Newborn will not sleep in crib!!!
Sweet13Princess
member
My newborn is 16 days old and is being exclusively breastfed. Of course, she loves being held and we do so often. However, she refuses to sleep in her crib. We've tried two different ones: a rocking cradle and a plain basinett. We've tried putting her in awake and putting her in asleep. We've tried swaddling and not swaddling. As soon as her body hits the mattress her arms and legs fly out and she's wide awake. Within five minutes she's crying and will continue to cry until you pick her up. Not sure what else to do here... she needs to learn to sleep in her own crib. I've hesitantly introduced a pacifier today, planning on using it only when laying her down for a nap... I'm just fearful it will sabotage our breastfeeding success so far. Any other advice from moms in similar circumstances?
Shannon
Re: Newborn will not sleep in crib!!!
It will pass. Gl
Good luck!
Same here!
my DD is 13 days old, and has the same issue, I also EBF. Pacifier definitely helps if their still a little awake, we introduced it when she was 4 days, and has no issue with feeding.
My baby is also very needy, and in order for her to sleep in her crib, she needs to be totally asleep. For us, it can take up to 30 minutes until she's passed out. This means breastfeeding her, and then rocking her and holding her for another 30 minutes. It seems to do the trick...but yea, it's very time consuming.
when all else fails, we stick her in her swing with her paci, and after 10 minutes shes totally asleep.
Edit: Dr. also suggested using a wedge to elevate her head. you could try that.
My older son was like this. When he was a newborn, he hated sleeping on flat surfaces. He spent the first couple of months of his life sleeping in the swing, bouncer, and infant car seat. Around five weeks old, we were able to transition him to the crib for night time sleeps. It took a while longer for him to tolerate it for naps. However, he did finally come around after a few months and started sleeping in the crib exclusively. When babies are this young, it's unlikely that you will create any lasting bad habits. If you do establish a habit, it's not hard to break a few months down the line. Babies are very adaptable. So try not to worry about that. Do what works for now. You can tweak things once she's bigger.
We also swaddled DS (tightly, using the HBOTB method) when he was in the crib and that helped as well.
Btw, I was also nervous about introducing the paci. He fought it a lot but the times he did accept it, it was a lifesaver. It helped him soothe himself and it put him to sleep. He never loved it, never got attached to it, and never confused it with BFing or bottle-feeding so it was never a problem for us. Now, his thumb on the other hand....he found that on his own and it has been wonderful for allowing him to self-soothe. But that is the one bad habit he picked up on his own that we will eventually have to break.
It never affected his BFing or bottle-feeding, though.
eta: Regardless of what you do use to contain her while she sleeps, be sure you alternate the position of her head to avoid flat spots and make sure she can breathe easily at the angle at which she's lying.
CANT LIVE WITHOUT OUR ROCK N PLAY!
At about 9 weeks we transitioned DD into her crib in her own room, sleeps flat on her back and she has done great so I'm sure your baby will outgrow this phase as well :
I appreciated all of the helpful advice here. My MIL felt that allowing her to sleep in her bouncer was harmful to her back. I'm glad to know that I don't have to feel guilty allowing the baby to do so, especially after I've given the basinett a go for two hours and have missed out on sleep!!!!
A few of you actually seemed concerned about the term "crib." I've tried two different ones with her... an old fashioned rocking cradle and a pack n play that has a basinett on top. I'm not talking about her being in her own room in a huge crib yet.
I tried the white noise machine last night, set it to "womb" to see if that helped, but she still screamed and two hours later fell asleep in her bouncer within 5 minutes.
She has been getting better about sleeping in the portable pack n play basinett during the daytime, but still wants her bouncer at nighttime. I really don't see any harm in it, as long as we continue to work with her, I would think she'd eventually learn to sleep on her own at night like she's been doing during the day.
My MIL feels that letting her cry will somehow solve the problem, but she just continues to cry until she's a red sweaty mess. Plus, I feel horrible letting her get all worked up like that.
Shannon
Agreed. If she cried more than a minute or two, I held and comforted her. I'll keep giving it a try, but if sleeping in her bouncer is what works right now, that's what we're going to use. We'll keep trying the pack n play basinett and eventually she'll get there.:-)
Shannon
Shannon
This.
Also, the Rock and Play has been a lifesaver. My friend with triplets and I both swear by it!