OK, so if you're going cold turkey, then...
martacaroline
member
What the heck do you do for those few days of hell???
What I mean is that I've read several posts where people have done transitions (such as from RNP to crib without swaddle or from the swing to the crib or packnplay...) and say that they had a few nights of terrible sleep, but then it worked itself out?
Well, my 3-month-old has been napping in the swing (unsaddled) and I'd like to get him to nap in his crib (swaddled or un, doesn't matter so much to me- he's swaddled at night still in the crib). I'll deal with a few (or even a week) of hell during nap time if it means he'll sleep in the crib without a fight, but he cries when I put him down in the crib for naps, and they say you can't let him CIO, so what do I do??? I go in and pat his belly, shush him (he has white noise in the room and it's semi dark- the way he likes it) and he will calm a bit, but then as soon as I leave, he's crying again. This can go on all day if I'd let it, and he won't sleep until I put him back in the swing. I can't imagine many parents don't let their child cry until they finally fall asleep, because my son won't miraculously fall asleep on his own in the crib and I refuse to rock him to sleep and start that habit.
Please, give me insight!
P.S. I ordered the Magic Sleepsuit yesterday.
Re: OK, so if you're going cold turkey, then...
This sounds terrible, but he may just not be ready?
My DD reacted badly the first 2 times I tried to put her in the crib so I waited a few days, and kept the RNP in the same room as the crib, so she was looking at all the same stuff when she was in the RNP and in the crib and then one day when she was really tired I just plopped her in and she cried for a minute and I just would come in and give her a pacifier and leave and after about 5 - 8 cycles she just fell asleep. I did not let her cry it out because she was not old enough and it is NMS, but she figured it out and went to sleep. First is was just her short nap am nap (45 min - 1.5 hours) then her short nap in the am and her short late after noon nap, then all three naps - including the long one anywhere between 2 - 4 hours and then overnight from 9:30 - 7:00.
Of course every baby is dramatically different, but I found the first time I tried to early. I waited another few days and tried again and it worked.
I hope someone has good advice to help you.
The sleep suit ROCKS MY SOCKS.
I really wouldn't force it especially at three months. We did everything cold turkey but that's just how it worked out. -except for the rnp transition....we did that at three months bc they weren't comfy anymore in them so at night we transitioned to cribs but still tightly swaddled. Still napped in the swings. Then three weeks later they started to roll so we went straight to the halo sleep blankets at night and had them do crib naps too. We did a little CIO with the swaddle transition so we figured we just do the nap transition since we knew there would be a little CIO involved in that as well. But they weren't nappin well in the swings anymore so I knew it was time to transition to crib naps.
FYI none of it was bad...there was a few days of mild night waking then they were back to sttn. The naps have gone smoothly too. We did not have to do much CIO though....the average was usually around 10 minutes.
3 months is still pretty young. I would wait a little longer and see, try every week and eventually he will be ready. I had a friend who's daughter would only sleep in her car seat until she was 1 year old.
DD1 only napped in a swing in motion till she was 6 months old and slept in the crib at night. Transition was easy. Naps are hard too, DD2 still naps in the RnP and we are now just trying the crib at night. Some nights she is fine, others she hates it. She is also teething so probably a combo of both. We have to move out of the RnP though b/c she is getting too big for it and does not like being confined.