Transition from Mom's Bed to Crib

I was in the same situation with my first born and I was so sleep deprived because he was such a light sleeper. I finally decided one night that I would try to put him in his bed after I rocked him to sleep. He did great! He did wake up, but after a few nights he was sleeping ALL night. I think the key is to just try it and see what happens. It will not happen in one night, but you'll get there. Your reward will be a full nights rest.:)

Heres what worked for me...............Put the baby in his own bed. He will cry. Allow him to cry for 5 minutes, then go in and settle him down, reassure him and leave. I know from experience that that will seem like the longest five minutes. Let him cry another 5 minutes and do the same thing. continue this until he finally falls asleep. Remember that if you pick him up and bring him to your bed after an hour of crying...............listining to all that crying was for nothing. After 3 or 4 days he will goo to sleep. You must be consistant. Thats what worked for me. I have 4 grown children and 6 granddaughters.

Make the transition on a Thursday or Friday night. You will probably both sleep better once he's in his own bed. As hard as it may be to give up that sweet togetherness, you'll both benefit by sleeping deeper. Maybe start out by putting him in a packnplay in your room, anything with a mattress that's appropriate for a baby. He should be able to sleep through the night quickly at his age once he is in his new bed. You will learn not to get up with every little sound he makes, as babies just make noise when they sleep!

My daughter is 15 months old and is still breastfeed. She used to sleep in her own bed all through the nightuntill she was 3months old and started having small medical problems, colds, ezema (stratching all night) refulx,ect. she is small and was losing weight. when I started picking her up to help her with the other problems she got into the habbit of nurseing in my bed and sometimes continuing to sleep there all night. She starts off fine in her own bed but is up 4 times a night to nurse! she is a stubborn eater and nursing at night is the time she getts the most calories, which she needs.
my husband too works out of town and the up and down is killing me. So on accasion she sleeps with me through the night, when I am too tired to put her back in her crib.
several things were suggested to me (by my doctor) the most prvelant was put her in her crib and let her cry, while MOM takes an ambein. She swears it worked for her and it only toke 3 days.
I have tried that and I still hear my daughter's cries and wake up. - so to sum it up! do it NOW, it only will get worse. some experts say put them in the crib, and sloly inch your way to the door over weeks of time. I did cold turkey for her as to going to bed at night by herself. that worked better for me. -but I still have no solution for crying in the middle of the night. some one could help me with that as well.

You might try putting his bed into your room for the transition. That's how I got my son to sleep in his bed, since he slept with me for months. (I also found it much easier while breastfeeding.) Once he gets used to being in his bed, then you can move it to his room. Good luck!

Put the crib up in your room. You can hear him and he can hear you.
You may find he sleeps a lot deeper in his own bed rather than with you. Start on a Fiday night so that hopefully by Monday Ya'll are situated.

I too, breastfed my children, but the crib was in my room and they started out sleeping in their on bed. This made transition to their own room even easier.

First suggestion... do it over a weekend or long break. Then you don't have to worry about being tired.
-Next, put a video monitor in his room. This way you can check on him without getting up. He may cry a little, but if he looks ok on the monitor, you don't have to go to his room.
-If he doesn't already, let him take naps in his room from now until the big weekend. Then he'll get used to the bed & room.
-Make sure he has some kind of "white noise". A small fan facing away from him works great. Since he's used to hearing you breath at night, he'll need the noise to help him sleep.
-Finally, let him fall asleep on his own. Create a routine (bath, book, rock & sing a song, lay down to sleep & maybe sing another song) and leave while he's still awake.
Do this every night & he'll learn to fall asleep on his own & comfort himself.
Does he take a paci or have a "lovey" or blanket. If not, you could get a small silky blanket or even a burp cloth; put it between you & him when you rock him & then put him to bed with it. It will smell like you & help to comfort him.

J.,
I wrote a long reply and somehow I don't know what I hit and it was gone so here is my short reply! First off I send you lots of praise I really don't know how you can balance work/home/baby! I agree with everyone when they say start on the weekend, don't talk to the baby when he wakes up this will definitely cause them to want to be with you. I have a 9month old and he has been in his own crib&room since he was 4 months this is only because he had slept on my chest for a whole month at 2 months and it was killing me! I found that the biggest problem was me! The baby was more than open to sleeping by himself but I had convinced myself that he would never be able to sleep without me. This may be a harder thing to break for you since your son is older but he may surprise you. Thing is you will never know until you try it. Something that came in very handy for us was the fisher price waterfall soother, our baby started falling asleep on his own when we put this in his crib. Good luck!

Wow!! I admire you so much. We made the transition from our bed to the crib when my daughter was 4 months old. It was actually very easy. I think in my head I made it much harder than it actually was. Your son is 8 months old now and can most certainly sleep through the night without being feed. That is a good thing. I would pick a time you wanted him to be in bed, start a routine that lets him know it's time to go to sleep. (i.e bath, reading books, rocking in the rocking chair.) Start the routine and if doesn't fall asleep in your arms then lay him in the crib. It will take a few days but it's worth it. At night if he wakes up let him cry through it. He will eventually fall asleep. It is so hard to do but again it's worth it for you and your little guy. Hopefully, he will learn to love his crib and want to sleep in it. Both my son and daughter sleep a million times better at night and during nap time. It really makes a huge difference. It's just hard to get there. I wish you luck!!!

M.

