Transitioning from bassinet to crib?

[Noelle610]

Ladies, I need tips on transitioning my LO from her bassinet to her crib. She's currently 9 week sold and I really want her to have good sleeping habits.

She currently sleeps in a rock & play sleeper... it's in her room, next to her crib. I tried to put her in her crib for a nap the other day, rubbing her back or picking her up when she cried, but she was never able to settle. She cried for an entire hour and I gave up.

Any tips? She is already not the best sleeper and only does 3 hours at a time at night at best, so I'm hesitant to do anything that makes her wake more often. That said, I realize that sometimes you have to take a step back before moving forward...

 

[Nat0619]

Sorry no advice but I'll stalk this thread as we need to transition LO from her moses basket to her cot soon as she's outgrowing the basket.

Same as you I want to make this as smooth as possible. She has been sleeping 9/10 hour (12 last night!) stretches for a good while now and I'm worried the move will disrupt this x

 

[capegirl7]

I moved my lo from her bassinet in our room to her crib in her own room at 15 weeks, I was so scare because she sleeps 10 hours through the night, well she loves her crib and still sleeps through the night. At 9 weeks my lo hated napping in her crib, she has just started napping in there. Maybe she isn't ready yet? Keep trying naps

 

[MiniKiwi]

I don't really have any advice as such but we moved our little girl into her cot at 9 weeks old and she started sleeping more! She sleeps for an extra two hours each morning, we really think she likes her new bed. You could try putting a sheep skin under her to make it super comfortable?

Does she sleep in your bedroom with you? Maybe you could put her cot in your room at first to make her feel a bit more secure knowing you're right there with her. My LO watches through the bars and knows I'm in bed right near her. I hope it goes smoothly for you and you might notice, like for us, that she sleeps better in the big bed!

 

[Saphira]

I remember my daughter would only sleep comfortably in her rocker until the midwife gave us a great tip to get her to sleep comfortably in her cosleeper - a breastfeeding pillow placed around her to make the feeling of never-ending space lessen. Many babies like to feel somewhat confined when they sleep. So, the transition from her cosleeper to crib wasn't too bad. We just brought the pillow along to confine the large amount of space. You could take it out once your little one's asleep if it makes you feel more comfortable since I know it's advised to have nothing in baby's bed but it's never been a problem for our daughter, she never messes with it. Good luck!

https://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS1Ow52yGVPJCIx3wmHJK_AYEuA7hDao9TT3uYMcOMG54qp8wnT

 

[Noelle610]

I don't really have any advice as such but we moved our little girl into her cot at 9 weeks old and she started sleeping more! She sleeps for an extra two hours each morning, we really think she likes her new bed. You could try putting a sheep skin under her to make it super comfortable?

Does she sleep in your bedroom with you? Maybe you could put her cot in your room at first to make her feel a bit more secure knowing you're right there with her. My LO watches through the bars and knows I'm in bed right near her. I hope it goes smoothly for you and you might notice, like for us, that she sleeps better in the big bed!

She actually sleeps in her own room, in her bassinet near the crib! I was hoping this would make the transition easier, so perhaps I'll try again this week.

I'm jealous that all of your LOs are sleeping so well! Mine only does 2-3 hours at a time and I'm fearful of her waking MORE than that. I have to go back to work in 2 weeks and I'm not sure how I'll cope. Everyone says that they just magically sleep through one day... so we'll see

 

[Noelle610]

I remember my daughter would only sleep comfortably in her rocker until the midwife gave us a great tip to get her to sleep comfortably in her cosleeper - a breastfeeding pillow placed around her to make the feeling of never-ending space lessen. Many babies like to feel somewhat confined when they sleep. So, the transition from her cosleeper to crib wasn't too bad. We just brought the pillow along to confine the large amount of space. You could take it out once your little one's asleep if it makes you feel more comfortable since I know it's advised to have nothing in baby's bed but it's never been a problem for our daughter, she never messes with it. Good luck!

https://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS1Ow52yGVPJCIx3wmHJK_AYEuA7hDao9TT3uYMcOMG54qp8wnT

I like that idea! Is there any risk of suffocation though, do you think?

 

[ashiozz]

I am transitioning my son from the swing he sleeps in in my room (he didnt like a bassinet) to his crib. Im starting with naps. Today is day 1. He's napping in there but it took an hour to get there. He has a mini-scout thing by Leap Frog that plays lullabies and he's got his binky and his mickey security blanket just as if he was n his swing. It took a minute to get him to sleep but he's been out cold for an hour. The first time I tried, he screamed, so I think it's just a process and naps ARE a good place to start =)

 

[Saphira]

I like that idea! Is there any risk of suffocation though, do you think?

