Transitioning to crib

[hannahl201477]

I have really been struggling the past couple of days. My baby has been a fantastic sleeper since day one. The last couple of nights he has been nearly impossible to lay down at night and once we finally do get him down he toss' and turns all night long so I'm getting no sound sleep. He is sleeping in a bassinet attachment on the pack and play. My mom suggested maybe he has gotten too big so he can't get comfortable. I know he is getting hard to lay down Bc I hold him for naps during the day. Today I have laid him in his crib for naps and that only lasts about 20 minutes so at 1:30 today I had an overly tired baby.

I NEED ADVICE!!

[wegrowsheep]

He will toss and turn regardless of the crib size. DS#1 moved from a crib to a playard at 14 months, back to the crib at 18 months, and again to the playard at 2 yrs, until he could climb out. (we moved around a lot at that time in our lives, lol) And he was a big kid. He slept fine.
So make the decision based on what works for you. Try moving the bassinet to his room for starters?

[carolyngrace]

I feel like it's so hard to give advice on this kind of thing because every parent and baby is different. I've said other places, but we put DB down sleepy, but awake. He cries for 3-4 minutes and then is out like a light. When we try to hold him until he's totally asleep it can take over an hour and he seems to get more worked up. He currently sleeps swaddled, in the RnP. He can fall asleep in the crib, too, but doesn't stay asleep as long.

My only advice would be try lots of different things... Swaddling, different sleep locations, etc. Like others' said, follow his cues and put him down when he starts acting tired. Maybe he's getting over tired at night, thus taking longer to put down.

[Widget123]

Some babies don't like sleeping flat so you could try a swing or rock n play at least temporarily as suggested by carolyngrace

[hannahl201477]

Aug 12, 2015 18:35:49 GMT -5 carolyngrace said:

I feel like it's so hard to give advice on this kind of thing because every parent and baby is different. I've said other places, but we put DB down sleepy, but awake. He cries for 3-4 minutes and then is out like a light. When we try to hold him until he's totally asleep it can take over an hour and he seems to get more worked up. He currently sleeps swaddled, in the RnP. He can fall asleep in the crib, too, but doesn't stay asleep as long.

My only advice would be try lots of different things... Swaddling, different sleep locations, etc. Like others' said, follow his cues and put him down when he starts acting tired. Maybe he's getting over tired at night, thus taking longer to put down.

You're right every baby is so different. I just need some different ideas! Haha. Sometimes we can lay him down still a little awake and he will go straight to sleep other times not so much. I keep telling myself he is just a baby and will have things "mess up" his day just like we do. But I'm just not use to him sleeping so badly.

And I REALLY need to learn to lay him down for naps during the day but he is just so peaceful and pretty when he is asleep! Hahaha

[jessila]

I just transitioned Owen to the crib this week. Naps currently happen best either in someone's arms or in the carseat. I tried to get him to nap in the crib for a few days last and it was a very lost battle. The same thing happened that I'm reading in all of yours - super short nap spurts where no one is happy. But the nights have been good. Last night was the first time ever that we had only 2 feedings!
He had been sleeping in our room in a Moses basket in a cradle (I know, slightly crazy but whatevs). I put the basket in the crib for the first three nights. Tonight I took the basket out but left the matress from it in the crib. He also likes sleeping in a wedge that holds him up on his side so that's in there too.

TL;DR- my baby hates napping in the crib but transitioning to it for nighttime has been pretty good.

[hannahl201477]

Aug 12, 2015 21:26:04 GMT -5 jessila said:

I just transitioned Owen to the crib this week. Naps currently happen best either in someone's arms or in the carseat. I tried to get him to nap in the crib for a few days last and it was a very lost battle. The same thing happened that I'm reading in all of yours - super short nap spurts where no one is happy. But the nights have been good. Last night was the first time ever that we had only 2 feedings!
He had been sleeping in our room in a Moses basket in a cradle (I know, slightly crazy but whatevs). I put the basket in the crib for the first three nights. Tonight I took the basket out but left the matress from it in the crib. He also likes sleeping in a wedge that holds him up on his side so that's in there too.

TL;DR- my baby hates napping in the crib but transitioning to it for nighttime has been pretty good.

This gives me hope! lol.

[sidneyvicious]

Argh. We just graduated from sleeping in the swing to the RNP. Sleeping in the crib feels like the baby equivalent of a doctorate! Kudos to those who are there. It's inspiring!

[billyhorrible]

LBB napped "in arms" for the first 3 months of his life. This is how I transitioned him to the crib for naps (He slept in the crib at night from his first night home).

