Transitioning to crib - Help!

SigmundsGirl · May 2010

Evan is starting to sleep through the night (thank God) and we are ready to transition him to his crib in his own room. I am nervous about this because his room is upstairs and ours is downstairs. This is the only time I have wished we had a one story house. I hate to think of him up there alone.

To begin the transition process I have started putting him down for naps in his crib and I get on the computer in the study next door. Evan isn't a good napper to begin with, but the longest nap I have gotten out of him is about 30 minutes. Today he napped and cried every 5-10 minutes. He is still really young, so I only let him fuss for a few minutes and never full on cry. By the time I got in his room the last time he already had tears.

I picked him up and he went right back to sleep and stayed that way for 30 minutes.

I'm going to try playing with him in his room more (instead of downstairs or our room) so he gets used to the room. That is the only thing I can think of.

Any suggestions on how to better make the transition?

Nanner · May 2010

I have no ideas for you, but I think that playing in his room will be a big help. It's probably a pretty foreign place to him right now.

BabyLoveTX · May 2010

I have no suggestions, but wanted to say Good Luck.

We just put DD to sleep in her room for the first time Sunday night, and she is almost 5 months.

SigmundsGirl · May 2010

BabyLoveTX:

I have no suggestions, but wanted to say Good Luck.

We just put DD to sleep in her room for the first time Sunday night, and she is almost 5 months.

Our pedi told us that we should make the transition now. He said that it will be hard at first, but that eventually we will all sleep better. I hope he is right.

How did your DD do her first night in her crib? Did you ever have her nap in there before? So curious how others have done this.

BabyLoveTX · May 2010

She has napped in there before, but not all the time. Plus, we have always used her room to either change diapers during the day, play on the floor, read to her in the glider, take weekly pictures.

She usually falls asleep while one of us is holding her, becuase we try to keep her awake until 8 pm. I then put her in her bed and play a soft baby cd. We were doing all of that when she slept in the cradle in our room.

She did really good in there. She woke up at about 3 am and played for about 20 minutes and then went back to sleep until 7 am

*Side note - she has not always gone to sleep at 8 pm. Before I went back to work she would stay awake until 11-11:30. Then when I went back to work I would get her down between 9:30-10. Now I'm lucky if I can keep her Awake until 8 pm.

duchessII81 · May 2010

L doesn't nap in her crib. She just won't do it. She sleeps downstairs or up on our bed if I'm upstairs. She did okay her first night in her crib and stopped waking up after probably the third night. She was a swing sleeper for the first 7-8 weeks and I was worried about the transition to her crib being harder. Good luck!

nvp05 · May 2010

We also have the same house set up and I really wish we had a one story house or at least all bedrooms upstairs. We didn't move Rena up to her crib until she was 5 months because her room was upstairs. She slept fine in the pack n play in our bedroom but hated her crib! She never napped in her crib. We started playing in her room more so she would get used to it. She slept in her crib for a few hours a night at most. I slept upstairs in the guest room next to her room since I didn't want to go up and down the stairs several times a night.

I think it's great that you're starting him out in his room/crib at a young age. I really wish we didn't wait until she was 5 months old to transition. I think playing in his room is a good idea and I'm sure he'll adjust quickly! Good luck.

SigmundsGirl · May 2010

BabyLoveTX:

She has napped in there before, but not all the time. Plus, we have always used her room to either change diapers during the day, play on the floor, read to her in the glider, take weekly pictures.

She usually falls asleep while one of us is holding her, becuase we try to keep her awake until 8 pm. I then put her in her bed and play a soft baby cd. We were doing all of that when she slept in the cradle in our room.

She did really good in there. She woke up at about 3 am and played for about 20 minutes and then went back to sleep until 7 am

*Side note - she has not always gone to sleep at 8 pm. Before I went back to work she would stay awake until 11-11:30. Then when I went back to work I would get her down between 9:30-10. Now I'm lucky if I can keep her Awake until 8 pm.

I'm starting to change his diapers in there as well as play with him some, so I hope this will mean good things when we make the move at night.

DS goes to sleep between 10:30 - 11:30 now. I start back to work in 2 weeks and was thinking we should put him to bed earlier. I hope we eventually get to where he will go to sleep around 8:30 and still sleep until 6 or 7am.

SigmundsGirl · May 2010

nvp05:

We also have the same house set up and I really wish we had a one story house or at least all bedrooms upstairs. We didn't move Rena up to her crib until she was 5 months because her room was upstairs. She slept fine in the pack n play in our bedroom but hated her crib! She never napped in her crib. We started playing in her room more so she would get used to it. She slept in her crib for a few hours a night at most. I slept upstairs in the guest room next to her room since I didn't want to go up and down the stairs several times a night.

I think it's great that you're starting him out in his room/crib at a young age. I really wish we didn't wait until she was 5 months old to transition. I think playing in his room is a good idea and I'm sure he'll adjust quickly! Good luck.

DH and I were thinking about sleeping in the guest room upstairs until Evan gets used to his room and sleep through the night well. This is something I never thought about when we bought our house.

I am sure this floor plan is great for someone with kids in junior high or high school.

anna_j · May 2010

It was kinda strange for us because we dreaded putting him in his crib. We tried to get him to nap and he wouldn't at all. We decided to put him in his crib at night at 4 months and just kinda did it. We put him down, turned off all the lights and turned on the white noise machine. He slept very well in his crib and has been there ever since. He will nap there now too.

cali_girl92504 · May 2010

We just finished night three and it was finally a success. The first night (Sunday night) sucked as she grunted, squirmed and let out a little "wah" all night long. Everytime I checked her eyes were closed but it wasn't a sound sleep like she would get in the PNP. The second night she did better and last night she slept 7.5 hours. We just kept at it. I did sleep in the guest room right next to her nursery but mostly because I was worried about not hearing her in the monitor. That has yet to be tested since I would wake up to check on her without hearing anything and I actually woke before her this morning.

I did find that she slept better with the noise machine on all night instead of just the first hour. And we moved the sleep positioner from her PNP to so that she had something that smelled like her PNP in there with her. Good luck! Stay persistent!

I will not fool myself that she is good to go now especially since she gets her shots today. Tonight should be fun.

nvp05 · May 2010

SigmundsGirl:
nvp05:

We also have the same house set up and I really wish we had a one story house or at least all bedrooms upstairs. We didn't move Rena up to her crib until she was 5 months because her room was upstairs. She slept fine in the pack n play in our bedroom but hated her crib! She never napped in her crib. We started playing in her room more so she would get used to it. She slept in her crib for a few hours a night at most. I slept upstairs in the guest room next to her room since I didn't want to go up and down the stairs several times a night.

I think it's great that you're starting him out in his room/crib at a young age. I really wish we didn't wait until she was 5 months old to transition. I think playing in his room is a good idea and I'm sure he'll adjust quickly! Good luck.

DH and I were thinking about sleeping in the guest room upstairs until Evan gets used to his room and sleep through the night well. This is something I never thought about when we bought our house.

I am sure this floor plan is great for someone with kids in junior high or high school.

I agree! It will be nice when the kiddos are older and have all their friends over and we still have our privacy downstairs. But it's not that practical with babies and young kids. I kind of thougth about it when we were buying our house, but didn't really realize what an issue it was until I had a baby!

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