Moving away from co-sleeping

Hi all, Hoping to get some ideas and advice. My 7.5 month old is currently quite a good sleeper, she will sleep on me whilst I watch tv till around 10.30 and come into bed and co-sleep until her first feed around 4/5am. I have absolutely adored co-sleeping, after a very traumatic birth and her being in the NICU for the first week, it really helped with our bond and has been amazing. However, I am starting to feel like I just need a bit of space in the evenings. I have bought a cot to make into a side-car (in a hope that I can slowly and in our own time put the side up and then go to end of bed with the hope to eventually move her into her own room) and a monitor but would love some advice of how to get her to go down in the cot and sleep without me being next to her? I really don’t want any form of CIO, Ferber included as I just don’t feel comfortable with letting her cry at all. That being said, do I need to put her down awake? Any ideas/tips/advice and stories would be amazing. I know all babies are different but would be great to hear from people! Thanks so much in advance 💛

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Hey! Holistic sleep coach here! Feel free to give me a message or an email (email address in bio) if you want a plan sending over to help :)

My daughter never liked her bassinet or crib, we co-slept until she was about 6ish months. I bought a full-size floor bed for her. For the first couple of weeks, I slept with her in her bed, so she would get used to a new sleep environment. Then she would sleep the first half of the night alone, and we would co-sleep in her bed the second half. Slowly, she got used to sleeping in her room alone. We never did any kind of cry it out method. It worked great for our family.

We invested in a floor bed for baby’s room and we can now sneak out when he is asleep (after falling asleep next to one of us) in bed and know that he won’t hurt himself falling out of bed (cushioned floor with quilt/cushions next to bed) He just hated his cot! He was an exclusive contact napper and now he naps in his bed and we can leave the room if we want, with baby monitor on and baby gate on his room. Best investment as this will be his bed for years now x

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