Transitioning to the crib/bedroom?

lest12

Can we talk about this? Has it been talked about?

LO is 2 months and at his appt today, the doctor asked about his sleeping and suggested we start trying to transition him to the crib/his own room.

Right now he's sleeping well, in the RNP next to my side of the bed... I say well, but the longest stretch we get is 4 hours (asleep around 10, up around 2, 5 & 7 for feeding... usually up for the day around 9).

I've noticed that he's doing a better job at falling asleep in his own, but still needs to sleep on an incline (side question ' can I make his crib an incline?)

I'm not even sure what the point of this post is I guess I'm just nervous and wondering what all of your experiences have been, when you knew it was time, how it went, or alternatively if the baby is staying in your room for a while.

nunzchucks

I'm super nervous about this, too. I'd love to hear anyone's experience transitioning from the RnP to unswaddled in the crib. When we transitioned DD, she was swaddled so it was easy. DS is a wiggle worm so I can see this being a nightmare.

lauren8384

Thank you for posting this!!! I've gotten myself all worried about this and have been googling it today!! Everytime I put him in his crib for a nap he jumps and feels like he's falling and just wakes up and has a hard time going back to sleep. He's never been swaddled, he likes to be free. The nurses couldn't even swaddle his arms in the hospital. Lucas was 7 weeks on Monday, so I'm hoping we can transistion him easily since he's still so young.

AbbySeiden

Last night was the first night for my LO in his own room in the crib, he's 9 weeks old. He was in our room in the RnP swaddled arms in and was doing really well that way (10 till 3 or 4 and then again till 6 or 7). But we had to start swaddling him arm out, because he's started rolling. He napped swaddled arms out throughout the day in the crib but never made it past 45 minutes ( the sleep transition faze). We put him down asleep and usually had no problems falling asleep. But I was worried about the evening. Last night (according to the monitor) he was up for awhile after we put him down but was quiet. He "slept" from 9:30 - 1 then back to sleep till 4:30 and then back to sleep till 8. This was good but not as good ad he had been doing. We 'll see maybe he'll get more used to it.

Question: when your LO wakes up in the MOTN do you try to put them back to sleep and if it does work then feed them? If so how long do you work on putting them to bed?

nunzchucks

@AbbySeiden‌ At this point, if DS wakes (and he does at 1 and 4), he gets fed and then right back to sleep. For MOTN, I would try to get him back to sleep unless it was 6 AM or later.

AandJ28

My LO was in the RNP next to my side of the bed for the first 6 weeks. She was sleeping about 4 hours (give or take an hour). My cousin had told me that her baby slept in the RNP and it caused her to have a flat head and I freaked and decided it was time to put LO in her crib, in her own room. She has never liked sleeping flat on her back (hence the RNP - incline or on my chest) and although drs and everyone advise against it, I put her in her crib on her stomach. The first night she slept 7 hours. I was a nervous wreck and basically didn't sleep because I was checking on her constantly. Since then (about 2.5 weeks), she has been great. She still sleeps on her stomach and now sleeps 9:30pm-4:30am almost every night. There have been a few nights where she's woken up around 2 but mostly we get the 7 hour stretches. 

coffee89

@lest12 You can either put blocks under one side of the crib to create an incline or they make crib wedges that go under the mattress. We own the crib wedge but have not given it a try since my LO has been wiggling himself all around the crib so much, it wouldn't make a difference.

I took the plunge two nights ago(8 weeks) and just put him in his room not expecting him to stay there but all went well. We had our LO in a bassinet swaddled in our room though, not a RnP. We also get a 5-6 hour stretch on average, and occasionally more so that made it easier for me to go for it. I do fear for the day we need to take the swaddle away, we have not managed much in the way of naps or anything with him outside of a vibrating rocker because he still manages to wake himself up when unconfined.

 (side question- How do you work on getting LO out of the swaddle when he won't even nap in the crib? Do I just put him in there and hope in time he gets the idea during naps and stays there longer, go back to day swaddling him lightly?)

