Baby sleeps everywhere BUT crib?!

[ChocolateC]

My month-old DS sleeps pretty well in his bassinet at night, but during the day, I swear, he will sleep ANYWHERE but the bassinet or crib.

He will sleep in the stroller, car seat, on the couch, bed, or his favorite: on a person. But not in the places I want him to sleep. He just wakes up and cries, over and over.

I bought a portable crib just for sleeping during the day, so I didn't have to detach and carry the bassinet all over the house. (Eventually he'll get DD's full-size crib. I thought the portable one would be good practice for crib sleeping.) Now I'm wondering if I should return it because he has never, ever, slept more than 10 minutes in it.

Anyone else have this problem? How do you force your baby to sleep in a safe, normal place???

 

[Starlight32]

My baby refused to nap in the bassinet we have for the living room when she was 2 weeks old. She would scream whenever we put her in it and would only nap if being held. We then started using a Halo Sleep Sack (wearable blanket) for naps, as we use one at bed time but never thought about using it for nap time. She will sleep in her bassinet with the sleep sack now (granted, she's 3 weeks old now so it hadn't been that long of her doing it!). I'm thinking maybe she was cold and that's why she would only nap when held? Regardless of the sleep sack though, she will only sleep if she is already tired, after being held. So we have to get her ready for a nap, then put her in the bassinet with a sleep sack. If she's not ready to nap, she will cry and want to be held.

 

[ChocolateC]

I LOVE sleep sacks for nighttime (DD still uses a Gro-Bag at 2.5 years old, and puts it on and off herself) but never thought of using one during the day. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Starlight32]

Hope things improve with her sleeping. My baby is just three weeks old and sleeping is definitely stressful.

 

[jessmke]

My LO napped in the corner of our sectional couch (with the ottoman pushed into the corner) for the first 4 weeks or so. After 4 weeks we started putting her in the basinette part of the pack n play in the living room and she would sometimes get upset so I would hold her until she fell asleep or for her entire nap. She napped there until she was probably 4 months old and then she started to nap in her crib in her room.

What about putting a shirt of yours in the basinette so it smells like you? I've also heard putting used breast pads in there can also help if you are breastfeeding.

 

[MindUtopia]

Completely normal. Actually, everywhere but a crib is pretty much the normal place for a baby to sleep and has been throughout human evolution. Cribs are a new fangled concept, even though we don't think of them that way, and many more traditional cultures would think they were an absolutely crazy idea. There's a reason why babies in non-'modern' cultures never have sleep problems, because they just sleep wherever instead of in an awkward crib and generally everyone gets lots of sleep that way and mums get lots done carrying sleeping babies around on their backs. That's sort of what we did and it made a world of difference, none of the frustration of fighting something that didn't seem like it would work. Basically, you have two options really, go with it, get your LO to sleep wherever works easiest, in your arms, in the pushchair while you take a walk and get some exercise, in the car on the way to a class, in a wrap while you work on your computer or start dinner, or you just have to be persistent in trying to encourage a new habit (sleeping in the crib) and just give it time and accept it might be challenging until it becomes the new norm.

Honestly, my daughter pretty much never once slept in a crib or a cot until she grew out of her naps (at least not at home, she would at nursery, or on a mat on the floor). We co-slept in our bed until she was 3 (by choice, not because she wouldn't sleep anywhere else) too, though now she happily sleeps in her own room. Up until she was 8 months, I just plopped her in a wrap and did whatever I needed to around the house while she slept or took a walk or we planned long car trips around when she would usually nap, which was great because I was never stuck at home or planning life around naps. She could sleep whenever, wherever we were, while we got on with our day. I hate being stuck at home. We pretty much did the same, though using the car or pushchair until she was old enough, she stopped napping. We also wore her in a wrap for the evenings until she was about 4 months old. She always transitioned just fine to sleeping on her own when the time came and it's worked great.