cosleeper to crib transition?

[dukie41181]

How old was your child? I don't remember with my first but I know it was over 6 months. I feel like, looking back, we may have waited too long as she knew she could yell and scream to get us to respond and come to her. It was a tough transition needless to say! It is my second biggest dread again, second only to teething which is complete torture! My second is now 4.5 months old and I wonder if the time is right? I would like her to stay forever as the transition is hard for me...I get nervous about safety and not being able to see her. We don't have a video monitor and I don't think it would really matter because I felt the same way with our first but got over it in time. My husband is playing along but he really really wants our room and personal space back! Sorry for my rambling thoughts!

[BayGirl2]

It was around 10-12 weeks for us. Partially because I wanted to do it before I went back to work, but mostly because he just seemed ready. Wasn't a difficult transition for us. Except for the inconvenience of having to get up if he woke up at night.

[dukie41181]

It was around 10-12 weeks for us. Partially because I wanted to do it before I went back to work, but mostly because he just seemed ready. Wasn't a difficult transition for us. Except for the inconvenience of having to get up if he woke up at night.

In what way(s) did he seem ready?

[BayGirl2]

Good question and now I am trying to remember for the next baby.... I think it was that he was getting to the point of staying asleep for longer periods. Most of the time he went to sleep without us in the room, so it wasn't like he needed us nearby. He also seemed to be getting kind of big for the co-sleeper. We had a full sized one, so he still fit but length wise but couldn't fit width wise or in a mini. I figured he needed to move before he started rolling or moving around. He wasn't rolling yet, but he had pretty good gross motor skills.

I guess I just figured it was inevitable, and he didn't really seem to care where he slept. So having him there was for our convenience. At that point it also became easier to have him in his own room so we could trade off waking up for him at night.

[marymoo86]

would love to know this as well but am afraid we are nowhere near ready as DD still gets up a few times a night :(

she was doing so well waking once until a stupid ear infection and then the 4 month sleep regression

I would love to get our room back but the lack of sleep that would follow from being in a different room just seems insurmountable right now.

Needless to say I can't wait until she's sleep better!

[dukie41181]

would love to know this as well but am afraid we are nowhere near ready as DD still gets up a few times a night :(

she was doing so well waking once until a stupid ear infection and then the 4 month sleep regression

I would love to get our room back but the lack of sleep that would follow from being in a different room just seems insurmountable right now.

Needless to say I can't wait until she's sleep better!

I never knew there was a 4 month sleep regression! What's that all about? How long does it last? I don't remember it with our first.

[marymoo86]

I never knew there was a 4 month sleep regression! What's that all about? How long does it last? I don't remember it with our first.

Probably not all infants are affected but mainly due to the new activities and developmental accomplishments.

http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/4mo-sleep.html

I also think she is beginning to teethe too - drooling like mad, gumming everything, and ow! she bit me this morning. I don't see red gums so maybe this is the start?? I so miss the 6 hours straight she was clocking earlier :(. For the past couple of weeks she has been waking @930-10pm where before she would wake between 12am-2am. Now its both :(

[♥ms.pacman♥]

ds was 6 weeks when we moved him to his crib. he was just getting too big and he liked to sleep with his arms outstretched (hated being swaddled from day one) so his arms were constantly hitting the sides of the cosleeper and waking him up. as soon as we put him in his crib he slept a lot better, bc he had more room and also we weren't there to wake him up whenever we tossed/turned, made a noise or whatever. i slept waay better too, it was just more relaxing to sleep without him in the same room. especially since my DS was a NOISY sleeper (lots of grunts, snorts, sniffs in his sleep would totally keep me awake).

now with my DD, we may keep her in the cosleeper longer, bc she was a preemie and i'd probably feel better keeping her in the same room at least for the first month or two. plus it would make things easier for nursing etc. but i think my dd is way different from my ds, she does not seem to be as picky/fussy when she is sleeping. also she seems to like being swaddled and she stays put when she sleeps, and doesn't make nearly as much noise when she is sleeping.

[daisymommy]

Our babies cosleep with us till one year. Before that they are nursing at night, and it's soooo much easier to just roll over and nurse than to hear them cry, get out of your warm bed, trudge down the hall, settle baby--and by then you are wide awake and have trouble falling back to sleep. Rinse, lather, repeat several times during the night, and I'm a zombie by morning. I don't know how people do it honestly! In addition to that, my kids just slept so much better with us near them when they were small.

We had an Arms Reach Cosleeper--God's gift to parents if you ask me ;) I liked that baby could be in our bed or the cosleeper right next to me if I needed more space to sprawl out.

