7 month old cosleeping advice?

[ben_joy]

For some context:

0-4 months: swaddled. baby slept in Snoo overnight at the end of our bed and did contact naps or naps in the crib in a lounger. Got 2 hour stretches overnight until 3 months, and only 45 minute naps… then between 3-4 months, did one long stretch for first half then up every hour from 2-6 am.

4-5 months: Merlin suit. Snoo overnight in the nursery, naps wherever we could get her down. Some nights of a couple decent stretches but mostly 2 hours. Sometimes I’d fall asleep with her in the recliner just so she’d sleep. Still short naps.

5-6 months: Merlin, working toward Zipadee Zip. Snoo in our room again, mixed with a few nights in our bed, but she bottle feeds (combo fed for reflux issues) so it’s a pain to get up every time she wakes up rather than side lying like most bedsharing parents.

6 months-now: Snoo for half the night, then I take her into bed and cuddle her. Some nights she sleeps great, some nights she just stirs and wakes up every hour.

ALSO! We have an overnight doula twice per week who takes her into the guest room in the Snoo… she definitely lets her “fuss” a bit more than I do. Could this be affecting her sleep because of the inconsistency of where and how she wakes?

We are also getting rid of the goddamn Snoo finally.

So, I’m wondering a couple of things… what is a cosleeping option that has worked for people’s older infants who can’t side lie to feed? I assume the Arms Reach will be too small for her now (correct me if I’m wrong) so do I do a floor bed and a rocker in the bedroom so I don’t have to change rooms to soothe her? Do I do a floor bed in a separate room in case she’s waking because of us? Are there larger cosleeper bassinets? I know it’s all relative, I’m just losing so much sleep and I’m open to any and all suggestions. I just think it’s bizarre that some nights she sleeps 6 hours and the next night she’s up every hour.

Help meee!

 

[dvz]

@ben_joy Have you tried to side lie and feed while in the bed? my almost 7 month old still feeds that way at night. Honestly it took us about a month to figure out cosleeping and what worked for us, but now it's great. I cant guarantee it will get rid of the frequent wake ups, but it's so much easier when you are laying right beside them. I know it's probably late to get a normal crib, but now that our girl is starting to roll a lot we are about to remove one side of her crib and have it pushed up to the bed so she still as her own area, but i don't have to get up to get her back to sleep!!

 

[holyoption]

@ben_joy I don’t have too much helpful advice but I have a 3 yr old and 7 week old. We bedshare with the 7 week old and she’s bottle fed. When she starts stirring I prep a bottle at the nightstand and feed her that way. Another option could be to sidecar a crib?

the only other thing I’d say is for us, changing rooms in the middle of the night can be pretty jarring for our baby so we try not to.

 

[stevenxuniv]

@ben_joy My son is almost 7 months old and has just outgrown his Arm's Reach Mini-Ezee. I think the regular-sized Arm's Reach (the Ideal-Ezee?) would probably work fine for you for a while. I think the Arm's Reach is a similar size to a regular pack and play, if I'm remembering correctly? My friend uses a pack and play exclusively for her almost two year old. We're planning to swap out the Arm's Reach for a mini crib in the next week. Don't really have a plan yet for how to encourage him to sleep in there - hoping the more comfortable mattress helps. Our plan is to have the mini crib in the room, and probably get rails for our bed when he inevitably ends up in there with me. We live in a one-bedroom apartment, though, so our sleeping arrangements are limited.

I totally hear you about being all over the place with sleep. I feel like I try to encourage him to stay in the bassinet for the first couple of stretches for a few nights at a time, and then I get so tired and frustrated, I just bring him into bed with me from the start. He's a very restless sleeper, and we've tried so many things to help (up every 45min - 1.5 hours since 3 months old). Also so many swaddles and sleep sacks. I was using Baby Merlin sleepsuit for a little while, but didn't feel comfortable having him in that while in bed with me.

 

[holdonpainends]

@ben_joy I started night weaning my little one around that age and it helped tremendously because she would be okay with a bit of water and then fall back asleep and it actually overall helped her sleep through the night.

Otherwise I would have the pre-made formula or water and powder by the bedside so I could make her a quick and small bottle. I’d decrease the amount I was feeding her every night though (circling back to weaning her) and never give her more than 2 oz per wake.

I have a decent sleeper (don’t be jealous because she’s also a difficult and high maintenance baby when she’s awake) as well so it’s also a lot of luck. Honestly, I truly believe how well your baby sleeps is just genetic/their personality. Also stay strong- I found my baby slept better cosleeping and her sleep got a lot better around the 8-9 month mark.

 

[helpmetohelpothers]

@ben_joy My LO had coslept since birth, at 7-8m she had her first try at sleeping between husband and I in regular bed and did great. We have a more firm mattress and we each use separate blankets so there is a gap between us of empty space. We are also in a king size bed but her first time cosleeping between us was while camping in a queen size bed and it was perfect. My biggest fear was my husband not noticing her hahaha he is more aware and particular about where she is in bed than I am and she doesn't give him a chance to forget by petting his back hair, kicking him, or torpedoing her head into his back.

We sleep on a tall height bed. Having her between us keeps her on the bed. She has never gone out the end and now at 20m is expert at getting on and off the bed unassisted.

It sounds to me like you're overthinking your setup a bit but it's understandable since you're just really beginning to foray into bedsharing and need to find what works for you.

 

[ben_joy]

@helpmetohelpothers Thanks for this!
Bedsharing has just been stressful because she stirs all night and is noisy, so it keeps me up because I know it’s waking up her dad all night. I don’t know what happened but at 6 months she started to wake up every hour again (although like I said, has never been a great sleeper)

 

[katrina2017]

@ben_joy Mine did this at six months too, I tell anyone that listens that it was the worst time for sleep! My little one was starting solids and learning to crawl at the time so I guess he had a lot going on and it affected his sleep. However, it passed and cosleeping saved my sanity in the meantime.

 

[ben_joy]

@katrina2017 That’s so comforting to hear! Yes, also starting solids and tries to crawl every chance she gets… this is NOTHING compared to the 4 month regression for me!!

 

[godleadus]

@helpmetohelpothers How did you feed her if she slept in between? Would u still switch her sides to nurse from the other boob?

 

[helpmetohelpothers]

@godleadus I never did BF full time, I had really low supply like 1 feed a day after pumping all day. She stopped boob feeds at like 3m and they were never worth much besides connection.

But there's methodology for sidelying bf on both breasts! And as your LO gets older they'll just do it themselves.

When she was hungry she would start to quietly fuss- lip smack, breathing changes, pawing at me, getting wiggly so I would wake and get her out of bed to feed.

 

[drybomber]

@ben_joy I imagine having a doula following a different routine in a different space could be confusing, although I suppose it's not dissimilar to a child moving between parents or houses.

What option are you leaning towards?

 

[ben_joy]

@drybomber I really want to just have some consistency. It’s like I change what we’re doing every night out of desperation, so sometimes I’m like “let’s just sleep with her” but then I put her in the Snoo because she’s too active in her sleep and she’s waking me all night. Then I take her into the bed the next waking because I’m exhausted. We are in the middle of moving (in 3 weeks) and that seems like an eternity to get a floor bed, but it also seems like a pain to have one more thing to move.

 

[drybomber]

@ben_joy It's not easy at all, but I imagine trying something consistently might be more beneficial for your sleep in the longer term. Maybe it will be easier in the new place to start a new routine?