@AbbySeiden with our LO if he wakes up outside his normal MOTN feeding time (like say at 1am which he dropped a few weeks ago instead of his normal between 3-4) I will try to give him the paci and see if he will put himself back down. If he still fusses, or it turns into a cry I feed him in the darkened nursery, burp and straight back to the crib with no talking.

lest12

@nunzchucks - DS doesn't like to be swaddled, either, he moves too much. But I think he likes the 'snug' feeling of the RNP.

He just always hated his bassinet. No idea why. I thought maybe it was the flat surface but he will at least hang out in his crib and PNP. What a waste!

kks4471

We had DS in the PnP bassinet until he was 8 weeks old.  At that point, I was tired of waking up to every sound he made, and didn't want him attached to our room.  We moved him to his crib at 8 weeks, and he did great!  He woke up with normal hunger cries, didn't seem traumatized at all.  Just trying to eliminate the 3am feeding now, and I easily hear him cry from the nursery for it (DH was worried about not hearing him).  We have a video monitor, but don't even look at it.  It was definitely a smooth transition, thank goodness.

emfoxc

A couple of things you could try:

If LO is used to being swaddled in a RNP, but busts out of the swaddle in the crib, you could always try a velco swaddle sack (or I've also heard the woombie is good because it uses a zipper instead).

We started LO in the RNP in the Summer Infant swaddle me sacks, but at around 7 weeks I felt like her breathing pathway was not in an ideal position (she was grunting and snoring even more often) so back to flat on the back we went.  Transition included swaddling and practice naps in both the PNP and the crib to get her used to it. 

A friend also recommended we try angling her back toward the side of the PNP to make her feel more secure (so she was tilted as basically a 45 degree angle).  I only felt comfortable doing that with supervision though.  But after about 1-2 weeks of this transition strategy she now sleeps flat on her back in the middle of the crib all night.  And the snoring has totally stopped, so I think it's a better position for her as she's gotten bigger (8 weeks, ~13 lbs now)

ElTrain5

We started putting DS in his crib for the first nap of the day. It was (and still is) a lot of putting down, picking up, soothing, putting back down lather rinse repeat.  But once he's down, he's down.  Once he was used to having his first nap (about 3 hours) in the crib for about a week we tried putting him down in the crib for his first stretch of sleep, and he did pretty good (knock on wood).  He has reflux so we bought a wedge for $12 on amazon, its working well.

irenewslee

We fully moved her a few weeks ago. We started out having her in our room for the first stretch of her night. Once she is done with the MOTM feed, we moved her to her crib. We also let her nap in her crib. Once she is more confortable with it, we started having her sleep in there completely. The first few nights were hard because she would wake up every other hour but it went away soon after we added some night lights in there.

As far as swaddling, we swaddle her lightly and she takes her arms out mid way through the sleep. If she wakes herself up, we swaddle her again. We are hoping that she will slowly get used to it.

nunzchucks

BrightEyes112 said:

Someone, @JNerd‌ or @nunzchucks‌ told me that if you set the baby down feet touching first, they don't get the startled reflex. Totally worked for me.

That's all @jnerd! Thanks for the reminder! I think we are going to try naps in the crib this weekend.

babygabe614

We moved DD to her crib in her own room when she was three week old (4.5 weeks ago). There was never a "transition period" because she adapted right to it. We have her swaddled arms in, so I'm just nervous about moving her to arms out or no swaddle once she starts rolling over.

lest12

Luka had his shots today and has been super sleepy all day... so I decided tonight would be the night to try his own room. This may backfire, but he's in a "I just want to sleep, leave me alone" mood so I feel like its as good a time as any to transition him. Does that make sense?

vixey

At 9 weeks I started putting DD in the crib for naps.  She'll be in a crib for naps at daycare, so it was time to get her used to that.  She did so well, she's now in the crib all night long, too.  She's always swaddled in the crib, otherwise she wakes up after 10 minutes.

katekat8721

Eh we're working on it.

