My Little One Hates His Crib

My 2 have responded really well to a floor bed... it gives them a bit more freedom, but they are safely in their child proof room until we remove their gate... might help...

Every kid is different but my son was also like that until he was older. I ALWAYS rocked and nursed him and usually it took 45 min - hour. He got better about it though as he got older. Swaddling is a good thing to try, also, white noise helps little babies because it sounds like the same kind of noises they heard in the womb. You might also try putting him in a bassinet or something smaller...I think alot of babies get put off by all the extra space in the crib....they are used to being squished in a small space. I had my son in a bassinet first with two towels tightly rolled on each side of him to give him more of a feeling of being surrounded, then moved to just the bassinet, then to the crib with the towels, then without...it was a gradual adjustment. And then he would sleep that way for several hours until waking in the wee morning hours to nurse again, and then he would stay and sleep in bed with us until he got up for the day. It was the best system we could work out.

Hi Caroline,

He might be overtired. We followed our Pediatrician's sleep guidance/training and made sure our daughter was in bed every night between 5:30 and 6:30 and never had more than 2 hours of wakefulness between daytime naps. She is a year now and sleeps like a rock star! Also, make sure you put him to bed sleepy but still awake.

Good luck!
C.

My best advice is to keep calm. Your child can sense your emotions. I bet you tense up when you are about to put him in the crib in hopes that you hope everything goes smooth. I went thru the same thing with my daughter. So, I worked on staying calm and relaxed the whole time until I was out of the room. Another suggestion is to listen to his breathing pattern. When my daughter took a deep breath I knew she was relaxed and in a deep sleep. I would wait a few minutes after that and then put her in the crib. Best of luck to you!

I sometimes have the SAME trouble with my 3 and half month old daughter. She seems to be out and as soon as I lay her down she's smiling and kicking. We got one of those soft wedges that props the baby up a little bit and it seems to help a lot. She really doesn't like being flat on her back. Also, sometimes I will lay her down on her side and that seems to help.

I agree with Nina that you want to get into the habit of putting him down drowsy but not asleep so he can learn to fall asleep on his own.

We have a 9 month old and we can sympathize with you. My little guy wakes up if he is somewhat drowsy or not in a deep deep sleep. We walk with him until he is 'asleep' and I put this in parenthesis because the look may be decieving...as soon as we put him down he wakes up! At this point we use the pacifier as our indicator. If he's still sucking and snuggly sits in his mouth he is not in a DEEP sleep. To get there you need a little more time. I lie down in bed holding him and get a booklight and read! Also can open laptop and surf. It gives him the time he needs to completely pass out and we feel like we are productive! Lo and behold before long his pacifier is falling out or has fallen out and we can put him down!

Caroline,
While some babies can be put down drowsy and then fall asleep, others will not stand for it--my son one of them. I have to nurse him to sleep and then wait 10-15 minutes after he asleep before I transfer him to crib. He is almost 7 months old.
I read that babies can take up to 20 minutes to reach deep sleep and which time they can be transfered without waking up when moved. A good way to check if he is asleep is to pick up his arm and see if it is limp. If his limbs are limp he is most likely sleeping deeply.
Good Luck.
K.

Caroline,

Have you tried swaddling him? He's little enough to do that still - it will make him feel safe and secure - as if he was in your arms. You can get the blankets at Babies R Us, Target or on line. The Amazing Miracle Blanket is great...I used it for both of my kids and they slept like champs.

I agree 4 months is too little for crying it out, but try and get him in the routine of going to bed while he is groggy not asleep. You'll be glad you did it that way later!

Good luck!

N.

The two "magic" cures that got my son to sleep in his crib were white noise or classical music played to mask any other household noises and warming his crib with a heating pad. I would put the heating pad on low and set it in his crib while I rocked and nursed him then remove it and lay him down on a nice warm spot. Going from my warm body to a cold crib always woke him up completely and upset him. Just make sure the heating pad is pretty low heat and always test the spot with your arm before you put the baby down just in case it is too hot.

I have a few thoughts. FIrst, he might be overtired. Try putting him to bed earlier. Second, make sure he's in his crib when he's alert, but sleepy. Rubbing his eyes, yawning, etc. He's got to learn to fall asleep on his own, or he never will. He's not too young.

Look at the Ferber book: Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems. Contrary to popular belief, Ferber is against letting your child cry indefinitely. THe first interval is 3 minutes. You can handle 3 minutes, and so can your son.

Good luck! Sleep training is a wonderful thing, and your son is not too young. We started sleep training at 5 months, and it's one of the best things we ever did.

Well, I don't really have much to offer, since our son sleeps with us and has since he was born because I was nursing him until recently. He's 21 months old.

All I can suggest is spending the time with him that HE needs to go down to sleep. Maybe lay down with him in your bed until he gets ready to fall asleep. What's wrong with rocking him to sleep? He's a bit young to self settle, IMO.

I recently figured out that my 4 month old must be covered up to sleep. I know that SIDS can be an issue so I use an afgan (which has large holes in it) in case he somehow gets the blanket over his face.