How Can I Get My 6 Mo. Old Daughter to Sleep in Her Crib Again?

if she wakes up screaming when you lay her down even if she is sleeping and is still sleeping when you lay her down i would say she is probably still experiencing some pain maybe sinus or inner ear. i would take her to her dr and tell him what is happening and i would keep her head up for a while. If he cant see anything ask to take her to an ear nose adn throat specialist.
to keep head up in a crib you take a pillow and lift the mattress and put the pillow under the mattress at the end then put the mattress back down so the whole crib mattress only is tilted.
good luck
T.

Hi A.. Can you put the car seat in the crib? To at least get her used to being in her room again? Or even start with the car seat in her room, then in the crib? If you have a mobile, let her play in her crib after she wakes up for a while to get re-used to being in there.
Also when she is tired, put her in her crib. When she cries, pick her up. Do this a few times each time she needs a nap, and see if it helps at all over time.
Good luck!

When my daughter was four months old, we went through a similiar situation with her. She had severe reflux which was causing her to choke during the night. She too would only sleep in our arms, in the swing, or her carseat. We knew she would sleep in her carseat so we then tried putting her in her carseat in the crib with music on. She slept like this for about a month when she began to outgrow the reflux. We then moved her too sleeping in her crib but the crib mattress was elevated. Babies also become very secure with smells, so have her hold something that hangs in the carseat to sleep with. I hope this helps. Good Luck!! A.

I really dont have any good suggestions but to keep trying, maybe just start for naps at first, and make sure she is sleepy and wrapped in a blanket. Do you have any type of musical toy attached to her crib? The aquarium is a nice one, it has a light and the animals move and plays soft music. Maybe something like that will distract her from the thought of being in the crib. Best of Luck

I wouldn't sweat the car seat in the short run - whatever makes the child feel comfortable and fall asleep is fine. There is no magic to the crib right now. But if she cannot sleep flat, and she's dealing with cough, cold, ear infections, nebulizer and antibiotics, then SOMETHING is not working from an immune standpoint nor from a conventional medicine standpoint. Please look into Reliv products - patented nutrition for kids and adults (meaning no other product does the same thing - otherwise, no patent!) - helps all of the problems you have listed, without fail, if done properly. Twenty years of solid results, developed through scientific research by the same scientist who developed Enfamil and ProSoBee formulas. She needs to get good, solid nutrition and good, solid sleep. And you will feel better knowing she is properly nourished and properly rested.

did you have her ears rechecked? She may still have an ear infection.. try putting the car seat in the crib (if she cant crawl out of it anyway) and start from there. then take the car seat away once she is used to it. to incline the mattress, I always used a blanket.. folded up and stuck under neath. that worked better than raising one side with those hooks. good luck.

Try taking her back to the Dr, if you haven't already, for a follow up ear check. She might still have an ear infection that hurts when she lays down.

hi A.! both of my boys (now 3 1/2 and 7 months) loved to sleep in their carseats. it is a tough transition. for my boys, it was the comfort of feeling enclosed in the seat i think-so we would do a step by step process to get them in the crib. we would incline the crib on one end under the mattress-you can by special wedges if you want-we just used a rolled up towel:) it raises it just enough. then i rolled up a few other small blankets/towels and made a little "nest" under the crib sheet for them to lay in-under the sheet helps so it stays put-this seemed to work for them-maybe for emma too. good luck-it is tough-take care L. mom to AJ 3.5 & Dean 7 months

I had this problem with my son. We tried everything we could think of too, inclining the mattress, moving him after he fell asleep; etc. Finally, my daughter was babysitting one night, and she just put him in his crib inside the car seat. He was safely strapped in the seat, and she used pillows to keep it from moving. He slept all night. After a few nights, we started to put him into the bed directly from the car seat, then we would carry him from the car seat in another room, then we just left the car seat in the car and he went to bed. The main reason for the success of this is patience. THere is no real time line; your know your child and can tell when to take the next step in the process. Good luck, I hope this helps.

Hi A.- I went through a similar situation with my second daughter who was colic. The doctor finally said something that is pretty simple, but worked. Let her sleep in the car seat! If that is where she is sleeping comfortably now, and you are also getting sleep, that is what is most important. As long as you are both getting sleep, you can always change habits later on. Good luck!

Have you tried putting her in her car seat in her crib a few times first? That way she is still in her comfort zone but also getting used to the environment around her. Then you can transition her to the crib slowly. I would let her cry it out for a time for a few sleep sessions in a row. Even if it doesn't ultimately work, you will be trying and she will see that the repetition will not stop just because she is crying.

When my daughter was about that age, it was tough on us, but we finally realized that she was old enough to know that if we gave into her crying, she knew she had power over us. It took a bunch of sleepless nights in a row, but eventually she realized that we would keep trying until she got our message. Then she felt safer.

Good luck!

Hi A.
There have been some terrible cold bugs going around this winter! Have you had Emma's ears checked since her cold? My son's colds always turned into ear infections, especially from about 6-12 months. When he had an ear infection he'd scream and just refused to sleep laying down. Some kids can have an ear infection without a fever....Just a thought! Good luck with everything!
L. B

My kids are older now... 5, 7 and 9.... but I do remember a similar problem. I think we put the car seat in the crib actually just to get her to get back to the idea of the crib. I know it sounds nuts but it worked... A few nights in the car seat in the crib and then take the car seat away...

Also, rolling up receiving blankets and creating a nest above her head, and along her sides might be snuggly...

My best advice to you after 3 babies, remember that everything is a phase - literally from here on out, you can repeat that to yourself millions of times... Because there are so many more phases to go through...

