Sleeping in the swing

Klmorgan83 · May 2011

Please tell me that if we continue letting Levi sleep in the swing that it isn't bad and he'll eventually learn to sleep flat in his bed...or anywhere for that matter!

When he first came home from the hospital he hated laying in the bassinet, he was sleeping best either in a bouncy seat or in the boppy. So we bought a Rock n play since it's at an incline and he started giving us 3-4 hour stretches. He then started doing most of his napping in his swing. It was just easy to put him there because it's in our family room and I could keep an eye on him and Noah. He naps well there, 4-5 hours sometimes. Well the better he's started to nap there, the worse he's sleeping at night. I'll get him good and asleep before I lay him down, but it doesn't do any good...he either wakes up right away, or within the hour.

I end up doing all the night time stuff because DH is either gone at work (he's a paramedic, so he's gone 24 hours at a time) or he has to work the next day, so I feel bad making him do it. So I'm exhausted! I know if we can get him to sleep anywhere than we should just go with it, but the swing makes enough noise that it keeps me up....I got an hour of sleep last night, and Noah got up at 6:30. It's not possible for me to nap during the day, I don't know how I'm going to make it through the day. Someone please tell me it gets better! Noah was sleeping through the night in his crib at 8 weeks, I'm so not used to this!

Mrs.Cooley2bee · May 2011

Both of my kids loved the swing. Asher is rapidly approaching the weight limit on his and still naps in it sometimes during the day. There have been nights that I let him sleep in it all night because he wanted to be at an incline. He's always in his crib at night now, but at Levi's age he really was addicted to the swing. Like you said, if he sleeps well in the swing, let him do it for now.

As for the noise, my kids always sleep with the radio on so that the regular noise in the house doesn't wake them up. Could you turn on some light music to drown out the sound of the swing? There is a station 90.5FM that is all classical music, we use that most of the time so we don't end up hearing rock-n-roll in the middle of the night.

Good luck!

johnandkristin · May 2011

None of my kids have slept in a swing, so I'm no help there, but it will get better!

It's so hard with multiple children, when you have those sleepless nights and then know that you can't nap! If you can, drink a big cup of coffee today, and take it easy. Keep your routine as simple as possible. Rest at any chance you get (even if it's simply laying on the couch while Levi is content and Noah watches a show.

I hope the boys are perfect little angels for you today and you get as much rest as possible:)

Superchicy · May 2011

If DD had slept in a swing, I would have said to hell with it, she's sleeping, we'll deal with it later. As it was she slept ON me for every nap and most of the night and she still managed to transition well to her bed (now STTN most nights). I say if it works, then take whatever sleep you can get and you can work on transitioning later.

katierx · May 2011

My DD slept in her swing for MONTHS... she had horrible reflux and this was the only way that she would sleep for more than an hour straight. Do whatever works for you and then worry about converting over to the crib later. It took us a couple of days, but she adjusted to the crib pretty well overall. Good luck!

PolarBerry · May 2011

one of our girls slept in the swing until...oh... last week! yeah, we are waaaay worse than you... she is over six monhs old! She has done really well transitioning though. She had already been doing naps in the crib at daycare, it was just nighttime that was still in the swing. We tried the transition a month ago and it didn't go that well. this time it's going a lot better. I say, do what it takes to get some sleep... you will figure out the rest later! the kiddo won't be sleeping in the swing forever... you will get there!

kel716 · May 2011

My son slept in his carseat until he was almost 6 months old. He SLEPT! He was never a great napper until ~6 mos, but he would sleep 12 hours stretches at night. While it worried me, we were much happier because he was sleeping.

He now sleeps in his toddler bed 11-12 hours every night. He gets in his bed on his own and bedtime takes us 15-30 minutes depending on if he gets a bath or not. I can't get him to nap, but seriously we only had a consistent nap for about 18 mos (6-8 mos (my memory is fuzzy) - 23 mos).

I say go with what works and "this too shall pass." You'll have a transition period when you do finally do away with the swing, but when that happens you'll at least have a chance of having the energy to deal with it. GL

MrsFoltz · May 2011

Well I give you the downside. O napped great in his swing (1.5-2 hr stretches) and then slept pretty good in his bed at night. But if he ever had a fussy night we popped him in the swing and I slept on the couch (and I agree with you the noise kept me up too). But at 6 months he was over the weight limit and we had to transition to the crib. And it Was.Not.Pretty. And at 9 months still isn't. I honestly don't think he ever learned how to soothe himself, so I have to rock him to slep for his naps and he gives me 25-45 minutes (an hour at the absolute most). I've tried drowsy but awake, I've tried CIO, nothing works. Oh how I wish they made a swing that went to 50 pounds! So I feel like it is a matter of deciding when you want to deal with transitioning since you'll have to do it at some point and it stinks no matter what

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