When is everyone stopping the swaddles? I have tried to transition them out of them and it's no bueno unless they're dog tired. They're starting to roll, does that make a difference?

puttyeast

We decided to transition him to the crib a few weeks ago by just trying it out one night. He slept his normal routine (about 10-2 then up again at 5 and 8). We were pretty surprised because we didn't do anything special. We use the SwaddleMes because he sleeps much better swaddled and he doesn't break out of them very well. Anyway, I don't think it hurts to just give it a try and see what happens!

About the incline -- I read something about putting rolled up blankets under the top of the mattress. We don't do it ourselves but thought I would pass along that suggestion.

jenn72178

@babygabe614‌ we started arms out swaddle 2 nights ago just b/c we got a bigger swaddle sack and she got right out of it. Been doing great so far (knock wood)

curlylocks3

We recently began the transition. Previously we were having them in their cribs at night but napping in RnPs, an they'd fall asleep for tehe night in the RnP and be fed still sleepy in the cribs. I wanted to break the reliance on the RnP before we absolutely had to (from them outgrowing them) because I figure it would be less desperate.
Previously we had been feeding them right before naps since I did tummy time before eating and they'd throw up if we did it after eating. Now we do tummy time, eat, play on playmats (not on tummy), nap/sleep. I have been paying close attention to sleep cues (rubbing eyes, yawning) and popping them right in their cribs. They fall asleep pretty well since they are tired but their naps are much shorter than when in the RnPs. I think they miss the snugness of it, but I can't think of a way around it. I did try to keep them up a little later tonight to see if that will help with naps tomorrow.
@katekat8721‌ for swaddles: we had been swaddling Hugsy arms out and Mumble arms in by their preference but ditched the swaddles completely when I got worried about them flipping. They haven't rolled back to tummy yet (and I think we are still a ways off from that) but I had noticed Hugsy trying to toss the bottom half of his body over and it made me nervous. We have a couple different sleep sacks but their arms are always out.

Dharmatron

I'm going to be starting this on the weekend. DD is 11 weeks on Friday and has only slept in the RNP except for a few naps in the crib. We have blackout drapes in our bedroom (where she has been) and several fans going so I think I may need to replicate that environment to get her to sleep.

sjn00

Put LO in her pack n play tonight.. So far she has been asleep an hour with one wake up, but she just put herself to sleep, she also is on an incline do to reflux and keeps inching her way down. But she is on her side. This will probably be the only time for the next month though haha.

PressLove

LO is 9 weeks and we started the RnP to transition to cub earlier this week. It had been a battle. She still is swaddled (and in with hands up). However, she hated the big open space. At first i thought it was the flatness, but she sleeps in my bed with no problems. Every night was a little better. Plus, i threw in a few naps in the crib. I gave her a break today because of her shots. We'll go back to the crib tomorrow night.

nicolemcm

He has been sleeping in his crib in our room since about 1 week old - sleeping on our chests before that. We stopped a full swaddle at about 4 weeks since he would work himself up into a sweat trying to get out of it.

He's almost 11 weeks and sleeps about 10p-5a most nights. We'll be keeping him in his crib in our room to Christmas, and possibly beyond.

AbbySeiden

Update - night 2 in the crib and already there's improvement! Initially going and staying asleep beyond 30 mins is still tricky but once he was out he slept from 10:30 - 4am and then changed,feed and rocked back to sleep till 7:30. We're doing all naps in the crib now.

flerlgirl

nunzchucks said:

I'm super nervous about this, too. I'd love to hear anyone's experience transitioning from the RnP to unswaddled in the crib. When we transitioned DD, she was swaddled so it was easy. DS is a wiggle worm so I can see this being a nightmare.

