too soon crib transition?

Rissalt · May 2013

We transitioned DD to her crib right around 12 weeks. She is now 16 weeks. She takes every nap in her crib and she does sleep overnight in her crib. We have the occasional 45 min nap in the crib, but generally she will take 1+-2 hour naps without any problem. She was sleeping overnight in the nap nanny (which keeps them pretty elevated for those that haven't seen one).

In the crib, she is not sleeping through the night, which I'm fine with. But she starts fussing, moving around and needing her binkie about 3-4 hours after we put her to bed (7:30) and I'm up every 45 min until about 1 to give her her binkie until she wakes to eat. She never fully wakes during these periods. Then she's up again at 4 then 7. And usually pretty restless sleep, especially in the early hours. I would think that was just her and deal with it, except if we put her back in the nap nanny say around 10 when she starts moving around, she will sleep until 4! and does not wake up or move around. Same with if I put her in the nap nanny after the 1 am feeding, she slept until 6 this am.

I don't know what to do, we have elevated the crib and started her on Zantac (for some mild reflux) with a little less grunting and waking. We can maybe go 1 hour before she starts moving around instead of 45 min. I've waited to see if she will just put herself to sleep if I don't go in and give her the binkie, but then she will actually wake up and usually will want to eat. We have a 2 year old who wakes up very easily and I don't want DD 2 to wake her up if I let her cry too much. We do swaddle one arm out because she was always fighting to get it out anyway and we thought that was contributing.

Any suggestions? Should I just let her sleep in the nap nanny? I'm afraid the longer I wait to transition her from the nap nanny, the harder it will be.

sschwege · May 2013

Personally I would just go back to what was working. I think in a sense it gets easier as they get older because they start to be able to self soothe. She will learn to put her own binkie in her mouth, might start sucking her thumb instead, rolling to her tummy where most babies are most comfy, etc.

sbevmc09 · May 2013

sschwege:
Personally I would just go back to what was working. I think in a sense it gets easier as they get older because they start to be able to self soothe. She will learn to put her own binkie in her mouth, might start sucking her thumb instead, rolling to her tummy where most babies are most comfy, etc.

Agreed.

You don't know what's coming down the road. She could start rejecting the nap nanny and preferring her crib, she could have other issues, she could sleep like a dream. This is all going to evolve. Just go with what works for now.

annmarieki · May 2013

Didn't they recall the nap nanny? May want to read about that before you put it in our crib. We use the magic sleepsuit and its been great. Doesn't give the elevation of the nap nanny, but is designed for use in the crib.