to talk to when the rest of the world is sleeping LOL....

Yay - he slept until 5.30 this morning in his cot! yay! Took a few settles last night, but then he SLEPT. Not expecting a repeat performance tho LOL.

Woo hoo way to go Tallon... you are allowed to repeat that performance..

YAY. Good boy Tallon. So did you end up putting a pillow in there Liz ???

Nah, no pillow. Not really sure WHY he slept LOL. I did find a magic spot to rub on his back tho! LOL. Stopped him rolling right over onto his tummy and lifting himself up.. which is what wakes him up. I'll test it again tonight :)

I only gave my kids a pillow in the cot wheni was getting ready to transfer them into a bed (about a month before) but i just gave them an old almost flat one. xander used to have the same p[roblem, so i used to lower him and and just pat his bum for ages, usually sitting next to his cot with a book LOL

When you put him to bed, maybe start some sort opf a routine?? Say bath - cuddles, book, and then lay him down, but when you lay him down, no eye contact. I do that, but just "goo night, i love you so much" and leave.... but i also have aneliese wrapped (i know thats abit hard when Tallon is much older and bigger!!!) I'm trying to think of other ways i have done it... i co slept with xander for a while, and then met Dh who moved in and Xander was moved to the bed and DH rolled about too much...

Anyways, HTH, i will keep thinking of other ways for you...

ETA and if you do go in to settle Tallon, NO EYE CONTACT!!! HEhehe. I find they scream louder if you talk to them while looking at them...

hi we don't use a cot at all, our babys/toddlers have always slept with us, um during the day would you want to try boobing him to sleep on your bed and using a side rail to stop him falling out? and when you hear him starting to wake quickly go in and boob him again. or else have you a sling? oscar sleeps alot in our sling during the day or on our bed. that's my only suggestions.

re the pillow SIDS do recommend not to use one until after 1 year i think.

good luck
beckles

We boob to sleep most of the time. It seems to be different every night these days what settles him tho.

I feed him to sleep - but then he stirs and wakes up after a short time, I attempt other comforting before puting him back on the boob. Tonight, I put him on our bed, and man.. he was squirming around.. wouldn't stay still! Twisting and turning.. like he couldn't get comfortable. I grabbed a toy that plays classical music - that settled him, and he went off to sleep! One thing that comforts him is reaching up and grabbing a handful of my hair. Grrr - trying to break that habit! LOL. I'm on the lookout for a hairy toy that he can grab and have in his cot. hehe.

Liz, break the habit hun. Tehya still has a handful of my hair, it annoys the crap out of me in the middle of the night. Actually any time really LOL.

Goodluck Liz, hoping that Tallon starts to sleep better for you real soon :)

Yes! He rolls over and grabs my hair! It's funny tho through the day, I was lying on the lounge and he came up to me, grabbed my hair, andput his head down as if he was going to sleep! LOL.

But yes, it's VERY annoying. When I'm carrying him he grabs my hair and eats it too. If I tie my hair back, he still grabs it on the sides, and it hurts then!

Liz, Tehya would walk over hot coals to get my hair. She often manages to get the little short ones at the back of my neck. They hurt like mad too. She runs the end of my hair too. It ends up all split :(

Thankfully she doesn't eat it, but has been known to lick it occassionally !!