Friday, December 7, 2012

Sleeping in the Crib

So its unbelievable,  but our daughter actually sleeps in her crib now. She would only sleep in her swing at night. I would get her to fall asleep with it swinging, and then after she fell asleep I would turn it off.  I would always try to get her to sleep in the crib but it would never work for me. I would rock her to sleep in my arms, but the minute her back hit the crib mattress she woke up crying and screaming.  So of course I would just cave in and take her to the swing and let her sleep there.
I would talk to my other friends and they all had their babies sleeping in the crib.  Most of them had tried the cry-t-out method.  I was starting to feel that it was very necessary to get Aubrey to sleep in the crib.  Not only because she was getting older, but we really needed to get her swing out of our room and to maybe try to get her on a schedule as well.  She seemed to be starting to sleep about 6 hours without waking up, so that was a plus.
I, of course, Google'd "getting your baby to sleep in the crib", and came across Baby Center's literature about the subject.  I read many comments from other moms who was in the same boat as me.  Some actually slept in car seats at night. I started to not feel so terrible for letting her sleep in the swing.
Then I saw the pediatrician for her 4 month check up, and I was informed that she really should be sleeping in her crib.  It was kind of like when a parent is disappointed in you feeling.  I started to really feel bad that I didn't try harder to get her to sleep in the crib.
So this is what we did to get her to sleep in the crib.  Now this is just what worked for us, however I know every baby is different.
Since she loved the swing, we put her swing in her room.  We turned on the sound machine and the humidifier (both very loud) and we had her fall asleep in the swing in her room.  I realized that she never really spent much time in her room other then for diaper changes, so I knew we needed to get her to feel comfortable in her room and that getting her to fall asleep in there, whether it was in a swing or not, was important.
Once she fell asleep in the swing (we made sure she was in a deep sleep), we then moved her into her crib.  We did that for a couple of nights and then I would just nurse her to sleep, and she would go right into her crib and sleep.  In the middle of the night when she would wake for feedings, I would nurse her, and put her back in the crib and she would immediately just fall right back asleep.  She actually really loves her crib now.  I go in to get her in the mornings and she is kicking her feet around and making baby noises and having a great time!
I will say that she doesn't nap very well yet in her crib and I still sometimes have to use the swing for naps during the day.  However I am very happy that we didn't have to do the cry it out method to get her to sleep in the crib!
Hopefully this will help any of you out there with the same problem!
Goodnight!!


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