Baby In bed!

SFORNWALT

I breast feed. So it was easier for me to have my little one in bed with me.  She is now 15 weeks old. I need to know how to transition her out. I don't know how. When I put her in her own bed, she wakes up after 15 minutes and cries. So, pick her up and feed her.  Then when she falls asleep again, I put her back in her bed.  In 15 minutes she is back crying.  What do I do?

Tabby2727

You have to put her to bed drowsy but awake. I use to do the same thing to Hannah wondering why she'd be up 20 min later. 

Someone once told me it's kinda like you fall asleep in your bed/couch and someone moved you to the driveway, you wake up, scared and wonder, how you got there.

lindyanne

They also need to learn how to put themselves to sleep so when they wake up and don't really need anything they can fall back asleep.

ThePastor'sWife

Books-wise, I've heard good things about the Baby Whisperer's "pick up/put down" method... haven't personally used it, though.  I did read the No-Cry Sleep Solution, which I found interesting.

DS is the same age as your LO (15 wks yesterday), and we've never been able to put him down drowsy but awake - we've tried, and I'm pretty sure our ears have bled from the ensuing screamfest.   He's never given us any problems with putting him back down, though - I EBF him up until a week ago (we're in the midst of weaning due to weight gain issues) and I know what you mean when you say it's just easier to have them snuggled up with you, but I tried to avoid that as much as possible.  He's never been a baby who had to be nursed to sleep, which I'm thankful for, but he definitely can't just be put into his crib while awake and put himself to sleep (guess that's our next project...).

For us, it's vital that he's REALLY asleep before putting him down - I usually wait at least 10 minutes after he's fallen asleep before attempting to put him down.  If he fusses when we do try to put him down, we usually pick him up, give him his pacifier, "shhh"/bounce him a bit, and put him back down w/in a few minutes.  This almost always works.  He also is more difficult to put back to bed once he's woken up (he typically goes 10 pm - 5:30 am), so that's when he usually ends up snoozing on one of us - he's still tired, but won't let himself relax in his crib.  We've just given up that fight for now in favor of getting the sleep he clearly needs/wants (he'll go for another 2-3 hours).

I've also heard that it's helpful to warm the mattress w/a heating pad (remove before putting LO in, obviously) so that baby isn't going from your warm body to a cold mattress.  Beyond that, I really think consistency is key and sticking it out - a few nights of lousy sleep in exchange for baby becoming accustomed to the crib and sleeping soundly.