At around one year we started them sleeping in their crib without any problems at all. We did naps in the crib from the beginning, so they were used to sleeping there.

[hellokitty]

I think the perfect time is btwn 3-4 mo. I used a bassinet for DS1 and moved him to his crib at 6 wks, b/c DH said he couldn't take it anymore (odd, since he rarely ever got up for feedings, *I* was the one who did it). DS2 hated sleeping in our room, he woke us up (cried out while sleeping, but not awake) and when we would go over to check on him, we'd end up waking him up. So, he was in his own room by 1 wk of age and I was exhausted hauling myself back and forth all night for nursing sessions. We used the 1/2 sized arms reach co-sleeper for DS3. He did really well with it and close to 4 mo of age, I transitioned him to a crib in another room, b/c he basically was outgrowing the co-sleeper. I started like Daisymommy by having him nap in his crib and then I added nights too. Of course, I also think it was easier, b/c he was the only child I have had so far that started STTN at a pretty early age (by 4 mo, I think I was only getting up about 1-2x a night, which was a vast improvement compared to DS1 and DS2 at that age). Anyway, I think it's easier at 3-4 mo, b/c this is when they start to fall into a more predictable napping pattern and also while they are more alert, they haven't started a lot of big milestones, like crawling, etc.. My kids have always teethed starting around 4 mo old, and their sleep habits have been all over the place from good to poor sleepers.

[BayGirl2]

I guess from this thread I can tell that it really does vary by child and family. I could not cosleep with DS, he wanted to continuously nurse throughout the night and would scream if I detached him. So I'd end up run down and exhausted. Plus DH and I really did trade off getting up (I fed him once during the night), so the person not getting up slept better when he was out.

He wasn't a good napper for the first couple months, but after moving to the crib he got better. Maybe starting with naps consistently in the crib would help? Something to try next time around.

[dukie41181]

I guess from this thread I can tell that it really does vary by child and family. I could not cosleep with DS, he wanted to continuously nurse throughout the night and would scream if I detached him. So I'd end up run down and exhausted. Plus DH and I really did trade off getting up (I fed him once during the night), so the person not getting up slept better when he was out.

He wasn't a good napper for the first couple months, but after moving to the crib he got better. Maybe starting with naps consistently in the crib would help? Something to try next time around.

We have been having her nap in her room and she does AWESOME there! No problems at all. We, however, did not do this with daughter #1 and that could have been part of the problem there. So she sleeps there good during the day but its really my ANXIETY keeping me from allowing her to sleep overnight out of my sight. Its irrational and I know it, but I actually reminded my husband about the movie Raising Arizona! LOL! It could happen...there is a window in her room. I know, completely irrational! :bag:

[Pinky]

Our DD slept in a co-sleeper attached to our bed until 4 months. We had planned on keeping her in our room until 6 months since that is what the AAP recommends to help decrease SIDS risk but we ended up going with 4 months... at that point she was sleeping really well through the night but we were waking her up when we came to bed, or if we moved around in the bed, went to the bathroom etc etc. We figured she could sleep much better in her own room with no distractions.

She had also really began fighting her swaddle so we decided to stop the swaddle and move her to her own room all at once. We had a few rough nights but after that it was fine. We did gradually move her away from the bed though... first she was attached, then unattached, then gradually further away from us in our room and then we moved her to her own room.

Good luck! Hope the transition goes smoothly for you.

[Lupe]

We moved him from his co-sleeper to his stroller bassinet in his room at 8 weeks, basically following the pediatrician's orders.
DS didn't like the co-sleeper very much and was mostly sleeping in the bed between me and the co-sleeper. At his one month check up the doctor said we had to stop it at 2 months, or it will get harder for him to sleep without us, unless we actually wanted a family bed. He also said the bed was not safe for him, specially because we have a queen and my husband is not exactly tiny (that's why we got the co-sleeper, but DS preferred our bed).
He slept in the stroller bassinet at first and he slept successfully in his crib last night for the first time, he is 11 weeks, we tried moving him to his crib last week and it didn't work he woke up every two hours, let's see how he does tonight. He still has to be swaddled though. At this age there is so much development in a week, so if you try now and doesn't work you can try again one week later.

It was easier to nurse him side-lying when he was in bed, but the truth is we all sleep much better since he is in his room. The room is right next door and we can hear him easily. I started waiting 10 minutes to go to him if it has been less than 2:30 hours from his last feed (another suggestion from the doc). He now goes to bed at 7:30-8 and wakes up only two times to feed at night, he used to wake up constantly to feed when he was next to me.