Arm sleeper please help

LaxMOM44

So my 5 week old has only ever slept in my arms,night and day. We want to start transitioning her to her basinette but don't know how or when. I've heard six weeks is a good time but I am so afraid to screw up her naps because she is such a bad napper. She only sleeps for 3045 mins max and most if the time it's ten minutes. Please help....I feel like I've already screwed everything up and that she has bad habits.

Emerald27

First, she doesn't have any bad habits. It's totally normal and good for her to want to sleep in your arms. She just spent 9 months being held and warm and snuggled by you, so it gives her comfort and makes her feel secure.

Everyone has sleep associations and needs certain conditions to be met to go to sleep. A game on your cell phone, chapter in a book, overhead fan, blankets just right: something to help us fall asleep. Babies can associate nursing or rocking or being held with going to sleep. It's not a bad habit: they outgrow it like any other milestone, and as they grow, they develop new sleep associations. These aren't bad habits.

I recommend doing what you do now whether it is rocking or nursing DD to sleep. Once she's very asleep, like floppy arms and legs asleep, gently put her in the basinett. If she wakes, pick her up and do what you did before to help her go back to sleep. Rinse and repeat.

The No Cry Sleep solution is a good book about helping babies sleep in their own space. If you want to cosleep, it can be done safely and has many benefits. I suggest that you research that as well. Good luck!

LaxMOM44

Thank you so much!!! I enjoy family bed especially at night, but I wouldn't mind an occasional nap in her basinette. I will check out the book, hopefully I can give her good sleep associations because I would rather have her in bed with us than CIO.