How can I get my baby to sleep in his cot?

My baby boy Antony is six months old and has never slept through the night in his cot. For the first three months of his life he had terrible colic, and during that time I got into the habit of sleeping propped up in my bed with the baby in my arms because I couldn't bear the screaming when I put him in his cot. He is also fully breastfed, and although I started weaning him last week and his weight is now 15lbs, he still wakes up every 2-3 hours for a feed. We both get up utterly exhausted every morning, and Antony is grumpy and fractious during the day because he just isn't getting enough sleep. At four months when the colic stopped, I developed a good bedtime routine for him which I do my best to maintain. I bring him upstairs at 6.30, give him a bath and massage, put his sleepsuit on and read him a story. I then swaddle him, put in his dummy and sit and rock him for up to an hour to get him to sleep. He absolutely cannot get himself to sleep, and struggles, cries, arches his back and shrieks at the top of his voice before he will eventually give in and go to sleep. He fights sleep with every ounce of energy he has, and it is the same at naptime in the day. Once he is asleep I lower him into the cot. Sometimes he wakes up instantly and the whole process starts again. Sometimes he'll sleep for 10 minutes, sometimes 90 minutes, but never longer than that. His cot is in my room (I'm living with my parents and single, there is no other option), so once I go to bed myself about 10.00, it's easier just to bring him into bed with me. He wakes crying every 2-3 hours and needs rocking or feeding to sleep. Daytime naps are also difficult. He has to be rocked, and if he's in his cot will wake more frequently so I sometimes end up putting him on my bed to sleep, so have to supervise him continuously. At the moment I'm loosely following a PUPD method, as I absolutely cannot bring myself to try controlled crying. Please help, I'm desperate, we need sleep!

written 15 weeks ago by Sleepy9828 - 3 replies - viewed 112 times

labels: Sleeping in the cot

Category: Pick-up Put-down (PUPD)

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