Q for those who did NOT cosleep (or not after 6 weeks or so)

marrymemylove

How in HELL do you get them to "just go down"?

I hear about these people who start straight in the cot and I think my god they must have stamina. I tried that with DD and she would wake the second her back touched the cot. We tried warming it in advance, getting her deeply asleep, putting her down drowsy but awake, patting her once she was in, singing, you name it. No go, she'll just work up to a huge scream until you pick her up. Sometimes she'll be happy for a few mins in there and I'll leave the room and hear her gurgle and then whine...hoping she'll settle. But she doesn't and obviously at 8 weeks I'm not going to let her do a full on cry, I only let her grizzle.

I was really disciplined at first when we came home from hospital (at 6 days) and I would pick her up and then put her back, determined not to repeat the cosleeping disaster of DS. But after 10 times in an hour I couldn't take anymore. DH ended up sleeping with her in our bed and I slept on the spare bed. I hate that. I hate not having my own bed with DH and no kids in it. It has taken 4 years to get that back after DS and I don't want to start all over again.

What can I do to get an 8 week old to sleep in her cot???

I am perfectly fine with getting up to her when she really needs it - when DH sleeps with her she wakes 1-2 times a night for feeds and goes back to sleep pretty easily and that's dandy. Its just when you add the cot to that it becomes a routine of being up every 5 mins. Literally. 

RunningWife

Try introducing a bedtime routine, if you haven't already. It does make a difference.

With DS, we do bedtime lotion, massage, clean diaper, sleeper, warm bottle and down to bed with a paci...works almost every time (yes, we do have a bad night every now and then).

We do try to do it at around the same time every night; but even if we are out, held up,etc...it's more about taking the steps...these are signals to DS to start winding down, getting sleepy, etc...we start the routine at about 8:45pm, and there hasn't been a night in the past month where he's fallen asleep (on his own ) by later than 10pm.

 GL!

Mrs_Marcos

Sounds like me verbatim, almost anyway. I'm interested to see the responses. It was hard these past few days and now that I'm back to work fulltime, it's going to be tougher. 

memclar

I really think it depends on the baby. DD1 slept with us for the first couple of months and then we started putting her in her crib and then bringing her to bed when she woke up. DH would hold her until she was in a deep sleep and then put her down in the crib. We slowly worked in the drowsy/awake thing. DD2 seems fine with being put down awake. She still wakes up at night to eat and sometimes sleeps with us. I would do whatever you can to get sleep and work on getting her to sleep somewhere else when shes's a bit older.

cherylanne430

We used a co sleeper in our room until baby was about 3 weeks. Then after that we started a bedtime routine. Every night since then we do bath, bottle, book and bed. We give him a bath everday. We just dont use soap everyday. We use soap every couple days. I am convinced the bath is what tells him it is bedtime, plus it really relaxes him. We do lotion massage, pjs, bottle (not warmed), hold up for 20 min or so while I read to him, then I lay him down and he never makes a peep. He is always drowsy but not asleep when we lay him down. We start this aroud 730pm and he sleeps til 8am the next day. He has been sleeping 12 hrs since about 7 weeks. From 3-7 weeks it was 8-3/4..bottle..then sleep til 7am. Hope that helps

taratru

Yep...bedtime routine.  He's old enough to recognize it.

 

slpgator

I do a bed time routine with my little one, but he still wouldn't sleep in his crib.  I moved the Rock N Play into his room and add some white noise and we had success.

angelynn8411

do a bedtime routine and see if that helps, but in my experience, it definitely depends on the baby. My first wouldnt sleep on her own no matter what we tried and my second is as easy as can be so far.

Junebride2be2

In my limited experience, they are all so different. My first DD hated, just hated her crib, the pack and play....anything but our bed. I coslept with her frequently until about 3 1/2...she is now 4 1/2 and for the most part will sleep in her own bed.

My 2nd DD just preferred to be left alone. If we tried to coddle or soothe her she would get even more pissed. I found that with her, she liked to settle herself to sleep. If she did cry, she wouldn't cry more than 10 minutes before putting herself to sleep.

Now with my DS, it seems as if he is like my oldest. Hates the pack and play....I've been cosleeping with him (he just turned 9 weeks) and I cannot wait until we put him in his crib. Little dude just grunts and groans so loudly I'm not getting any sleep. I'm hoping the crib mattress will feel differently then the pack and play and he'll actually like it. Good luck to you...I don't want to have another nightmare either with cosleeping. We too worked hard on getting DD to stay in her own bed.