From cosleeping to cot/crib

🐥 Infant 2-12 Months

Hi all. Looking for some advice and hoping this might be the right place. Our little one is 5 months. We've been cosleeping since she was about 3 months. I can't remember exactly. We started out with the cot in the same room as us, as recommended. She had been sleeping well on her own, with my night owl husband taking care of the night feeds and care (we did combi feed) but then one night (around 2.5month?) she started waking constantly, not wanting the bottle, and my husband just couldnt settle her. She'd only settle with me.

This became exhausting so we decided to butt the cot up against the bed sidecar style so I could comfort her more easily while she kept her own space. Unfortunately she started rolling onto her front not long after (plus crawling out of bed was driving me nuts) so a couple weeks later we had to put the cot back together but still kept it close to the bed.

But then again she would wake every 20-30 minutes and would only fall asleep while nursing. So I just started co-sleeping for our sanity. I wasn't happy about it as I was worried about our lumpy mattress or her rolling off the bed. All those normal worries. But husband keeps and eye on us and says I seem to lock myself into position around her and don't move all night. Apparently I even "wake up" and look at him if he makes any noise but I dont recall it.

Anyway, she basically will only sleep with a boob in her mouth lol. We've tried here and there to put her into the cot when asleep, but with little luck. As soon as I manage to fall asleep in our bed she wakes up. Even in the day she won't sleep for more than 30 minutes unless I'm laying with her. I think there's been two occasions where she's fallen asleep on her own, laying in the cot, and one nap where she linked sleep cycles and fell back asleep for another hour, but it does seem to be when the stars align.

Overall we're a bit stuck on how to tackle this. Id rather try and figure something out sooner than later as I would hope it's easier for younger babies to develop good habits. Plus husband and I want some time together lol.

We have a noise machine, a star projector, we block out the sides of the crib towards the bed with muslins, we rock, hold her hand, we shush, we humm, lay her down while asleep, lay her down while half asleep, let her lay here (not crying) etc. We've googled all the tips and tricks but nothing seems to work. Either she wont fall asleep or she wakes up after a sleep cycle. Are we expecting too much at this age? Do we just tough it out for a few weeks until she gets the hang of sleeping through the night on her own? Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated

Posted Dec 5, 2025, 3:21 PM UTC

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