Week 1: I laid the boppy right beside me on the couch and let LBB fall asleep on me. Then I, ever so slowly, rolled him onto the boppy, its arms supporting him the way mine would.


Week 2: After a week of this, LBB appeared to be alright staying asleep on something other than a warm body. Now it was time to get him to fall asleep on something other than a warm body. So at nap time, I would lay him in the boppy, lying beside it, holding both his little hands in mine. And I would sing him a lullaby. I still had to lie beside him, but by the end of the week, he was falling asleep and staying asleep - not on me!


Week 3: We started the move into the crib. We swaddled LBB at night, when he had no problem sleeping in his crib. With a very strong morro reflex, moving him into the crib without swaddling guaranteed a wake-up. So when moving him into the crib for naps, we introduced a daytime swaddle. I would swaddle him, turn on his white noise Sleep Sheep, and sit in the glider with him, singing a lullaby. He'd be asleep by the end of the song, and I'd transfer him into the crib.

Weeks 4-5: This was the hardest part of the transition, getting LBB to fall asleep on his own in his crib. Mine was never a "drowsy but awake" kid. At least for the first 4 months. But over the course of 2 weeks, he turned into a kid who could go from wide awake to asleep on his own. First I'd swaddle, then turn on the sleep sheep and lay him in the crib. Then I'd turn on his Fisher Price Soothe and Glow Seahorse. It plays music for 7 minutes, and LBB would watch the tummy light up, listen to the music, and fall fast asleep.


*Disclaimer 1: This process, as I stated, took 5 weeks. Which meant LBB started napping in his crib right around 4 months. JUST in time for the "4 month wakeful" to kick in - a period marked by a disturbance in infant sleep. So right as I got LBB into the crib for naps, his naps shortened from 90 minutes to (wait for it....) 20 minutes! They built back up over the next few weeks and at 5 months he was back to his regular napping.

*Disclaimer 2: This system worked fantastically until we had to stop swaddling. At which time, I could no longer just put LBB in his crib and he'd fall asleep. So we returned to the third step, rocking and then lying him in his crib.



With BH, I could skip the first two steps and just start with step 3. He still can't do step 4 yet, but he's also about 2 months younger, so maybe with time?

[turtletyme]

We just had our first successful crib nap this afternoon. I used the "rolled up towel" trick described here...
incredibleinfant.com/sleeping/baby-hates-crib/
I am still uncomfortable with having a foreign object in the crib, so I hope it's a very short term step.

[holliberry28]

Aug 13, 2015 16:10:26 GMT -5 turtletyme said:

We just had our first successful crib nap this afternoon. I used the "rolled up towel" trick described here...
incredibleinfant.com/sleeping/baby-hates-crib/
I am still uncomfortable with having a foreign object in the crib, so I hope it's a very short term step.

Thanks for sharing that website &turtletyme!

[turtletyme]

Aug 14, 2015 23:06:56 GMT -5 holliberry28 said:

Aug 13, 2015 16:10:26 GMT -5 turtletyme said:

We just had our first successful crib nap this afternoon. I used the "rolled up towel" trick described here...
incredibleinfant.com/sleeping/baby-hates-crib/
I am still uncomfortable with having a foreign object in the crib, so I hope it's a very short term step.

Thanks for sharing that website &turtletyme!

Hope it helps. Upon looking at it again, I suck at reading comprehension and did it upside down (cradling the head instead of butt). My intention was to create a fugazi rock n play seat. She's happy, but clearly the butt way would be a lot safer. Duh.

[jessila]

Guys--Owen is NAPPING in his crib. And has been for 30 minutes!!!! He wears a Love to Dream swaddle at night and I just randomly tried putting him in it earlier this week for nap time. He naps much more successfully because his startle reflex is controlled with it.

I can't say enough great things about this swaddle. www.lovetodream.com/Products/Original

[holliberry28]

Aug 16, 2015 10:44:54 GMT -5 jessila said:

Guys--Owen is NAPPING in his crib. And has been for 30 minutes!!!! He wears a Love to Dream swaddle at night and I just randomly tried putting him in it earlier this week for nap time. He naps much more successfully because his startle reflex is controlled with it.

I can't say enough great things about this swaddle. www.lovetodream.com/Products/Original

That looks so cool - I just bought the halo sleep sack, maybe exchange it now.. Do they sell that in baby's r us?