The pillow she has is a relatively small size so it's not tall enough to reach her face. During her first few months she didn't even realize it was there and barely moved when she slept. Now she moves tons of course but takes little notice of the pillow so we've decided to continue leaving it in overnight.
I wouldn't want to recommend anything that's not 100% safe but I did take that recommendation from my midwife so trusted it of course.
If you get a small one and take it out once your little one's asleep (checking on her every 10mins or so until she is) I'd consider that a safer alternative than leaving it in all night.

 

[Noelle610]

I am transitioning my son from the swing he sleeps in in my room (he didnt like a bassinet) to his crib. Im starting with naps. Today is day 1. He's napping in there but it took an hour to get there. He has a mini-scout thing by Leap Frog that plays lullabies and he's got his binky and his mickey security blanket just as if he was n his swing. It took a minute to get him to sleep but he's been out cold for an hour. The first time I tried, he screamed, so I think it's just a process and naps ARE a good place to start =)

This gives me hope! I'll try again tomorrow.

 

[Casey3]

We didn't do anything fancy and his sleep was never distrupted one night in the bassinet and the next night he was switched over to the crib... Never even noticed the difference lol. Our bassinet was wooden with bars and looked like a ini crib so I guess from his perspective it was similar, just different coloured bars. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and try something new.. Our worst transition was off the swaddle

All you people and your wonderfully sleeping babies, I genuinely hope it lasts as sleep deprevation sucks lol... We're 7 months in and he's sleeping like a newborn, awake every couple hours still.

 

[jessicatunnel]

Do you have a boppy? It's the same idea as a breast pillow that a pp said. Lilly sleeps in her boppy in her bassinet. If its on the bed I put pillows on either side to squeeze it so its tighter and makes her feel like she's being held. I plan to still do this when we move to the crib. I put a rolled up blanket under her feet so she doesn't scoot down. And also since its tight she's kind of sitting more on top of it than in it so her face never goes anywhere near the actual pillow!

I'm so jealous that all of your lo's sleep so well. Lilly is only doing three hour stretches. :/

 

[Kristin52]

Swaddle. I loved it and would've swaddled longer but he started rolling to his belly.
It was a godsend for us and he slept peacefully swaddled in his crib all night. Now he's able to move around and get comfy.
Also maybe a white noise machine. We have a fisherprice mobile. He likes the nature sounds.

 

[Jaylynne]

We just put up his crib when we moved to the new house. He had outgrown the newborn bassinet and hated the regular one so we sort of had to do it. I did swaddle him as he tended to wake himself with his arms. Now that he can roll over, I still use the swaddle me swaddlers, but I keep his arms out. Best of both worlds. Or I use the sleep sacks that look like he's wearing a dress with an elastic tie hem lol.

I was actually a little miffed that he took so well to sleeping in his own room guess he didn't need me to go to sleep anymore. He now sleeps from about 8:30-6am, wakes himself up, I go in and give pacifier to see if he's still sleepy and he usually sleeps it 8:30.

 

[libbylou]

I would try nap times to start and try to make it as comforting as you can. Try putting a small stuffed animal that smells like you in the crib, or swaddle LO in a blanket that you've slept with
Try putting LO in the corner of the crib so its not such a big empty space
LO may be too young at this point to try any sort of sleep training, from what I understand they really don't learn to soothe and settle themselves until 3 months or later

 

[austinmami]

In my case, two things helped me a lot with transitioning my baby to his crib. One was for me and one was for him. I was not feeling ready for the transition, thinking that my son would feel rejected if I moved him to his crib being so little. My husband wasn't getting any sleep and honestly neither was I, but it took me having a conversation with my therapist (yup) where she explained how helpful it would be for the 3 of us if we went ahead and moved him to his room. So we did it. It was hard for a bit, until I found what helped him. Sinve the swaddle was not working with him anymore, I got a zipadee-zip and that thing made all the difference. My son stopped waking up in the middle of the night the day I started using it with him. Honestly, I am now so glad I moved him to his room sooner rather than later. But I do understand that it is not an easy thing to do.

 

[zorak]

We just did it with both boys and neither had any issues. One night in bassinet next put in crib.

I wouldn't compare naps and night time sleep, my LO will only sleep during the day with an incline but will happily sleep flat at night.

 

[zorak]

Gosh, just realised how old this thread is