How can I begin to transition my daughter to her crib?
Sunday, July 25th, 2010 at
8:04 pm
My 3 month old hates her cradle and crib.We have the cocoon swing that we keep in our room for her to sleep in at night.However,I am wanting to begin transitioning her to the crib.How should I begin to go about this,and how can I get her to like it more?
Filed under: Baby Clothes
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Firstly, I would ignore all of the people who are telling you to co-sleep with your baby, afterall that is not the question that you have asked.
A 12 week old baby isn’t really old enough to decide what she likes and dislikes, it is probably more the fact that she has cried when you put her in there, so you have taken her out worried that she was upset. You need to be more persistant and stick it out, and she’ll get used to it.
I have no idea what a cocoon swing is, however I’m hoping your baby isn’t rocked to sleep all night long, because you will have made things so much harder for yourself if she is.
Start with her day sleeps, by putting her in a cot. If you swaddle her do this otherwise put her in the cot as if she was going down for her nap. Then settle her as you would normally- patting her tummy, touching her etc. If she has a comforter give her this (my little boy has a piece of blanket and a dummy which help get him off to sleep). There is a fair chance she’s going to be upset the first time around as this is all new for her. Avoid picking her up unless its absolutely necessary- otherwise she’ll learn that if she cries you’ll pick her up and you’ll end up having to rock her to sleep in your arms (not a good habit to get into). When she is just about alseep, leave the room- this way she’ll learn that she can go to sleep by herself. If she starts to cry, go back in and re-settle her. Keep repeating the process until she is asleep. The first week of this will be really difficult for you, but it will get better and before you know it she will be sleeping in her cot all the time.
Put it in your room by your side of the bed it will work. Or just maybe she doesn’t like the mattress?
you may not like this answer, but there’s a reason she doesn’t like the crib. she’s telling you something – that it is unnatural to place babies in isolation to sleep. we evolved sleeping close to others! (think about it – would you rather sleep alone or with your partner?)
i know this is an unconventional way of thinking in our culture, but most people all over the world do not use cribs for their babies!
please consider alternative perspectives so that you can be confident that you’ve made an informed decision rather than just doing what most people in our culture do.
below is a link to some really interesting and informative articles on infant sleep.
take care,
jenny
Well I have a 2 year old, and he has always slept in his crib for naps, but night time he sleeps with me. Not everyone believes in this. But it is something that my family does. Maybe you could try putting her in her crib for daytime naps, start out that way. If she gets used to that, then you can try it with bed time.
Try putting it in your room for a week or so. Or just put her in it for her naps throughout the day. Keep her with you at night. After a few nights try putting her in it for the first few hours before she wakes up the first time (I’m assuming that like most babies she doens’t sleep through the night yet), then keep her with you the rest of the night, and so on. My child hasn’t had a problem sleeping in his crib, thank goodness. But he’s hooked up to oxygen and such so we keep him with us – as soon as all the tubes come off, he’s going back to his room.
u were sopposeto do that a log time ago. when baby is born you shouldput him in his own crib, basanet, or what ever. so now it will be hard for baby and you. u might have to let him cry it out when u put him to bed by himsself.
I got my youngest ( 9 months old now ) to sleep in her crib by making slow changes for her. When we brought her home from the hospital, she insisted to sleep in our bed, not the crib or 2 bassinets we had…just our bed.
Our other children were never like this, she was the first one to not want to sleep anywhere else but with us. She slept in our bed until she was 4 months old, and then we brought the bassinet in our room, next to our bed.
The first 2 nights I had to touch her, talk, listen to music to reassure her that she was not alone. She fed in bed with me, and then I would move her over. At age 6 months, we moved her bassinet into her room, it took some adjustment, but because the bassinet was familiar, she did ok, but the routine changed, because now I fed her in the rocking chair. After a week, we moved her over to her crib. She loved it, there was so much more room, and she did very well.
Good luck!
I had the same problem with my son he hated sleeping in his crib and always wanted to go to sleep in his swing.I got him out of it by placing him in his crib every time he took a nap or when it was his bed time . I cut him off completely from his swing he had a hard time at first but after a week and a half of placing him in his crib he final got used to sleeping in his crib. It also helps if you have one of those music players that u attach to your crib to help the baby go to sleep