My son is 2 months old and we found he liked sleeping in his swing the best. Now that I am going back to work at the end of this month, we want to get him sleeping in his crib (because the swing is in the living room and we take turns sleeping on the couch!). Almost everytime I put him in his crib he wakes up crying within minutes. What can we do?! We have been trying to get him to nap in there more often, it sometimes works.
Also, at what point do we get him to fall asleep on his own rather than us rocking him to sleep? (I am breastfeeding so he usually falls asleep when he is done eating but that isn't always the case).
I wonder if you would warm the sheet before you put him in the crib if this would help. I'd use a heating pad and take it off and confirm how warm the sheet was before putting the baby on the sheet. Also, you can stand there and rub his tummy for a while to help soothe him. Since you are going back to work, you'll be having a sitter or day care- could they rock him? Three months is nice for rocking, but you can get him used to not being rocked whenever you need to- again, soothing him when he is in the crib.
Hi- I'm sorry, I don't have any suggestions for you, all of my kids slept well in their cribs from about 2 months on.
I agree. Soothing him in the crib will be a good way to get him used to sleeping in there. Just be consistant.
Good luck
Quoting Bmat:I wonder if you would warm the sheet before you put him in the crib if this would help. I'd use a heating pad and take it off and confirm how warm the sheet was before putting the baby on the sheet. Also, you can stand there and rub his tummy for a while to help soothe him. Since you are going back to work, you'll be having a sitter or day care- could they rock him? Three months is nice for rocking, but you can get him used to not being rocked whenever you need to- again, soothing him when he is in the crib.
Babies like to wake up in the same place they fell asleep and are startled when this isn't the case. If you want your son to sleep in his crib, then you are going to have to lay him in there when he is sleepy but still awake. Rub him and whisper things to him and then walk away. He will cry, go back every couple mins as many times as it takes. This may take several days but eventually he will learn to soothe himself. You just have to be very consistent. Don't pick him up but do not ignore him crying. He is still very young and isn't crying to get what he wants. He is crying out of need for you. Just be patient and give it time! When I crib trained my daughter, it was heartbreaking when I walked away and she cried, but I never let her cry for more than 2 or 3 mins and eventually, she would stop after maybe 15 or 20 seconds and fall asleep. Good luck!
You can try laying him on his tummy (which I was too paranoid to do until the 3rd child!)... or, have you tried co-sleeping? That would be ideal since you are going back to work since it would give you the most sleep you can get with a baby in the house and give baby more snuggle time with you.
my baby hated his crib and i learned about attachment parenting on this website. it gave me the confidence to feel fine about rocking, holding or sleeping next to my son instead of forcing him into the crib. it is not for everyone but my cousin and her husband use its methods and they work full time. they have caretakers hold dd at naptime or sleep time. so the other thing was you could move your swing to your bedroom.
im getting the urge again... (a little of a vent also)
- RDeRo
on Jan. 6, 2013 at 3:42 PM