When and How to transition to the Crib

I know this has probably been asked a million times, but I did a search and couldn't find anything... Right now my girls are about 1 week adjusted age, and since they have been home from the NICU they have been sleeping in their boppy newborn loungers. I know you are not supposed to let them sleep in them, but so far I have been unsuccessful having them sleep anywhere else.

DH and I would like to start having them sleep in their cribs, but I am not sure if its too early. Everytime we put them in their cribs they scream bloody murder. Also the nursery is on the other side of our house, and they are not even close to sleeping through the night which would result in a lot more middle of the night work for me.

Any tips to make the great transition easier? Am I attempting this way too early? Any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

One of mine just started sleeping in her crib. They are 4 months old(2 months old adjusted). My DS will not sleep in his crib yet. He still loves to sleep in his carseat wrapped up in a blanket. He is just very tiny and he loves to be warm. DD on the other hand cries to go in her crib. I would just suggest that you let them sleep where they will for now. I know that with my DS when he is ready we will put him in his crib but for my sanity, I still let him sleep in his carseat during the day. He sleeps in our bed at night b/c he is breastfed and it is just easier like that.

 

My advice, don't rush it. Our babies slept in the crib when they first came home from the hosptial and then at about 3 weeks they started putting up a fight. For the longest time DS would sleep in the pnp downstairs and DD would only sleep in my arms, and later on in my bed. I tried at about 2 monhts to get them back into their crib, it ended in lots of crying and 2 very sleepless nights before I gave up. Then at 2.5 monhts I tried the crib for naps and it was a no go. At 3 months, when they started sleeping better we decided to try again. We set up a pack and play in the nursery and they slept in there for 3 nights, and then moved to the crib with no struggle at all. And just this weekend we moved them to 2 seperate cribs as they were rolling all over each other and again, not a fight, they were ready. All I can conclude is that they weren't ready until then. So you can try, but if they really resist, go back to what you were doing and try again in a few weeks.

 

Mine slept in their newborn loungers (in our bed) for the first month. Then we transfered them to sleeping in the newborn loungers in the crib (in our room) at about 9 weeks - -at that point, they had started to get their "long strech" at night - between 5-6 hours. Then at 11 weeks we moved them into the nursery, into the cribs without the newborn loungers. -- and honestly the transistion was not hard. (they acutally slept better) -- I think for us the key was they were used to going down awake, and went to sleep without much protest before we went to ther nursery. I was SO worried about the transistion (I made DH take a full week off work) but it was TOTALLY painless!

 

You might consider putting the loungers in the cribs for a few nights to ease the transition. You may have to sleep in the nursery on a blow-up bed for a few nights to trouble shoot, but it won't be forever. I had my sons sleep in a crib in our room for a while, then I slowly started putting them down in their own crib at least for the first part of the night around 7 weeks (from 7 until their midnight feeding) and then we brought them into the crib in our room for the rest of the night. By 12 weeks they were taking all of the their naps and night sleeps in their own room and the swings we used so much in the early days were packed away in the basement. You'll get there! Swaddling really, really helped our boys. As well as a white-noise machine. Those things can go from room to room to make any sleeping space seem familiar.

 

Could you put them in a pnp in your room? We did that for the first 7 weeks and it worked well because they were in a "bed" but close to me for nighttime feedings and diaper changes.

 

Oh yeah, a pp reminded me, WHITE NOISE!!! It's worked wonders as far as keeping them asleep as it drowns out the sound of traffic and other noises in the house, we have a small house and even with their door closed they can hear the washing machine, t.v., talking, etc. without the white noise machine.

 

I'd say just let them sleep wherever they'll sleep. They are WAY too young to be forming habits, and you are in survival mode right now! If it works, don't fix it!

 

what is a newborn lounger?