12 week old will not sleep in crib, need help/advice

Ok so my wife and I are at wits end, our 12 week old daughter will not sleep at all in her crib, the second she is placed in there she will start to scream and scream, and scream all night long. We have tried music, a mobile, something that projects images and sound onto the wall, elevating her mattress at one end....you name it and it doesn't work.

The only way we can get her to sleep is in her ocean wonders aquarium swing or if she is sitting in one of our laps, or she will sleep in her carseat but we don't like doing that as we feel as if we should be encouraging her to sleep in the crib.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated as we really don't know what to try next.

Thanks

Hello. Our DD did the same thing. She does sleep in her crib during the night but not for naps. For a while she would only sleep in her OW swing. Turned out DD had reflux and was uncomfortable sleeping flat. She has been better since she started on Prevacid.
I know people who have put their DC in their infant seat then put the infant seat in the crib. Then they transition the baby directly into the crib. I don't know if it is recommended but I know some that have done it!
Other thoughts: are the crib sheets cold when you put her down? Is she sleepy or wide awake when you put her in the crib? We put DD in her crib when she is sleepy but not asleep. Are you using a firm mattress? I know that they should be. Our crib mattress is very firm so we added a thin mattress pad plus the Ultimate crib sheet. Seems to add a little cushioning without making it "unsafe cushy". Does she use a pacifier? Try that while comforting her til she is sleepy.
Another suggestion is swaddling if you haven't already tried that.
Good luck! :)

I'm going thru the SAME thing w/ my 13 week old, excpet that mine does sleep in there most of the night! Not for a second during the day though. This is my second baby and my first was not like this! No suggestions, just sympathy!

Think gentle, gradual transition. Pick some lullaby music, and play that while she sleeps in the swing or car seat. After a few days, move the swing into her bedroom and keep on playing the music. Or stick the car seat in the crib, playing the music.

Then, start working on transitioning her from the swing/car seat to the crib. Keep on using the same music.

Make sure that you have a soft fleece or flannel sheet (cotton percale sheets are soooo cold and rough to babies), and use a heating pad to warm the spot where you will lay her down (check the temp of the sheets before laying her there). You might even consider swaddling her since she seems to like to be cozy while sleeping. Try not to make too many changes at once as you are transitioning her; plan on it taking a few weeks so that she has time to adjust to and accept each change in her sleep routine.

You may have to experiment with laying her in her crib awake vs. asleep. My DS1 needed to be VERY soundly asleep before we could put him in the crib; DS2 was going down awake pretty early on, by his choice.

It's not a popular answer, but she may take to the crib better if she can sleep on her tummy. Once she's rolling pretty well (in another month or so), tummy sleeping becomes safer (though still not as safe as back-sleeping as far as SIDS goes). You should research this and talk to your pediatrician, and if you decide it is a possible solution, give it a shot.

(I hate to ask, perhaps I shouldn't. Have you actually allowed her to scream "all night long" in her crib? If so, allow even more time for the transition; that's a tough thing for such a little baby to go through.)

Thanks all,

The mattress is firm, it is a colgate 2 n 1 with one firm side and one for later on...I tried elevating the mattress, swaddling her, playing music..you name it, she just loves that swing and the integrated mobile.

I will try the last suggestion, the gradual transition...hopefully that helps.

Generally she is pretty awake when we try to put her down so I guess we can try while she is sleeping.

She won't sleep laying down though, it is almost as if she has to be in a sitting position to sleep.

And no we haven't tried screaming all night as that is just too painful for us...but if we have to do it then I guess we will try.

Thanks again.

I don't think that anyone here will suggest that you let her scream all night long. She's much too young for any CIO approach, IMO. But if you think that you may eventually look into a CIO approach (none of which will advocate screaming all night long), you might want to check out Dr. Weissbluth's book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. Some decent info on sleep that you may be able to apply sooner rather than later.

We had a similar problem with our DD. We managed to get her to sleep in the crib at night after swaddling her in the "miracle blanket". We waited to swaddle her until she was quite sleepy, then she would scream for a few minutes, fall asleep nursing, and stay asleep when we put her in the crib. She stopped wanting to be swaddled around 3 months, though. Now we just put her down in the crib in her sleep sack moderately sleepy at night.

Even now at 5 months, she still won't sleep in the crib during the day (she too loves napping in her FP swing), but i am saving that transition for a later date. I would highly recommend the book "sleeping through the night" by jodi mindell. We started her techniques at 3 months, and it really gave us our lives back (she was sleeping 12 hours straight at night by 4 months!!!) I guess it's time for me to read the chapter on naps...

good luck!