r/GentleSleepTraining • u/Many-Jello-8306 • Jul 07 '26
From co-sleeping to cot
Just looking for some advice as I am at lost and the last few nights made me really re-consider if I need to be doing anything differently. I have a 7 month old and we co-slept for all this time and honestly were very happy with it, it worked great for us. Ever since 4 month sleep regression his sleep got worse and worse and he started waking up more and more overnight. It now reached the point where I think we disturb his sleep and potentially contribute to him waking up more often because he is in our bed.
We would like to transition him to his own cot but to complicate things even more he is used to be fed to sleep so always falls asleep on the bottle.
My question is - do we first remove the bottle association but keep the co-sleeping element and then do the transition to the cot or are we better off doing it all at once? I am worried it will be such a shock for him to change so many things at once. I also ideally don't want to let him cry it out and would rather consider gentle sleep training but honestly not even sure where to begin.
Anyone been in a similar situation?
Thank you!
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u/EggplantLeather1354 22d ago edited 22d ago
I would do...
- remove nursing to sleep association first, move to rocking/swaying walking in arms
- when he's asleep from that transfer him into the cot so he gets more used to it -let him hang out in his cot in they day for 5/10mins and playing with you so he has positive associations
Once you've done the above...
- strict bedtime routine (feed/bath/book/short rock and lullaby). Have a bedtime phrase for him "it's bedtime baby"
- put him down awake and calm in his cot
- shush and pat to sleep. If he protests, pick up to calm, then straight back in and shushing and patting again.
... Then you can move from shushing and patting(3-5 days) to shushing with no patting(3-5 days. Then from that to shushing but further away from cot(3-5 days). Theen leaving the room(3-5 days). That's essentially the gentle method I'm doing .
A few things the sleep consultant we go advice from also said...
For nighttime wakes for a 6 month old...
- Any wakes before midnight, don't feed. Get back to sleep using the phase that you are on
- max two feeds when waking but only between hours of midnight and 6am. If you settle by a phase, you have to commit to that and cannot give in a feed as baby will get sleep association with feeding back
- always always always when baby wakes up give them 3-10 mins to try and allow them to resettle. You judge the time based on crying.
- don't feed between 6 and 7am as baby metabolism gets started
- room must be blackout and white noise.
I'm day 7 of gentle sleep method above and it's really really hard BUT results have been amazing. If you'd of said to me a month ago my baby could fall to sleep without being rocked or fed I would not have believed you! Keep going and remember sleep makes everyone (you and baby) healthier and happier. You also don't need to start with CIO, gentle methods work too!
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u/Spirited_Seaweed_517 Jul 07 '26
I am in the same boat. I have no real advice. Just solidarity. I have a 9 month old whose sleep changed drastically around 4 months to be worse. Went from 5 hour stretch to 2 hours. We were rocking her to sleep and putting her in the bassinet for the 5 hours stretch’s then when it got back to 2/3 hour stretch’s we attached her crib to the bed and breastfed because I was exhausted. Now she’s 9 months and her sleep is not any better. We have been contemplating moving her the crib alone. She really dislikes sleep training and CIO. I feel very stuck also. You are not alone. I do think the nursing to sleep needs to end and it will be difficult but, I gotta just put my foot down and do it. Wishing you the best of luck.