difficulty transitioning from swing to crib

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torbach@gmail.com - 04 Mar 2007 07:23 GMT

Hi Everyone:

For the first few weeks, our baby daughter rarely slept more than an
hour straight. At around 3 weeks, we were completely exhausted, and
desperate for sleep, and tried different places for her to sleep. We
discovered that the only place she would sleep well was in her
(mechanical) swing. Since then, she has been sleeping at nights in her
swing, and has been napping either in her swing, or in her car seat if
we're out at the time. We've tried her bassinet, her crib, her
stroller, etc., and while she will sleep in her stroller in the
afternoons, she won't sleep there at night.

She is now 6 months old, and we're worried that she is starting to get
too big for the swing. Her sleep patterns got to a point where they
were reasonable (never great), but have gotten worse lately, and it
seems like she is not that comfortable in the swing any more because
she's getting bigger. We've tried transitioning her to her crib on
many occasions and with various methods, with no luck. Bottom line is
that any time we move her to the crib, whether it's when she's tired
and ready to sleep, when she's fallen asleep in the swing or on our
arms or when she's already been sleeping for 30 minutes in the swing
or her mom's arms, she wakes up within minutes of us moving her to the
crib, and starts screaming until we pick her up and console her.

When she cries or screams, she gets blocked up, and the only way to
get her breathing through her nose again is to pick her up and console
her for a while. While she's blocked up, she continues screaming, so
crying it out doesn't seem like an option, and frankly we're really
hoping to do something other than that.

We've tried co-sleeping, and while she eventually does fall asleep
next to us, neither of us get a decent night's sleep, and we keep
waking up every few minutes because our daughter moves around a lot.

Any suggestions from anyone on this? Anyone have a similar problem and
figure out a way to solve this?

Thanks so much
Tamir

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Anne Rogers - 04 Mar 2007 08:32 GMT

> When she cries or screams, she gets blocked up, and the only way to
> get her breathing through her nose again is to pick her up and console
> her for a while. While she's blocked up, she continues screaming, so
> crying it out doesn't seem like an option, and frankly we're really
> hoping to do something other than that.

sounds to me that she's a kid where sleeping absolutely flat doesn't work,
which is why the swing worked and the car seat, they are both propping her
up. There is likely to be some behavioural or habit thing as well, so along
with putting some blocks under one end of the crib, I'd look at ways of
safely making it snug for her, a swing or car seat is quite a cradled
environment.
Anne

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Me Myself and I - 04 Mar 2007 19:28 GMT

>> When she cries or screams, she gets blocked up, and the only way to
>> get her breathing through her nose again is to pick her up and console
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> environment.
> Anne

Totally what Anne said! My DD2 has refused to sleep flat since she came
home from the NICU, and since she was propped up there for the final two
weeks of her stay I think she just got used to it (and it helps keep the
passages clear) Even now at just turned two she will only sleep flat if
there is a pillow under her head.

Now that your DD is used to the seeing to sleep in you are going to have to
slowly transition her to get used to being flat. Swaddle her so she is very
snug and you may end up putting her to sleep on her side in her cot till she
learns to straighten out a bit.

Good luck.

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Irrational Number - 04 Mar 2007 08:50 GMT

> Bottom line is
> that any time we move her to the crib, whether it's when she's tired
> and ready to sleep, when she's fallen asleep in the swing or on our
> arms or when she's already been sleeping for 30 minutes in the swing
> or her mom's arms, she wakes up within minutes of us moving her to the
> crib, and starts screaming until we pick her up and console her.

Have you tried putting a hot water bottle in
the crib to warm up the area, then take it
out and put baby in the warm spot? She may
be waking up from the coolness.

> We've tried co-sleeping, and while she eventually does fall asleep
> next to us, neither of us get a decent night's sleep, and we keep
> waking up every few minutes because our daughter moves around a lot.

How many nights in a row have you tried this?
You may get used to it after a few nights.

We cosleep, so I have no other suggestions.

-- Anita --

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Donna Metler - 04 Mar 2007 13:45 GMT

I have a similar child, and what we did was to transition to rocking and
"dancing" around the room before bed (ie-us moving and swinging her in our
arms). That seemed to have the same settling effect, and at 28 months, we
still "dance" before bed, but now DD does most of the "dancing" herself. We
also moved to a house across the street from a park, and probably spend an
hour or more a day swinging and sliding outside now that she's bigger. She
simply seems to have a high need for this sort of movement.

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Pologirl - 04 Mar 2007 15:03 GMT

Good suggestions from others! Another thing to try is swaddling. It
sounds to me like this baby likes to be snug when she sleeps.

Also, consider putting her down in the crib before she falls asleep,
while she is calm and sleepy. Give her a moment and if she does not
like it, promptly pick her up and carry her around a bit, soothing
her. But don't let her fall asleep in your arms; instead, put her
down again in the crib.

You might try reading Richard Ferber's book, "Solve Your Child's Sleep
Problems"; as the title suggests, the book offers a lot of help in
figuring out what is causing any sleep problem(s). Including the
important point that there may be more than one issue. And knowing
the cause(s) helps to guide your steps toward solving the problem.
Some people characterize the book as providing merely a single
technique, called "cry it out", but the book is far broader and deeper
than that.

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Jen - 05 Mar 2007 00:03 GMT

> Hi Everyone:
>
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
> crying it out doesn't seem like an option, and frankly we're really
> hoping to do something other than that.

I'm wondering if there is some sort of allergy or sinus problem that makes
her get blocked up when she lays flat. If the other ideas don't work, it
may be worth a check with the doctor.

Jen

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Chookie - 05 Mar 2007 11:50 GMT

> For the first few weeks, our baby daughter rarely slept more than an
> hour straight. At around 3 weeks, we were completely exhausted, and
> desperate for sleep, and tried different places for her to sleep. We
> discovered that the only place she would sleep well was in her
> (mechanical) swing.

Have you had her checked for reflux?

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Family Forum / Parenting / Parenting / March 2007

difficulty transitioning from swing to crib