Since she was born, Evelyn has been sleeping in our room, in a co-sleeper. Much like this one
, except not brown.
It is so flipping convenient y'all. It attaches to your bed, sort of like a sidecar, and keeps your baby at the same height as your bed. Middle of the night feedings? Puh-lease. So easy.
Buuuuut, middle of the night feedings are sort of a thing of the past. And she is still in our room. She goes down for good somewhere around 11pm, and generally sleeps until 5 or 6 for her first feeding, and goes right back to sleep until 8 or 9, and goes back to sleep AGAIN, until like 10 or 11.
I mean, she sleeps. And I take advantage. Because with the co-sleeper, I can nurse laying on my side for the earliest feeding and the next one, and not really wake up myself until sometime after 9. Spoiled? Yes. I don't even have to get out of bed! It's awesome.
I told myself that when she dropped the early feeding, then it would be time to move her into her crib at night and out of our room. That was a month ago, and she still hasn't dropped the feeding. I wasn't really ready to move her out of our room, to be honest. I like cuddling with my baby in the mornings - SUE ME.
Anywho, I am starting to feel ready to move the baby into her room, but ack! Big steps.
I think I will start this week by trying to get her down for naps in her crib, so she gets used to sleeping there. Right now, she sort of just sleeps anywhere around the house during the day...in her bouncy seat, swing, on the couch, strapped to my chest...wherever she falls asleep. She has taken approximately 6 naps in her crib since she arrived.
She's not really the greatest napper - she sleeps, but not for long periods of time. Probably because she sleeps so much at night, so no complaints. But, that's why she gets to sleep wherever, because once she does, the nap time race is ON. Time to get anything done that needs to be done!
So the plan is to start with naps, and then move to nights, and going and grabbing ehr in the mornings to still have cuddle time, and hopefully eventually she will start sleeping in her crib right on through till sometime between 7 and 9. That would be the ideal process {which means it will never work, right?}.
Have I consulted any parenting books or websites? Nope. But this is my gut on what will work, so let's hope I am right.
I feel like this is one of those parenting moments. WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME?! Blah.
I am such a procrastinator. I will let you know how it goes.
Evelyn is three months old today
...and I feel like that means it is time for her to be a big girl in her crib. Sadness.
We never had our daughter in our room simply because there wasn't enough room in our bedroom for a co-sleeper or basinet. Plus her room was/isn't far so it was cool. So as far as transition I unfortunately don't have good advice. Although, I think you said it perfectly. Let her try to have naps during the day in her crib and see how that goes... first you will get her to nap during the day and you will get her used to her crib. You also said "this is my gut on what will work" Go with it... go with your gut! No book or website can tell you other wise! You know what's best for her better than anything else!! So, don't doubt your self you got this!!!
ReplyDeleteI know it's easier said than done but it sounds to me like you have the best plan. Go with it and let us all know how it goes!! :)
Don't worry about the naps! Baby naps change so frequently. They don't take regular longish naps until they are like 6 months old. Then they will take one morning nap and one afternoon nap for the next 6-8 months. Then they switch to one mid day nap. You will know they are ready for one when they are more energetic mid morning and become harder to put down for the afternoon nap.
ReplyDeleteas for sleeping in your room, there is no right or wrong answer. She can't be alone in the co-sleeper once she can sit up or roll over and over. Until then, do what you want.
oh! as for sleep training, nothing serious prior to six months anyways. I like the sleep ladies goodnight sleep tight. It is a good middle road.
ReplyDeleteI'll second Megan on the Sleep Lady book, we have it and I'm a fan. We had the same moment when Malcolm turned 3 months of "Maybe we should move him into his room at night?". Malcolm still sleeps in our room, just because we want him to. So far every time we've discussed having him sleep in his room at night, we're both like "I'm not ready!". He has been sleeping through the night since week 7 so really he's in there just for our benefit. So the answer on when to move her out of your room, assuming you guys don't disturb her in her sleep, is whenever you and A feel ready for it. We have an Arm's Reach co-sleeper, but not attached to the bed (Ikea bed is too low). We have been having him nap in his crib for awhile now, to get everyone used to the idea of it. I wanted to suggest to you that maybe you detach the co-sleeper and move it away from the bed as one of the steps to getting used to her not being in your room. Good luck!
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