Transition to crib

[namara5532]

I currently bedshare with DS for the sake of everyone getting sleep. However, now that he's rolling over, I don't feel like it's going to be a safe sleeping situation anymore. DH and I are going to spend this weekend starting to transition him to sleeping in the crib. DH works nights, so after Sunday night I'm on my own.

Here's what I'm dealing with. DS is accustomed to nursing to sleep. That's why we bedshare, so I can put him on the boob and go back to sleep. He's proven that he can go to sleep in the car if he's changed and fed, so I know he has the capability to go to sleep without being on the boob.

Our plan is for DH to carefully transition him to the crib when he's no longer feeding and just comfort suckling. I don't really want to do CIO, so when he cries we plan to comfort him in the crib for a few minutes then pick him up and attempt to rock him to sleep. If he's still inconsolable an hour after his last feeding, I'll feed him again, and we'll try to transition him again.

It's gonna be tough, but it's better to do it now than wait for him to roll off the bed (or be too emotionally attached to sleeping with the boob). Anyone have any words of advice? Doesn't matter if you have or haven't sleep trained your LO. I need ideas in case our original plan doesn't work at all. I could also use advice as to what I can do when I'm home by myself and desperate for sleep.

[jennlin]

no advice on transitioning, since we're not there yet....but we bed share, nurse to sleep, and my dd is rolling over--just definitely not in her sleep. for precautionary measures, i have her sleep near the middle of the bed, and h and i squeeze on one half. it promotes snuggle time for us, and makes sure she's safe. we're not STTN yet, so i wake up every so often anyways, she doesn't get far by the time i/we wake up...she's a little wiggle worm, though, and sometimes will end up diagonal..but that's an easy fix. i also put a pillow on the other side of her..yes, pillows are light and fall off easily, but there's just enough pressure that a little infant won't be able to push it off by rolling.

[vanillacourage]

Whenever we transitioned DS1's sleep (out of our bed, sleep training, etc) we started with nap time on the weekends. If it didn't go well, at least it was broad daylight instead of 3am. We also made sure to always put him down in his crib to start a sleep session - if he had a bad night and ended up in our bed then ok, but every half-hour he spent in the crib was getting him closer to sleeping on his own.

In your case, have you thought about putting a PNP right next to your bed for a week or two? It's a separate sleeping area with a harder mattress, but you're right there to comfort him so it might be a sneaky way to transition him out of your bed.

[namara5532]

Well, things were a disaster. DS seems terrified of the crib, and the stress of it has made me sick. I'm going to use the crib as a place he can lay in if he's wide awake and babbling during bedtime, but we're just going to bedshare for now. We'll probably try again in a month or two. Thanks for the advice though.

[evynsmama]

Have you tried swaddling or a sleep positioner? A crib is so big without something craddling them making them feel cozy I never bedshared, we always had DD in a pnp next to the bed and she slept in the napper attachment swaddled until 2 months and then swaddled in the top of the pnp between the sleep positioner until 3 months and then in the crib swaddled in the sleep positioner until 6 months