I followed the advice of one of my friends who is a Pediatric ICU Nurse Practitioner. I'll start by saying, we put my daughter in her crib the day I came home from the hospital. The first couple nights were rough, but she got the hang of it soon enough. So night time was in her crib and day time naps were in the pack-n-play (until she was about 2.5 months old...then all sleeping was in the crib). It just takes some time to get them used to it, but starting early is what helped us. We also learned that she hated being swaddled soon after bringing her home, so once we stopped swaddling her she slept better in the crib.
When my daughter was 8 weeks old there was no bed time b/c she would nurse at 7 pm, 9 pm, 11 pm, 1 am, ect. She told me you just make a "bed time". Put her to bed after her 7 pm feeding. Start a routine and you will see that you will be happier and she will learn the schedule. So, I started a routine that we still do to this day and she is now 20 months old. 5-5:30 is dinner/feeding. 6 pm is bath. 6:30 is quiet time and reading. 7pm was nursing then straight to bed. Even though she would wake up a couple hours later for a feeding, it was nice to have a "bed time". The day time naps...she just got herself into a routine. I only had to interfere with day time naps when she was 16 months old b/c she would take 2 one hour naps, so I cut the morning nap out and now she naps from 1-4.
My suggestion is routine and schedule. Never break your routine or schedule unless you have to. If the baby naps from 9 am-11am then be sure to be home to put the baby down. Never deviate from it. Just be paceint as it will take some time to adjust, but you will be happy in the end.
My kids never had issues sleeping in their own beds. I never do a schedule I always let them find one on their own and haven't had any problems. You just need to find what works for you.
@proudmomma I tried rocking him to sleep I tried just laying him in there. I tried letting him cry it out. During the day hell sleep in There for a little but once it hits bed time he screams
My son doesnt have a problem sleeping.in his crib but hes not at the moment till we get breathable bumpers. What I was told was to keep them up more through out the day. There has been times where he fights his sleep at naptime also.
@ginaa412@man082711@_kaykes@newmomma13 you will find that he will start his own schedule, so just follow that. I wrote down the times of every feeding from the day we got home, so I was able to just review to see patterns in feeding times and used that as her "schedule". As for routine, do the same thing ay every nap time. So, start by going to the nursery, change the diaper, read a book, nurse, change diaper again (if needed), then rock the baby, then straight in the crib. I rocked my daughter to sleep before putting her in the crib for about 3 months. Then I realized that she slept better and went down more easily if I rocked her for a bit, but put her down awake...so that became a new routine. The key to all of this in my opinion is follow the baby's cues and schedule. Be flexible because it will change many times. Be calm, because it doesn't help you or the baby. I never did the cry it out thing. I did however let her fuss/cry a little before going to check on her and try rocking her again. In my opinion, baby's cry as a form of communication so when they cry, they need something. Maybe it's not a diaper change, burping, or feeding they need...but, just comfort. Keeping him up more during the day will only create a fussy baby, so let them sleep when they want to sleep. They will get it all figured out soon enough...they will...I promise you.
@ahendricks09 literally the night she told me about it, so my daughter was around 8 weeks old. I plan on starting much earlier with #2. Probably around 3 weeks. I will just look for a time in the evening that she seems to always feed at, let's say 6 pm, and start the routine after that.
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bump bump bump!!!!
When my daughter was 8 weeks old there was no bed time b/c she would nurse at 7 pm, 9 pm, 11 pm, 1 am, ect. She told me you just make a "bed time". Put her to bed after her 7 pm feeding. Start a routine and you will see that you will be happier and she will learn the schedule. So, I started a routine that we still do to this day and she is now 20 months old. 5-5:30 is dinner/feeding. 6 pm is bath. 6:30 is quiet time and reading. 7pm was nursing then straight to bed. Even though she would wake up a couple hours later for a feeding, it was nice to have a "bed time". The day time naps...she just got herself into a routine. I only had to interfere with day time naps when she was 16 months old b/c she would take 2 one hour naps, so I cut the morning nap out and now she naps from 1-4.
My suggestion is routine and schedule. Never break your routine or schedule unless you have to. If the baby naps from 9 am-11am then be sure to be home to put the baby down. Never deviate from it. Just be paceint as it will take some time to adjust, but you will be happy in the end.
@mam082711