transition from cosleeping to crib

skibunny59

DD is 2 and a half months old and has been sleeping with us in bed since she was born.  DH and I never planned to cosleep but we were so exhausted in the beginning and she was naturally nursing a lot at night that having her in bed with us was the easiest solution at the time.  We have a bassinet in our room which we never used because she would scream everytime we put her down in there. 

I love having her in bed with us but it would be nice to get her to take naps in her own crib or to start the night out in her own crib.  I would love to be able to put her down around 7:00 at night and have some "me time" before she wakes up to nurse.  I wouldn't mind bringing her back into bed with us after she wakes up.  The past couple nights we have tried to get her into her crib.  I will usually nurse her to sleep and then try to put her in asleep.  She usually pops awake as I'm laying her down in her crib.  Sometimes I am successful at getting her in the crib asleep but she will wake up like 3 minutes later.  The other night I actually put her in awake.  She was happily kicking her little feet and cooing for an hour while I stood next to the crib watching her and she would not fall asleep.  Then she started crying so I picked her up.  I don't want to leave her to cry.  Anyone have any suggestions for me?  Is she too young to start transitioning her from our bed to her own?

Emerald27

Hello! I'm new to posting here, but found myself naturally becoming an AP once I had LO. I read a book by Dr. Sears and found that that's what I had been doing all along!

The way we are transitioning from co-sleeping to crib sleeping has worked very well for us so far. We took one side off the crib and pushed it up against our bed. I nurse LO to sleep, and then once's he's really asleep ("rag-doll" sleeping baby), I gently slide him over into the crib. That way, DH and I have our whole bed to ourselves, LO gets used to his crib, and I still have him close by to nurse.

It doesn't always work. Sometimes he's clingy and wants me near. But it works often enough that we're happy, and we get at least half the night without him in the bed.  

Eventually we'll transition to him going to sleep in there by himself, but this works for us for now. Why not do this for naps with your LO and then do it around 7:00pm when you want her to go to bed? Then you can quietly get up and leave the room, and she'll be happy!

Good luck to you. I am excited about joining this board and sharing/getting advice from other AP mommies! 

AliW220

She's not too young.  Our sleep situation with DS was similar. SO was very against cosleeping, I was neutral on it. But with DS eating every 2 hours, and he wouldn't sleep unless laying on my chest when he was brand new, it just kind of happened. He got used to his bassinet  slowly but surely. I'd lay him down in it when he was totally conked out, at first. Over a few weeks, he got better and better about staying asleep when in his bassinet. It has wheels, so I'd bring it out into the living room during the day, and into the bathroom when showering. It was a life saver.

Then around 2 1/2 months, he started to get too big for the bassinet. SO and I also wanted some us-time, and I was too creeped out to do anything with the baby laying next to me!  DS did the same thing as your DD in the crib. I'd swear he'd be out, but once his little butt hit that mattress he was WIDE awake.  It was so frustrating.

I noticed that even with a nice soft sheet, the mattress still feels cold to the touch because of the plastic. I wouldn't want to sleep on that either! So I laid down one of my mom's thick knitted blankies on top of the sheet. It wasnt' fluffy so nice and safe. Since DS was sleeping 5-6 hours solid, laying him down right before his long stretch worked a lot better than trying the crib for naps. He would be so tired at his 9pm bedtime, that he'd open his eyes when I laid him down, but I'd keep rubbing his belly and he'd be out in a few seconds.

Be patient, and consistent. It will happen eventually!

Hope my long rambling story helps