@nunzchucks‌ - DS went from his RnP to his crib unswaddled. It took about a week for him to last all night in there. In preparation we started putting him to sleep in the RnP in his room (instead of in our room). After a few nights there, we put him in his crib for naps instead of napping in the RnP. After he seemed to be familiar with his crib we tried it overnight. The first few nights he didn't stay longer than a few hours but it got longer each night and then he was good to go after about a week. HTH!

babygabe614

jenn72178 said:

@babygabe614‌ we started arms out swaddle 2 nights ago just b/c we got a bigger swaddle sack and she got right out of it. Been doing great so far (knock wood)

@jenn72178‌ I think I need to move her up a size in the swaddle because she's getting too long for the NB one, but I know the body is going to be way too big on her for arms in, so I think we'll try arms out for the first time tonight!

katekat8721

My daughter is cray cray and giving me mini heart attacks. Will she roll over on the play mat? No. In the crib? No. But for some reason when she's all swaddled up in the RNP or swing, THAT'S when she thinks it's a good time to roll from her back to her face down. AH!

So I'm guessing it's time to stop swaddling. And maybe using any inclined surface since she's freaking me the eff out in there.

Babynuthals

Does anyone have issues with nuks falling out and waking their LO up? Or is mine the only one addicted to her soothie:(

lest12

That's scary @katekat8721! @saltypearl‌ I'm on night 2 and it definitely isn't as great as last night. I guess we have to just power through? I noticed LO wanted to comfort nurse more tonight, we haven't done that in a while.

lest12

Babynuthals said:

Does anyone have issues with nuks falling out and waking their LO up? Or is mine the only one addicted to her soothie:(

DS only likes his wubanub. Won't take a plain old soothie. Sigh.

jenn72178

@babygabe614‌ how did it go??

Rei2metse

Eli was transitioned to his crib from PnP in our room about 5 weeks ago ( 7 weeks old). I was lucky, the transition was relatively smooth. The first week he woke up a bit more frequently, giving us 3- 4 hrs stretches. By week 2, he started hitting 6+ hour stretches which was glorious. In the mornings, I hear him cooing and "talking" which is a lovely way to wake up. A J14 momma suggested sleeping on his sheets so they smelled like me beforehand, so I do this everytime I wash sheets. I really think this suggestion helped. Also, he is now loosely swaddled typically with an arm out per his request.

AandJ28

@snuff9861‌ - do you put LO in the sleep sack to prevent moving? My LO sleeps on her stomach and will often "swim" and get herself wedged in a corner and cry because she doesn't have room to continue moving. Wondering if the sleep sack will help with this...

lest12

I'm gearing up for night 3. @CharSamm‌ I agree that it's harder for me than him. Last night, I may or may not have cried.

b48kate

lest12 said:

I'm gearing up for night 3. @CharSamm‌ I agree that it's harder for me than him. Last night, I may or may not have cried.

Dreading this...we start Sunday.

mattanda2011

AandJ28 said:

@snuff9861‌ - do you put LO in the sleep sack to prevent moving? My LO sleeps on her stomach and will often "swim" and get herself wedged in a corner and cry because she doesn't have room to continue moving. Wondering if the sleep sack will help with this...

My older DD used to do this, we end dr up leavin her (she was a bit older, probably 5-6 months) and now at 18 months she still sleeps with her head in the corner of her crib, I think she finds it strangely comforting at this point.
She is also the kid that if we put her in a bed will ball up at the top on the pillow with her head into the headboard

chloephoebecali

Night 2 of crib. Last night went okay but she is still waking up every 3ish hours. I moved her in hopes I would not fall asleep with her in my bed while nursing. It worked for half the night.

lest12

I'm finding that a little extra half-ish nursing right before putting him down helps. I am pretty sure it's comfort nursing. I think that's Ok, but I don't want it to be a bad habit? Maybe it's just a transitional thing.

AbbySeiden

The only thing that's making me crazy is how much harder it is to but him down after a MOTN feeding. I used to be able to swaddle him and put him straight into the RnP and he's be asleep. Now I'm rocking and puting him down multiple times, giving the paci and patting him, sleep sheep playing ocean sounds. It takes around 20/30 mins. Any ideas why?

Taymiller

I am so nervous about making the switch. LO sleeps in the swing right now and sleeps so well in the swing. I really love the sleep we are getting now but we need to make the change. We will start this week after DH's family leaves. I think it will be harder on me then him for sure!