baby won't let us put her down to sleep

[csteely]

My sweet 6 month old baby is driving my DH and I a bit crazy at bedtime. She cosleeps and breastfeeds exclusively and I love it. The problem is at her bedtime (7-7:30) she won't let us put her down to sleep. We have been trying to get her to sleep the first couple of hours of the night in a pack n play, with the idea that we would take her to bed when we go to sleep. We've tried putting her down completely asleep, and can get her to stay asleep until the next sleep cycle is up, somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes. Usually only once a night, if that. We've also tried putting her down almost asleep (a la Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution), and the first night or two it worked a bit (same 15-30 minute down pattern) but now she cries almost immediately.

Lately, no matter what stage of sleep she's in, she wakes up as we're putting her in (no matter what contortions we go through to keep it slow, gentle, etc.) and gets upset. So what happens is my husband and I trade off holding her in her room until I go to sleep (usually by 9). The result is no couple time for us, no hour or so to get a few things done at the end of the day... it feels very unsustainable!!

She still naps almost exclusively in the beco carrier, which we're not messing with at the moment because she naps well (3-4 hrs a day). We don't have a sidecar on our bed because our bedroom is tiny, and our bed is too high to leave her in there alone.

Any suggestions???

[crunchy_mommy]

Would you consider ditching your bed & just putting the mattress on the ground? This is what we ended up doing with ours because DS will only fall asleep nursing so I nurse him to sleep and then I can get up & do things (although to be honest I'm usually too tired & just end up watching TV or reading while he sleeps!!) Sure our bedroom looks silly but I don't care, DS is safe sleeping with us & he loves climbing up onto the mattress so it's also been good for his development!

[Sasha299]

I found DS had the same problem until I covered his PNP and Crib with a Velor type fabric. Luckily DS has no sensitivity to this fabric and even when the room is cool the fabric is not - on the cotton sheets the change in temperature shocked him and woke him up. I even made a little square that he loves to rub against his cheek and use to soothe himself.

[csteely]

Thanks for the thought. I do have the fuzzy sheets on her mattress, and even with her blanket sleeper on, she can still tell she's down in the crib! *sigh* I did start working with a lovey too, with limited success. This one is a tough nut to crack! I'd rather not do CIO, and really don't want to do it out of desperation... ack.

Will have to take it up with DH to think about taking the mattress off the bed frame (from Ikea - pain in the #@$ to put together!)...

Thanks!

[lisavark]

Yeah, if you have your mattress on the floor, then you can lie down with her and then carefully roll away and she'll probably stay asleep.

Also, when my LO was that age, we got an Amby bed and it was worth every penny. Got it from a friend for half the retail price. I still can't set her down asleep, but for a while (about a year) I could nurse her to sleep and then set her in the Amby and rock it for a minute, and she would stay asleep. The Amby was also awesome because when she woke up, DH could go bounce her and sometimes she would go back to sleep without nursing.

GL!

[csteely]

Thanks lisavark, but we won't use an amby. I know this is anecdotal, but someone in my neighborhood recently lost their 5 month old in a hammock, so I won't go near them. I'm glad it worked for you though.

See here: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...highlight=amby