S/O Sleep Habits - does this seem normal?

[dragonfly1809]

Stalking this post. Sorry, I don't have any answers - I'm curious myself as to what others are doing.
Oliver's the same as far as sleeping so much better - and longer - on me for naps... Which is fine when I'm awake, but I worry so much about falling asleep with him like that.

At night we seem to have a fairly regular system, and he does go in his bassinet ...but daytime all sleeping is done in my arms.
He's only 4 weeks though so I'm not too worried about habits yet.

Lurking for responses......

[wifey]

Tate was all over the place at that stage. I did put him in the crib from day one, so there was no transition except for a move upstairs to his own room at six months. I just did what I could at that stage. Rocked him in the bouncer, swing, supervised tummy sleep on his lamb mat. We were constantly putting the soother in his mouth and wondered if we would ever sleep again. We did anything we could do to get him to sleep. At night, he was up to feed every few hours, but would also suck his hands and make a symphony of noises, so his room was a great move when we were ready.

I just tried very hard to be consistent. I encouraged his little schedule that became more predictable around 5-6 months. He slept through the night with one 4am feeding at 6 months, then by 7 months, he slept through the night, and took two naps in his crib during the day. It was a messy process to get a routine, but once we had one, he seemed to thrive with it.

At almost three months, it does not sound unusual that VB is still not in a predictable pattern. I can only say that consistency and persistence helped us. We did naps where we could, then one in the crib, then two in the crib, and at night, it seemed it was really up to him when he was ready to STTN.

I also read a sleep training book that gave me a lot of perspective. I will go grab the title and post it shortly.

[wifey]

Healthy sleep habits, happy child. By Marc Weissbluth, MD. This did not exactly lay out a plan, but gave me great perspective when determining how to push Tate a little based on where the book categorized his personality. it showed me my son was very easy going (I had nothing to compare him to so I was surprised) so I could easily do a modified crying it out. I tried to help teach him to self soothe by giving him the opportunity, but still comforted him if he became too upset.

I liked the book because it recognized that all babies are not the same, and a higher needs, more sensitive baby would need a different strategy than a calmer baby. GL!

[lunabug924]

We had better success with transitioning her to the crib for night time sleep first (around 10 weeks) and then worked on naps. It was a pretty seamless transition from the RNP, but we were also still swaddling. We just worked on one thing at a time. We didn't ditch the swaddle until almost 4 months!

We didn't have a lot of luck with naps in the crib until about 6 months. I actually had to do sleep training with that, even though her night time sleep had been great for so long. Ferber only made her angry, so I had to do CIO. It was so hard, but now naps are a breeze! Not very long, but consistent. And it never affected her night time sleep.

Your LO is definitely still too young for any kind of sleep training, so I agree with the advice to keep doing what you need to do for everyone to be happy. Do you have a swing? That was our go-to for naps. Not a great habit, I'll admit, but it allowed me to put her down and get stuff done.

Who will be watching LO when you go back to work? If it's a daycare, I know most providers are very knowledgeable when it comes to babies who don't regularly nap in a crib at home. They'll use their own techniques and get LO on their schedule. If it's a family member, then they may have to resort to whatever means necessary.

Going back to work is stressful enough. Don't add any more stress over LO's sleep schedule. You're still in survival mode.

[meagpt22]

Honestly Emma slept great in her crib at night but was a terrible napper in there until yesterday at almost 4 months old. I think daycare helped. So maybe try to see if she'll nap in the swing since its independent of you but will help with the soothing.

Also try nighttime swaddling arms out..we had to do that since day one. VB will soon out grown startle reflex.

[lunabug924]

If you don't want to reintroduce the swaddle, then I highly recommend a sleep sack. We love the halo sleep sacks, and still use them! She can roll and move around, but still confined enough to feel cozy.

[lunabug924]

Feb 22, 2015 22:47:20 GMT -5 vigorousbabymama said:

Feb 22, 2015 22:11:46 GMT -5 lunabug924 said:

If you don't want to reintroduce the swaddle, then I highly recommend a sleep sack. We love the halo sleep sacks, and still use them! She can roll and move around, but still confined enough to feel cozy.

We use a sleep sack now! She loves it in the Rnp but I haven't tried it in the crib or larger basinette because I just assumed it wouldn't give her enough of a cozy feeling. Maybe just putting it on her would help signal to her that it's sleepy time.....

Thanks again ladies!

That last sentence in your comment is key! If you already have a good routine for sleep, it makes the transition so much better. Our routine for night time was always bath, pjs/swaddle, book, bottle, bed. When we made he transition we just changed where we put her down, but everything else was the same so she knew it was bed time. If you don't already have a strong routine, then definitely start one. Good luck!