Transitioning six month old into the crib

[Chrisada]

I've been co-sleeping or having her in the rock n play a little. I'm ready to try the crib. I was never successful with my two oldest. Seriously, the crib was and currently is, a place to throw extra clothes into. Any other co-sleeping parents who successfully transitioned to the crib? SoonerTexan, I'm looking at you. I need to know how.


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[scrub-jay]

I've done it twice now. I had great results with the "Goodnight, sleep tight" (Sleeplady) methods. I think it's called doing the sleep shuffle? Both of my kiddos went from cosleeping (and waking up to nurse frequently) to sleeping 12 hours through the night. I did it around 15 months with dd (after trying numerous things) and roughly 6 months with ds. They stopped nursing at night, but nursed more during the day.

[Urowife]

I was never successful at getting either kid to sleep in the crib, so I'm no real help. But, I will share our sleep setup in case it helps you or others. We've done the same for both kids.
From birth to 6 months or so, I coslept with baby in my room. From 6-9 months, I started to leave baby on a mattress on the floor with bumpers in their room. I used a video monitor to check on baby. When baby woke up at night, I'd go in and nurse back down. Sometimes, I'd fall asleep and stay there the rest of the night. Other times, I'd go back to my bed. Gradually, baby started sleeping longer stretches, so I didn't need to stay there as much. Eventually, baby started sleeping through the night. The catch to this plan, since there is no crib or confined space, is that a parent usually has to help baby fall asleep. Also, baby's room has to be super baby proofed. But, it's worked so well for our family, and we have the added bonus of not having to transition from the crib to the toddler bed later on.

[SoonerTexan]

I've been co-sleeping or having her in the rock n play a little. I'm ready to try the crib. I was never successful with my two oldest. Seriously, the crib was and currently is, a place to throw extra clothes into. Any other co-sleeping parents who successfully transitioned to the crib? SoonerTexan, I'm looking at you. I need to know how.

Haha, what do you consider "successfully?" The two year old is actually sleeping in my bed right now because we met up with my parents and got home late and she asked for mommy's bed. It was easier to put the unreasonable tired toddler there and move on then fight with her in her room! I'll have DH move her when he gets home. Most of the time she is in her own "big girl bed" now from bedtime til about 6:30-7am when we let her come in with us if we aren't already up, so we did get there eventually. I'd define "transitioned to crib" for us to mean, "went to bed in the crib at bedtime, though maybe wasn't there the entire night."

Let's see...at 6 months we'd rock or nurse her to sleep and lay her down in the crib. Then we would just bring her in with us at the first night waking. If we were really good, we'd put her back, but we were pretty lazy. We did keep the cosleeper set up in our room (as a pack n play because she could pull up on the infant setup and fall out) as an alternative place to put her in the middle of the night.

The hardest part was getting her to go to sleep in the crib at 10 months+. There was lots of endless rocking and laying on the floor til she fell asleep. Once she could comprehend us better, making her lay down while we would rub her back or hold her hand worked. Eventually just being in the room was enough. We'd let her cry it out for short intervals 5-10 min, but it never really did much. The good news is as she got older, the crib was always a pretty secure place for her so she liked being in it for the most part. But man...momma's bed is always the place to be if she can swing it. There was never really a point where "BOOM" we could just lay her down in the crib and be done. She regressed during teething a couple times and we've always had to dedicate at least 15 minutes, sometimes way way more to getting her to actually go to sleep.

I think if we had been better about putting her back in the crib during night wakings she would have gotten it sooner, but like I said, we were lazy and didn't mind her in with us.

[Ladybug]

I focused on transitioning naps. I had more energy to put them back down during the day. During the night all bets were off. As soon as I could get them to take their naps in the crib, then they would stay there during the night too.

[Sheherezade]

ST, your story sounds just like our kids. FWIW, they did eventually sleep all alone every night!


Angie

[Thirteen]

I think we started with the swing, then would transition DS into the bed after he had fallen asleep.
At 9 months, I began to put him down for a nap in his crib - it took a few weeks of reassuring/patting/shushing him into falling asleep in his own bed, but after that, he would sleep in his bed at night and during nap without too much handholding.

I guess I could have been more pushy, but I was exhausted and didn't have the mental energy to go to the mattresses about it.


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[Chrisada]

Thanks everyone. I'll check out the book suggested. I think the biggest thing for me is the nap part. I want to be able to just lay her down for naps. So maybe I'll start with that first. I just know I waited too late to transition my older two and they would get so upset that head banging and hyperventilating would occur. It was too much for me to handle. And who doesn't love cuddling with a warm body to get to sleep? I love it as much as she does. Would you all suggest black out curtains for sure also?


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[ladymoreta]

My first stop for sleep problems is always Baby Sleep Site. This has some good suggestions: https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-...sition-how-to/.

Don't fault yourself for the snuggles. Those times are precious, and I'm glad you enjoyed them. I sometimes rock DD to sleep even now, and I still nap with DS occasionally.

[Chrisada]

I've done it twice now. I had great results with the "Goodnight, sleep tight" (Sleeplady) methods. I think it's called doing the sleep shuffle? Both of my kiddos went from cosleeping (and waking up to nurse frequently) to sleeping 12 hours through the night. I did it around 15 months with dd (after trying numerous things) and roughly 6 months with ds. They stopped nursing at night, but nursed more during the day.

omg thank you! Have the book and after only two days we are making serious progress! I've stayed in here while she's cried and let her know I'm here. No nursing all throughout the night anymore! I put her back to sleep twice last night and did bring her into our bed at six because she's a little sick and was coughing. I feel soooo free!


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[scrub-jay]

I'm so so glad it's working for you!! It was life changing for us.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

I was never successful at getting either kid to sleep in the crib, so I'm no real help. But, I will share our sleep setup in case it helps you or others. We've done the same for both kids.
From birth to 6 months or so, I coslept with baby in my room. From 6-9 months, I started to leave baby on a mattress on the floor with bumpers in their room. I used a video monitor to check on baby. When baby woke up at night, I'd go in and nurse back down. Sometimes, I'd fall asleep and stay there the rest of the night. Other times, I'd go back to my bed. Gradually, baby started sleeping longer stretches, so I didn't need to stay there as much. Eventually, baby started sleeping through the night. The catch to this plan, since there is no crib or confined space, is that a parent usually has to help baby fall asleep. Also, baby's room has to be super baby proofed. But, it's worked so well for our family, and we have the added bonus of not having to transition from the crib to the toddler bed later on.

This is verbatim what we did. She's now 2 and sleeps through the night in her bed on her own. It took her until about 20 months to go down without a fight but that would have been the case regardless of approach, the girl HATES sleep.

[Chrisada]

When I laid her down for bed she whimpered for about a minute and was then fast asleep. I cannot believe it. Seriously. I wish I had done this with the boys. I've always had to lie down with them for naps and at night. I was their sleep crutch. It was so hindering. Her brothers are yapping away in the next room and she's out cold. I just finished watching Catching Fire with DH. I have been missing out!!


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[ladymoreta]

That's awesome!!! Well done!!