We brought our daughter home one month ago tomorrow. I was in the hospital four nights and she slept okay in the basinet at the hospital. She even slept fine in the bassinet the first night we had her here. Since then getting her to sleep has been a nightmare! We have had to put her to sleep in her bouncy chair, in the carseat, in bed with me, everywhere but the bassinet on her back. Needless to say we are exhausted.
A friend gave me Dr. Weissbluth's Healthy Sleep, Happy Baby book and I'v been reading it, but is it too early to begin sleep training a one-month old?
There is so much conflicting information out there. One pediatrician told us to keep her awake during the day, however that is at odds with Dr. Weissbluth's advice. Another pediatrician told us to put her in her bassinet and as long as she is dry, fed, and warm to let her cry herself to sleep. She does not cry herself to sleep! She cried the whole night and we woke up at two-hour intervals to feed her. It was awful.
Has this happened to anyone else? We want her to eventually sleep in her bassinet/crib as that is the safest place for her to sleep and it's disruptive to our sleep if she sleeps in bed with me.
Re: Baby won't sleep in bassinet
This. Our LO won't sleep in anything right now....we have an empty bassinet, rock n play, crib, swing, etc. Sometimes he will sit while we move laundry, go to the restroom, etc. but sleep....never. He is in the bed with us so that everyone can get a least a few hours. We clear the bed, and make sure he is as safe as possible BUT since we have no other options (screaming all not is out of the question) it's the best we can do and still manage during the day. AND he is actually happier now.....and we have stop hating him. :-)
Is there a way to prop up the bassinet at one end? We've had to do that with both boys due to reflux (which started to show up around 2 weeks) and DS #2 is still in the newborn napper part of the pack 'n play until he's too heavy for it. Have you read "Happiest Baby on the Block"? It's pretty good and it basically says that for the first 3-4 months you can't create bad habits, so do what you can to get some sleep.
With DS #1 we had him sleep in the carseat for a while and actually put it in the crib on someones advice when transitioning him to the crib. It worked out pretty well.