As soon as my husband and I brought our baby home from the hospital, she was over her swaddle. The second she realized she could move her arms, she became obsessed with them. Getting her to lay flat on her back, however, was another story. We tried multiple times to get her to sleep in her bassinet, but she refused. She fell asleep in our arms and woke up immediately once we tried to put her down. We attempted the swaddle once again, but she was over it. So, we did the unthinkable; we put her in the rock and play.
It was the quietest two hours we had gotten since we left the hospital. She slept soundly in it. Determined to get her to sleep safely in her bassinet, I tried several more times in between the Rock and Play breaks, but I failed miserably. Our girl knew exactly what she liked and how she liked it. We had a stubborn baby on our hands. She loved to be cradled and the Rock and Play did just that. Not to mention the soothing sensation of vibration and rocking.
Another feature of the rock and play that played against us was that it was slanted so she sat upright in it, relieving her reflux issues that she had been dealing with. Although all the parenting books, blogs, and articles advised against it, our strong-willed new born won and she got to sleep in her Rock and Play.
For the most part, my husband and I took shifts. We could get a few hours of sleep in between all her feedings. This meant one of us was always awake with her. This eased my anxiety about the rock and play and we continued to let her sleep in it, that is until she reached three months.
The first night she slept through the night, I fell asleep. Everything was fine, and she slept with out any issues. After multiple weeks of sleeping through the night, however, I knew it was time to transition her to the crib. It was by far the longest process yet.
Our baby settled fine into a night time routine, she slowly overcame the distress of Tummy Time, she has gotten over the car seat for the most part and has even decided at five months that she no longer needs her pacifier. Transitioning to the crib, however, has been the most difficult.
We propped up her mattress to slant it, purchased a special pillow that cradled her in the crib and we started with naps. The toughest part was getting use to setting her down in the crib as opposed to the Rock and Play. After about three weeks between going back and forth between the crib and Rock and Play during naps, she slept for 45 minutes in her crib. After two weeks of that, we were able to take the pillow away. When she spent more time in the crib than the Rock and Play during naps, we zipped her up in her Halo Sleep Sac, fed her a bottle and gently placed her down to sleep and crossed our fingers.
So, two whole months later, we still use the Rock and Play on occasion during naps, (even though her feet hang out of it), but she sleeps in the crib at night. We are currently going through a sleep regression stage and it’s been a rough few weeks. She has given up naps all together and she has been having trouble staying asleep at night. We have dealt with this a few times during her development and we are hoping this is just a phase. We shall see!
I would love to hear any advice from my experienced mamas on crib sleeping and regression. Feel free to comment below.
I’m taking part in the Mummy Monday linky with Becca from Becca Blogs It Out
Messy Mama 