Hey J. I know how hard it is to "wean" a baby from your bed. When my oldest was 9 months my hubby and I decided it was time to get her to sleep in her own bed (not to mention she wasn't sleeping very well at night with us). My Hubby was working 60-70 hours a week at that time so I was basically a single mother. The only thing was I did stay home all day. I know the thought of being tired all day while having to work would not be appealing to me either, but in the long run having your son in his own bed will ultimately help you sleep better. Here are a few things that I did to get my daughter out of the bed. I began putting her to sleep in her bed and if she woke up before I went to bed...I went in calmed her down and put her back to sleep. When she woke up in the middle of the night I would go in get her and bring her back to the bed with me for the rest of the night. After a couple weeks of that set up I came across the book The No Cry Sleep Solution (not sure of the author) and I began to follow the author's advice and 10 weeks later my daughter was sleeping through the night in her bed. I did have to get up a couple times at night in the beginning, but it wasn't too bad....Maybe try beginning the transition into his own bed ona long weekend. Best of luck!

I just read this book "The No-Cry Sleep Method" by Elizabeth Pantley. It has many ideas on how to gently move your child to their own bed and sleep through the night. I have been using the "method" for about 2 weeks now and I have seen great results!! You might have to go through a week or two of getting up a couple times a night, but that is it. Good Luck!

J.,
Take it from a mom of three (2 teenagers and a 6 year old), you are just gonna have to hang tough and get through the long night. I had a similar problmen with my now 16 year old and her pacifier. I was in the same situation, working full time, going to class 4 nights a week and my husband was in the navy and out to sea for 3 months at a time. The day she turned 9 months old, I picked a Friday night and put her to bed with out the pacifier. She cried, oh how she cried. I went back in 5 minutes later, did not pick her up , but laid her back down, covered her up and left the room. we did this for appx 1.5 hours until she fell asleep. she never asked for the pacifier again. Maybe i got lucky, but I do believe follow through is the best advice. Check on him in 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 15, adding 5 minutes to each interval. And do not speak to them or pick them up. I know it sounds harsh, especially to a new mom, but trust me, you will be so proud of your self and your child in the long run. Make sure you wait for a Friday night, that way you have a few nights to try it out and then maybe nap during the day if necessary. the most important thing is don't give in. They will cry and it's ok to let them. Best wishes

Start by putting him in the crib during naptime so that he can get used to the new bed and the room. Once he is napping well in the crib, then try putting him in there for the night. If you're like me, once you put him in the crib, your monitor will be right by the bed set as loud as it will go - that way you can hear every movement. This will be tough (probably more so for you), but you can do it!! And you'll be glad you did.

Instead of wondering about it, why dont you just do it. Start this Friday night. That way you will have a few nights to get him adjusted before the start of another work week. You might be surprised, he may sleep better alone and I am sure you will.

(I'm brand new to this website)

I was in a very similar situation: I work full time and I breastfed in the evenings and at night until my daughter was 7 1/2 months. I kept her in the bed with us because it was so much easier (neither mom nor baby have to wake up totally for feedings that way). When I stopped breastfeeding I was so stressed out about making the transition to bottle and her in her crib. Well, it ended up being very easy for us (perhaps I just got lucky). Before the "transition", I nursed her less through the night and within a few days got it to where she wasn't getting any type of feeding in the middle of the night (your child is older and so their stomach capacity is larger, making it easy for them to go the whole night without a feeding, compared to the newborns). Then I put her in her crib and she slept straight through the night, perfectly fine. No problems since....

Anyways... My suggestion would be to go through the work-week weening the baby off of any night time feedings (whether breastfed or bottle) but keep the baby in the bed. Then, on Friday and Saturday night, start putting the baby in the crib. That way, even if the transition is a little rough, you have the weekend to take a nap.

Another personal note: I found that my daughter was a "light sleeper" when she was in bed with me and being breastfed. But once we made the transition to bottle and her crib, she sleeps like a rock. She is more likely to be awakened by your movements and stuff if she is right next to you. So you may THINK she is a light sleeper but in her crib, in a quiet nursery it may be a different story.

--> a word of encouragement: you may not have as difficult a transition as you think.

Good luck and God bless!
J.

We had the same problem. We first started with a crib mattress on the floor next to our bed and everytime the baby got back in our bed we put him back. Then we gradually worked farther out toward the door until we were in their own room.. I didn't sleep at all the first night alone, but he did and now does all night. We never did the crib, just a mattress on the floor and baby gates at teh door.

Hey J.,
Hang in there!! It is hard and I know exactly how you feel. I have a 8 1/2 month old who I just quit nursing. Yes, I found that it was easier to nurse her when she was there with me. In the beginning, I was so against co-sleeping for fear of rolling over on her. But, when you are tired, you will do just about anything to get sleep. I still do not get much sleep because my daughter is still not sleeping through the night but I think that my body is used to it now. But with a good bath and rubbing her down with lavender lotion(Johnson and Johnson), then making sure her belly is full. She usually will go to sleep while I am feeding her and then I just lay her down in her bed. I used to go into her room as soon as I heard her crying but that has changed. If she is just fussing a little I try to see if she can go back to sleep on her own. I do go in there if she starts to really cry and then she usually ends up in the bed with me or in the playpen next to our bed. You just have to be consistent. Some saying giving a baby cereal at night helps but it hasn't for me. Find what works for you and hang in there. It is tiring but try the warm bath and lotion and try not to go in there unless he is really crying. He is only waking because it is a habit for him. Good Luck and I hope this helps you.