I need to get my 7 month old out of our bed. We sleep with him that way I could nurse him and get some sleep. He really doesn't need to nurse during the night anymore although he does once or twice but I think its just cause I am laying next to him. Its no longer safe now that he is getting more mobile, today he fell on, he is fine, but I almost threw up. I usually lay down w/ him and nurse him till he falls asleep then sneek out, but I can just lay him down on our bed and he will fall asleep by himself. When I try to put him in his crib he cries but really gets upset, it breaks my heart! I have tried to let him cry it out, the longest being 45min going in there occasionally to pat his back. I usually give in, and put him in our bed. Please give me advice, suggestions, or your stories.
Listen to your heart! If crying is not your thing then by all means keep cosleeping, but may be move to a larger bed or put a bedrail. I never had the heart to let my DD cry it out. She's almost 3 and we still cosleep. She's learned how to wean herself and sleep through the night with minimal amount of crying.
We went through something similar. My son started crawling and cruising at 6 months and tried to get out of the bed. I tried moving him to a crib, but the crying was awful and nobody got any sleep. In the end, we put our mattress and box springs on the ground and put guard rails on the bed. That would be my advice personally. As far as night nursing goes, he's still a bit young but here's an excellent article on night nursing: http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/ap/sleep.asp. I would also suggest the Elizabeth Pantley book -- No Cry Sleep Solution. It was very helpful for us.
I did several things to make the nursing work for us at that age. For the times when it's really easy to nurse him to sleep in your bed and then you want to slip away, we put one of the kid's toddler bed side rail dealies on our king size bed. That worked for a while, but your son may be too mobile even for that. Another thing that worked well for me was to make sure that when I nursed, I was either sitting on one of the blankies my sons slept with or I had one or two snuggled up with us while we nursed - that way I could lay them in the crib on top of a warm blanket and also lay a warm blanket on them to avoid them waking up when you put them down. I never found that letting them cry works at all - that just teaches them that you're not there to meet their needs and nursing many of their emotional as well as nutritionally needs at this very young age (the pay now versus pay later theory that seems to have held up quite well given that my babies are now 12 and almost 15).
Maria, I was just like you! My dd was waking up 2-3 times a night (she is 6 1/2 months old), and I would eventually give in and bring her to bed with me. We had 10 days straight of overnight guests for the holidays, and she just was not sleeping well, so I kept bringing her to bed. But, I decided I had to let her cry it out. Last week, she cried for 1 1/2 hours, but I did not give in. I checked on her after 30 mins and then after 60 mins to make sure that she was okay. When I went into the room, she would stop and as soon as I left, she started up again. I knew she was fine. The next night, she woke up 3 times, each crying for 30 minutes at a time. But, the past 2 nights have been great! She slept 830 until 5, not waking up to nurse! And last night was 900 until 430. So, I know it is hard, but you can do it. It really does make a difference. Let us know how it goes.
I don't let my DD cry it out. She does not co-sleep with us, but she did sleep in our bedroom in her pack and play until she got too big for it. She is currently 7 months old and sleeps fine in her crib. I think it was harder on me than her.
How I got her to sleep in her crib was a process of nuturing. Basically, if she cried as if she needed me (actual crying and not a whimper), I would go in check her diaper. Change her if she needed it. If that was all she needed, she would go back to sleep. If not, I give her a bottle and she eats until full and goes back to sleep. I put her back in her crib. If she had cried at this point, I would rock her until she went back to sleep. Always making sure her needs are met: diaper, hunger, snuggle.
The fact is, she has built up a trust that I will be there when she needs me. She does not feel abandoned in her crib. She is the happiest baby I know. She wakes up once a night (normally after 8 hours)... eats and goes back to sleep for 2 hours. She wakes up playing with the mirror in her crib for about 30 minutes and then cries out for me. I go get her, and we start our day.
Put yourself in the little guy's shoes. The person that has always been there for you is making you go cold turkey and isn't answering you when it has always worked before. I wouldn't personally like that.
Lastly, I do put her in a zip up blanket at night, the wearable kind. Since he is used to sleeping with you, he may be cold. The blanket gives them a sense of security. You can always tell if your baby is too hot or cold by testing the back of their neck.
This is just what I have done for my little one. Good luck!
A few days of cold turkey and he will be fine. If you stop going in to calm him he will learn quicker. It takes 3 days usually to stop all habits. I just went through this with moving my 2 year old to a toddler bed instead of his crib. It took 3 days and now he is fine :) Good luck,
