Getting more dependent on the swing to sleep

Like everyone, it seems, we are facing some sleep challenges. Our girls are 7 months old and while Adira's sleep has gotten better (she used to be the bad one, but now some nights she only gets up once), Lilah has trouble falling asleep in her crib. I walk/rock her to sleep at night and in the past have been able to put her in her crib and she will just keep roll over and keep sleeping. Recently, though, she pops awake as soon as she's put down and will cry until we pick her up again. And I wouldn't be opposed to her crying it out if we didn't have Adira trying to sleep in the same room. And on top of this she's been sick this week which makes her just want to sleep on top of me or my husband.

So we have been putting Lilah in the swing more often, but I am worried that we are getting too dependent on it. And there are times when I know she would prefer to be flat on her back instead of in the swing, but even then she won't calm down in her crib.

I know we will have to wait it out, but I'm looking in part for reassurance that she is not too old to break the swing habit. My other thought is to get her deep asleep in the swing and then try to move her to the crib without her waking up.

Has anyone else had this problem? Thanks!

 

My boys slept in their baby swings until they were 10.5 months old, no joke! And they are great sleepers now - so I wouldn't worry about it all. Really!

 

Mine are about the same age as yours and my daughter is still sleeping in the swing for most of her naps. She's been a crummy napper from Day 1. We do get some ok naps in the crib, but it seems whether we do swing or crib, she just wakes up too soon (30-45 minutes usually) and no matter what herculean efforts we employ she will not go back to sleep! She sleeps fine in her crib at night so I'm not too worried about the nap thing, although we do keep trying to transition her because she's going to outgrow the weight limit on it some day. LOL.

 

Jen, my almost 7 mo old twins are in cribs at night but I moved both to swings for naps at 3 mos. DS transitioned to crib for naps with no issues around 5.5 mos. I still have DD in swing for all naps and plan to move next week to cribs, I hope she moves as easily as DS. Both fall asleep on their own at night so I know they can do it for naps.

As far as not doing CIO, we had to separate our twins at night around 5 mos or so because they were going through horrible sleep regression and kept waking each other as soon as we'd get one back to sleep. We moved DS to a pack n play in the guest room and he is still there for all nights and naps. We had to do a some CIO and it was great to have them separate. We are hoping once they drop all night feeds we can move DS back in the nursery where his crib is collecting dust.

 

If she's still sick theres no harm in letting her sleep on you until she's better, it doesn't mean she'll never go back to sleeping in her bed. I wouldn't try and address any 'issues' if she's not well. As for using the swing, babies change so quickly you can always break those habits when you need to! Good luck, hope things settle down soon.

 

This completely. Do whatever you have to do to get her well and keep her rested. Then when she's feeling better it may not be an issue at all- it may just be she can't breathe really well laying down and likes the angle of the swing or sleeping on you.

 

Thanks for the reassurances, everyone. In addition to getting over a virus, I came home today to discover that she cut her first tooth! So I should probably relax a bit and let her sleep the best way she can. It's just frustrating to feel like sleeping is finally starting to go well and then have things backtrack.

 

Jen: I love efaith's post because I do agree that habits can be broken and it won't irreparably harm anyone to sleep in a swing if it works (if anything, can make mom sane which is nice! LOL). I'm chuckling a little bit because I think the 9-month sleep regression is about to descend on both of us in about month, isn't it? Mine just seem to go through milestones every couple of weeks. The past couple of weeks were really bad for sleep and then the past couple of nights have been really good. haven't changed anything, they just seem to like keeping me guessing. I just wish they'd keep me guessing by throwing more good sleep my way!

texgirl: I think our twins must be of the same ilk! My DS transitioned great to his crib at 4.5 months for naps but DD just won't nap well in the crib (yet she sleeps perfectly fine in it at night--sometimes even through the night!).

 

J, I have mentally blocked off January as "bad sleep month" Here's hoping it won't be as bad as I think it might.

We have made a major improvement with Lilah's sleeping by putting her to sleep (in her crib) on her stomach. She slept great from 6pm-2am last night. 2am-6am... not so much.

 

LOL. Yeah, me too. If last night is any indication, it's going to suck. My son was up screaming just about every hour last night! Ugh! Fortunately, his sister slept through most of it. My son's sleep was drastically improved at 4.5 months by putting him to sleep on his tummy for naps. He couldn't roll over yet, but he slept much better than way. My daughter has been sleeping on her tummy since 3.5 months so have no idea what to do with her and naps!