Moving LO to the crib!

susandanger

Hey, there! My LO is 11 weeks old, and so far, he sleeps the best with me. I'm struggling to get him happy in his crib by himself. He only likes it maybe 30% of the time, and he just doesn't want to sleep there. If he sleeps there, it's because he was already asleep when I put him in it. Do you have any tips to help me get him happy in his crib?

brittster15

I read somewhere, that if you lay LO in crib throughout the day while they are awake they can begin to get accustomed to this space and it will not be so unknown.

I have not tried it myself, but eventually I will be having this dilemma myself. Good luck

delujm0

brittster15 said:

I read somewhere, that if you lay LO in crib throughout the day while they are awake they can begin to get accustomed to this space and it will not be so unknown. I have not tried it myself, but eventually I will be having this dilemma myself. Good luck

This.  We have a mobile on the crib, so about 2-3 weeks before we moved LO from the bassinet into the crib we started sticking her in the crib during the day and turning the mobile on for 5-10 minutes at a time (maybe 2-3 times a day).  She loved the mobile so she was happy to be in there.  She slept completely the same her first night in the crib as she had been sleeping in the bassinet.

 

I will say that the change from sleeping against you in your arms to a giant open crib will probably be jarring.  Do you have a middle ground, like a bassinet or a RNP you can try for a few weeks?  It will be easier if the baby is used to sleeping on its own before moving to the crib (and don't worry about always transferring them in once they're already asleep - that's always what I've done and it has never affected LO.  She will nap in the crib during the day now if DH sticks her in there fully awake at naptime, after about 5-10 minutes of fussing).

 

For the first few weeks, I also put some rolled up towels under the crib sheet to simulate the shape of the bassinet - I then removed one towel each week until she was completely flat. This isn't fully SIDS approved, but it worked for us (note that LO was nowhere near rolling over while we had that setup in place - by the time she could roll we had removed it all).

Bigboobsmcgee

Most babies hate the crib. I agree with PP and maybe try something else like a RnP. We also rolled up blankets and put them under the sheet in the crib to make DD feel more cozy. Then we slowly removed them.

It takes time to get them transitioned so don't rush it.

DustyMelons

+1 for using the rolled up blanket/towel trick. Just make sure you place them under the crib sheet like PP said. Other than that, just keep at it, it will get easier. Best of luck.

kde4

We had the same issue and we tried out a few different tricks to get our boys to move from their rock n plays to their cribs. The most successful thing was to have them nap there during the day. We also put in musical mobiles that they LOVE! Swaddles also really helped them once they moved out of the rock n plays. I made a little summary of the things that worked for us since so many of my friends are also dealing with this. I hope it helps! https://www.theydontfeedthemselves.com/transitioning-twins-to-cribs/

jlculpeps

@kde4 did you transition your twins into the same crib, or separate cribs?

kde4

@jlculpeps we transitioned them into separate cribs. Whenever they sleep near each other during naps, they always wake the other one up. We didn't want to deal with that at night, so they're in separate cribs...but in the same room. That works well for us!