Trying for the Crib

Believe it or not, like the other poster said, someday you'll miss these days. It'll take a while though! Our son was the same way. We let him sleep on our chests(we'd semi-recline on the couch and sort of tuck him into our shoulder with one arm around him - I know, broke all the SIDS rules, but we slept!). My husband had the patience and energy to eventually shift the baby to his back (he'd sit up and let our son sleep on his propped up legs)then lay him down. It took until he was maybe 6 weeks before he'd sleep even 2 hours in the crib. But he caught on and by 10 weeks he was sleeping 6 hours at a stretch over night in the crib! So there's hope.

He's still really little, so this will pass. A couple suggestions.

1) - Get comfy, and let him sleep on your chest while you also nap. I used to do this with my daughter, and, I can't believe I'm writing this, but was so sad when my son didn't want to do this. She was so snuggly!

2)- Try heating up a hot water bottle, and putting it in the crib while your son falls asleep. Take the hot water bottle out of the crib right before you put your son in and put him in the warm spot. It might make being put down less jarring.

3) - Put him in the swing awake, and have him fall asleep there (if he'll do that yet). If you have a swing that goes side to side instead of front to back you might have even more success.

4) Put the diaper changing pad in bed with you, and have him sleep on that with your hand on his belly. You won't worry so much about rolling on to him, and he'll still be close to you.

5) Don't worry AT ALL about habits at this point. The most important thing is that he sleeps, and feels good and comfortable when he does. If this is the case now, I think you'll have a much easier time setting up good habits when it matters, around 6-7-8 months.
Good luck!

Hi A.. Your LO is still soooooo young, so don't worry about it too much. He'll get there.
I am not sure if this will help, but what I did is I bought a stool - as it was the same height as the crib. I sat in it, and laid my uper body down in the crib next to my daughter so she would sleep. I would actually fall asleep that way myself sometimes.
It worked though. After a while she would do it on her own!

HI A.,

I am sending you what I wrote to another moms with a similar issue: "Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about where he sleeps until he starts to show signs of only being able to sleep well in his crib. My son did that around 8 months or so. Until then it was nice to be able to have him sleep almost anywhere - he loved his infant carseat for naps. It gave me more mobility. I would bring a book with me wherever we went so I didn't have to wake him when he fell asleep in the car. Of course this is easier when you are a SAHM.

Around 4 months is when we had to do some sleep training to help him fall asleep on his own but that was independent of location for nap time."

You may also want to try putting him on a bouncer (semi reclined seat with vibration) most second hand baby stores have them for about $20. This was my son's second favorite place to nap (after my arms). I used to nap holding him in my arms and it was great for both of us. Just make sure that you go to the bathroom before you lie down... I learned my lesson the hard way into one nap =)

Infant sleep starts to normalize at about 6 weeks. You may want to have a sleep and food journal where you can keep track of naps and feedings. You'll start to notice that he has a schedule which will change every few weeks. Observe him, you will soon know what his signals are for when he is ready to sleep. You want to catch it before he is too tired. Remember that infant sleep cycles are about 45 minutes long. He may be taking many 45 minute naps.

Two books you may want to look at:
- Good Night Sleep Tight: The Sleep Ladys Gentle Guide to Helping Your Child Go to Sleep, Stay Asleep, and Wake Up Happy by Kim West and Joanne Kenen
- Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems: New, Revised, and Expanded Edition by Richard Ferber.
You can read them and choose what you like from them.

I hope this helps,
A.

I went with it, and just either lay down in the middle of the bed with baby or let her sleep on me in the Moby while I got stuff done. She did eventually get in her crib - now she's 18 months and we miss our little shoulder monkey.