2 months old - start sleeping in crib?

[TylersMom]

Okay, I know that 2 months may be too early to assess this situation, but my DS has lately started doing the following. He will go down after a final feeding around 9-10pm, and generally sleep until at least 1am or 2am. Then, he will wake up every hour or so until 4am until he is basically awake for the day.

About 2 weeks ago, we started bringing him into the bed with us instead of having him sleep next to the bed in the co-sleeper. This has been good and bad. Good for me, since I can just nurse him when he wakes up, and I tend to sleep better, but bad because it seems to be screwing up his ability to go to sleep for longer stretches after that first one of the night. Also, most times, I'll fall asleep while feeding him and he will stay on my breast, sometimes for over an hour! This leads me to think that he's just pacifying on the breast, something the pediatrician warmed about at his 1 month appointment.

The doctor says first of all, I should get him into the crib and out of our bed. I should give him one final feeding for hte night and then not feed him again when he wakes up before that 4am time slot. She says that once the baby is 12 lbs, his body is mature enough to produce glucose, which will sustain him beyond the normal 2-3 hour daytime feeding schedule. My 2 month old is 15 lbs.! She says for the first night of her method, when he wakes up, let him CIO for 15 minutes, then go check on him, cuddle him, but do not feed him. She suggested giving him a bottle of water so that he is still sucking, but not taking in any calories. She said that each night after this, he should be crying for fewer and fewer blocks of time until he is not waking up at all and sleeping through the night (sleeping through the night = 6 hours of sleep).

What do you think of all of this? Any suggestions are welcome, even if they are negative ones. We're newbies at this, so we need all the help we can get!! :love-retry:

[pb&j]

He is just 2 mos. Frequent night wakings and feedings are part of the package. If he is sucking just to soothe, you might want to try a pacifier. By now your BFing relationship is well enough established that it shouldn't be a problem. I'd ignore your Dr's advice and do whatever is working for you right now.

Personally, I think water in a bottle is really terrible and dangerous advice - very young babies should not have water (beyond a few sips here and there) b/c they can take in too much and end up w/hyponatremia. He will sleep more at night when he is ready.

[lowrioh]

I wouldn't have my two month old CIO. We did move DD to her crib at 2 months though. She seemed to be a light sleeper and would wake up easily due to noise or motion. I also found that when she was in her own room, I didn't hear her immediately and by the time I got up and went to her (probably 2-3 min) she was already self soothing.
I wouldn't give her water either and I would feed her if she wants to eat. She will develop her own sleep schedule soon enough. Unless you are going back to work soon, I would just let it play out naturally.

[Snow mom]

I wouldn't follow any of the advice. The water makes me especially nervous. I have no idea why they would recommend a bottle of water rather than a paci. That combined with the advice of letting a 2 month old CIO would have me running for the exits. I personally don't think there is anything wrong with letting your baby nurse so long at night. People have different feelings about the "baby uses me as a paci" issue but my personal feeling is that if it isn't a problem for you, then it isn't a problem. Babies naturally nurse for reasons beyond hunger. I'm sure you can get a lot more opinions on this on the food section of the board. We run a very on-demand household. It works for us.

[Riley's mama]

I agree with the PP's. Water for a 2 month old seems dangerous. If you are comfortable doing what you are doing I wouldn't be in a hurry to change it. I read a lot of different sleep books and they all seem to suggest that starting sleep training/CIO should not be before 4 months. We waited until about 5 months with our DD and it was hard, but it worked and only took about 2 or 3 nights. (We mostly followed Ferber). Up until that point, we used a paci and she actually slept in a swing for a long time!

As far as the crib goes, I think that it is not really that different from a bassinet, so that's just a personal decision. But honestly, if you are happy what you are doing, I'd just keep doing it and do what you're LO needs right now. You won't be spoiling or anything! Good luck!

[arivecchi]

My pediatrician just did CIO with his own 2 month old son. He advised us that babies just need to weigh 12 pounds to be physically able to not eat through the night. I did modified CIO with my first at 3.5 months and it worked after 3 nights. I plan to do it earlier with DS2. It is up to you and what you are comfortable with.