Good luck.. and don't sweat the small stuff.

Have you tried weening her by starting her nap in her car seat? What I mean by that is today for her am nap put her in her car seat in her room next to her crib. Do that for as long as you feel comfortable. The next step is to put the car seat, with her in it, in the crib. Having her sleep in her car seat for a few more days isn't going to hurt her. She might just need to readjust. She probably feels secure in her seat because she was really sick. Were her symptoms really bad when she was in her crib? She might be afraid of the crib because of that. Also, try to take your anxiety out of putting her in the crib. Good luck!!! Our little one is now 3 but when she was sick we put her in her bouncy seat. We did something similar and it seemed to work.

Hi there,
I know how you feel, we had the same issue with our daughter. She would only sleep in a swing. The doctor told us we need to get her out of it. So it took about a week of crying and fussing but eventually it worked. We put her down every night and every night she would cry for about 20 min. After a week she must have realised that this is her bed and this is where she sleeps. I know it's tuff but you just gotta do it. Also if she wakes up in the middle of the night crying, try not to rush to her room the min she starts to scream. Give it a sec, sometimes babies need to learn to comfort them selves back to sleep. I've learned that with my daughter. I wait a min or two before I go in her room to comfort her, and 3 times out of 5 she ususally just falls right back to sleep. She's learned to comfort herself. This was very hard for me at first but I was told by other moms that you can tell the type of crying that sais mom come quickly I'm hurt or the crying that just sais pick me up I don't want to be in this crib.
So I tried it and it worked. I actually think that if you let them cry for a sec they fall back a sleep on their own a lot quicker then if you were to go in, pick her up, rock her etc... Please don't get the wrong idea I rock my daughter every night before bed time, I don't want you to think that I am this horible mom that just lets her baby cry, I just think that they need to learn to fall back asleep on their own too.
Ok so good luck let us know how you made out.

I went through that a lot with my son. anytime we took him out of his schedule, we had to re-program him, so to speak. He is a very stubborn child, from day one and he fought us with this but it was the only thing that worked: let him cry it out. Each time we traveled with him, I had to do it over and over again. It does take a couple of days but it works - three at the most, which does seem like a lifetime but each night, the crying got shorter and shorter. Think of it this way: you're teaching/showing her how to sleep at night because this is the only form of communication you can give her. Just stick to a routine, add some lullaby music - whatever- and just get it done. If she's not back to sleeping through the night within 5 days, I'd be surprised. (you might want to put her on her stomach or visa versa to see if she prefers to sleep the other way) good luck

Try letting her sleep in the car seat in the crib to get used to being back in that environment and then wean her back to just the crib. Most importantly, don't stress about it. Be flexible. just when you think you've figured it out something else will happen or she will change and then it will be back to the drawing board again. Welcome to parenthood! Good Luck. D.

I had similar trouble with my baby at around this stage (29 years ago :-) -- I finally decided that my sanity came first. I put her down at a reasonable time, after making sure everything was ok with her--she was fed, her diaper was dry, etc-- and then I went out of the door and let her wail. I think she was crying in anger more than anything--anger that I wasn't doing what she wanted me to do! After 2 or 3 nights of this, she settled down like a lamb every night, and we never had a significant bedtime problem again.

Dr. Spock had a section in his book called "waking in the night type" that described our problem to a t. He gave me strength to follow my instincts. If your instincts tell you to keep her from ever crying, she will gradually become very demanding.

This may be old-fashioned advice, but there does come a point where you just can't keep them happy all the time without sacrificing too much of your own peace of mind... And without that, it all becomes impossible!

For what it's worth.

Hey A.

It's S.. Sorry to hear that Emma won't sleep in the crib. It sounds like you've gotten a lot of suggestions and have tried a number of them. Have you tried putting a shirt of yours that you've been wearing (so that it has your scent on it) in the crib with her? Or maybe you could sleep with her blanket so that your scent is on the blanket and then let her sleep with it. Wish I had more suggestions! You may have already tried the blanket/shirt idea, but good luck! Hope to see you soon!

Peace,
S. & Zeke

We had a similar experience - when we tried to put her back in the crib it didn't work so well!! My husband created "bumpers" made from rolled towels that cut down the size of the crib so she felt a little more snug in it, just like her car seat. We watched her for the first few nights just to make sure the bumpers were safe, and voila - she was sleeping like a champ:) good luck!

We used a projector / sound machine to interest the baby. He is now 6 mos. old and sleeping through the night. He doesn't even cry when we lay him down, he just stares at the projections on the ceiling and listens to the waves all night. What a Godsend! L.

my son ended up with the same problem he slept in his car seat when he was sick with a bad cold or an ear infection. at first we put him in the car seat and put the car seat in the crib just in case he moved or rolled out. After a while that go old. so we ended up puting a dresser drawer (of course we padded the inside with blakets so he would get hurt) a little bigger than him in his crib he felt safe in the small confined area(just like he did in his car seat) and as he grew so did his space we devided the crib in half and so on. Yes its sounds nuts but it worked for us he was safe and sound and asleep and we were able to get some sleep also. But stick with it and dont give up!
jenn

Hi A.,

A good friend of mine had a very similar problem with her son at around the same age. What she did to gradually get him back to sleeping in the crib was, she allowed him to fall asleep in the car seat, then moved the car seat into the crib. She did this for a couple of nights, until he got used to waking up there again. Then, she would remove him from the car seat and put him into the crib directly. It took about a week or so, and a lot of patience, I'm sure, but he went back to sleeping in his crib on his own.

Best of luck to you!