[mcp6286]

First crib nap and she's been asleep over an hour! I swear it is the mobile. I realized that she was staring at the butterflies hanging from her ceiling, so we put up a mobile in the crib and she was transfixed when I put her under it. She didn't even try to squirm out of her swaddle....just stared at it for 10 minutes, then fell asleep. FX this happens during the next crib nap too! I have to AW - look how cute:

[jessila]

Aug 16, 2015 11:05:32 GMT -5 holliberry28 said:

Aug 16, 2015 10:44:54 GMT -5 jessila said:

Guys--Owen is NAPPING in his crib. And has been for 30 minutes!!!! He wears a Love to Dream swaddle at night and I just randomly tried putting him in it earlier this week for nap time. He naps much more successfully because his startle reflex is controlled with it.

I can't say enough great things about this swaddle. www.lovetodream.com/Products/Original

That looks so cool - I just bought the halo sleep sack, maybe exchange it now.. Do they sell that in baby's r us?

I got both of ours on amazon. He was able to get his hands out of the halo swaddle we have so I just bought it to try and it's great!

[holliberry28]

Aug 16, 2015 12:01:02 GMT -5 jessila said:

Aug 16, 2015 11:05:32 GMT -5 holliberry28 said:

That looks so cool - I just bought the halo sleep sack, maybe exchange it now.. Do they sell that in baby's r us?

I got both of ours on amazon. He was able to get his hands out of the halo swaddle we have so I just bought it to try and it's great!

That's great! Thanks for the idea. You bought the originals?

[jessila]

I have 2 originals and just ordered the 50/50 in a large. They run kind of small. I got him the medium when he weighed 11lbs and it fit fine. He loves it and settles down as soon as it's on.
It drove me crazy when he still slept in our room because he would chomp on the fabric on the hands...which is the point I know. I'm convinced that they made the crib transition so much easier.

[Deleted]

Aug 15, 2015 17:17:30 GMT -5 turtletyme said:

Aug 14, 2015 23:06:56 GMT -5 holliberry28 said:

Thanks for sharing that website &turtletyme!

Hope it helps. Upon looking at it again, I suck at reading comprehension and did it upside down (cradling the head instead of butt). My intention was to create a fugazi rock n play seat. She's happy, but clearly the butt way would be a lot safer. Duh.

I looked at the website and I'm side eyeing her ideas. I don't see the point in adding so many props, rolled up towels etc to the crib. Especially during the 2-4 month SIDS time. Why not just hold off on the crib if baby hates it so much and have your baby sleep in a swing or RNP which are both probably safer that adding props, wedges or rolled up towels to the crib.

[turtletyme]

Aug 16, 2015 22:34:31 GMT -5 @poppyc8 said:

Aug 15, 2015 17:17:30 GMT -5 turtletyme said:

Hope it helps. Upon looking at it again, I suck at reading comprehension and did it upside down (cradling the head instead of butt). My intention was to create a fugazi rock n play seat. She's happy, but clearly the butt way would be a lot safer. Duh.

I looked at the website and I'm side eyeing her ideas. I don't see the point in adding so many props, rolled up towels etc to the crib. Especially during the 2-4 month SIDS time. Why not just hold off on the crib if baby hates it so much and have your baby sleep in a swing or RNP which are both probably safer that adding props, wedges or rolled up towels to the crib.

Fair enough. I keep going back and forth on it because of the sids thing, too and am going to weigh in with her dr on it. Rock n play is not supposed to be used for safe sleep, right? I also feel like it might be healthier for her not to room in because the nursery is the only room off limits to the dog and dog hair! This whole process is like a land mine.

We have ditched the props and naps are still going fine.

[holliberry28]

Aug 18, 2015 6:57:13 GMT -5 turtletyme said:

Aug 16, 2015 22:34:31 GMT -5 @poppyc8 said:

I looked at the website and I'm side eyeing her ideas. I don't see the point in adding so many props, rolled up towels etc to the crib. Especially during the 2-4 month SIDS time. Why not just hold off on the crib if baby hates it so much and have your baby sleep in a swing or RNP which are both probably safer that adding props, wedges or rolled up towels to the crib.

Fair enough. I keep going back and forth on it because of the sids thing, too and am going to weigh in with her dr on it. Rock n play is not supposed to be used for safe sleep, right? I also feel like it might be healthier for her not to room in because the nursery is the only room off limits to the dog and dog hair! This whole process is like a land mine.

We have ditched the props and naps are still going fine.

I thought the RNP was safe. We have cat hair all over the place, keeping up with the vacuuming has proven a challenge. I won't feel comfortable having M in his own room for probably another 1-2 months.

[turtletyme]

holliberry28, the warning on a rock n play says it is not to be used for unsupervised overnight sleep. Of course people do it, I have been too... But you see what I mean? Damned if you do, damned if you don't.