Sleeping Ideas

My son slept in his car seat until he was almost 7 months. We buckled him in after he fell asleep. He also had reflux. We started him on Carnation Good Start - and the reflux started to go away. We would let him sleep in his car seat, and put the car seat in his crib so he got used to being in there. After about a week, we just put him right in the crib - no car seat - no problem! Good luck!

There are two things I used with my daughter. First I used a Boppy in the crib. Then I used one of those wedges after that. The wedge is a foam pad, slightly elevated with foam blocks on each side. Now she sleeps right on the mattress, but I have books under one end of the mattress so she is still elevated. Hope something helps.

My son also liked sleeping in his carseat - more because it was cozy than for a health reason. He just slept well when in it. I needed to be awake to also watch my 17 month old so I just let him go as long as he slept and fit. I always secured the buckles so that he was safe and couldn't fall out once he moved around a bit more. I also put the whole seat directly in the crib so that he got used to the space and hoped that would ease the transition. It really worked for him. Once he was rolling more (mine were all later rollers and didn't do much of it, but they all walked early - go figure) and was able to wiggle to a comfortable position on his own, I removed the carseat and he was fine with sleeping on the mattress at that point and was ok with the room since he'd been there.

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I feel bad all of the stories i hear of babies having reflux lately. All I can say is, try to figure out what is causing it. That's not healthy.

One way we transitioned our son from his carseat to his crib was swaddling him. We wrapped him up tight in a blanket, and tucked a rolled up blanket in on either side of him. If you tape or fasten the rolled blankets you don't have to worry about them covering his face. He still feels "held", like in the carseat, but he can't wiggle onto the floor.

I don't have much to offer in the way of making the transition from car seat to crib, but I will recommend speaking with his ped about introducing papaya enzyme into his diet. It's all-natural, safe, and can be bought at GNC for about $7.00 a bottle. I know of several people with chronic reflux disease who started using this and have since had no more symptoms - one of which was a candidate for esophagus cancer! This stuff is amazing!

Best of luck!

Perhaps if you use one of those baby positioners your son will feel more confined as he does in the car seat. Being in the crib my be scary to him because it is so big and he is used to having something so close to his sides.

My daughter also slept in her carseat for the first few months. She had a cold and her pediatrician recommended letting her sleep in the carseat to keep her upper body elevated...she started to sleep through the night at that point (7 weeks) so I let her continue to sleep in it. I got so used to her sleeping through the night and was a little hesitant to move her to the crib. I decided to put her carseat directly into her crib for a week and then moved her to just the crib and it worked like a charm! A friend of mine had a similar problem with her son and reflux and her pediatrician recommended leaving one side of the mattress on a higher setting and lowering the bottom half so that he would sleep on an elevation…that worked for her. Good luck to you!

There are wedges which you can put around the baby to keep him secure in his crib. You could also tightly roll up towels to abutt his legs at the bottom.

try putting him to sleep in a boppy pillow...he will still be surrounded by the sides and can be propped up..and if he rolls off of it he won't get hurt..

Have you considered the Amby bed? If you google it, you should be able to find it pretty quickly. You can also get it for a good deal on eBay and/or Craig's list.

My son would only sleep at night in his car seat until he was almost 6 months old. That is where he would take most of his naps too. He didnt have refulx, just liked to be there. I put the car seat either in the pack'n'play if it was naptime or in the crib at night.
He had no developmental delays at all. Our doctor said that it was fine and that his son was the same and slept in his car seat too for the first 6-8 months.
You need to do what is best for everyone, including you to get some sleep also.
So I guess my advice is to just let him sleep there if that is what he likes.
Good Luck!

Two thoughts:

1. What if you transition him to the crib by putting his carseat in the crib? Maybe it will help him adjust to the surroundings.

2. Put a book under one end of the mattress of his crib. Rather than lying flat on his mattress he will be elevated a bit.

The contraption the previous poster recommended is the Tucker Sling. Our ped. recommended it for reflux, but we never bought it. It holds your child safely in place on an incline. (But it does cost $75 or so) You could also try a standard sleep positioner. It will also keep him on an angle and provides a snugger feeling than the great big expanse of crib, which is probably what he doesn't like.

one of my friends had the same problem with her son
she put a couple pillows under his matterus so it put it up just a little bit

i hope this helps

M. S. - Why don't you try positioning one end of his crib up a notch. This way the mattress will be on a slant. I know my husband did this for my children when they would have colds. See if this will work. Good Luck.
J. - mother of three (two boys, one girl)

we let our son sleep in his car seat for a few months also. he had a hard time sleeping in his crib so we transitioned him by putting him in the car seat in the crib for about week or so. then, on the weekend, we took the car seat away and he slept only in the crib. we chose the weekend because we knew that if he resisted and we all got a bad night's sleep, that we might be able to rest during the day. Also, because he is used to the inclined position, you may want to raise one end of the crib, this will also help with the reflux. i know that it is a little more challenging when they start moving around. we tried the positioners, but he acually wiggled down and got caught between the wedges, which was very scarry. good luck.

Hi. There are bumpers you can buy at Babies R Us that make them feel snug like a car seat. They worked great with my 6 year old when he was a baby.