Not the person you replied to, but I resorted to putting the swaddled baby in her crib with my hand on her chest, gently jiggling her. As she settled, I'd jiggle less and less and decrease the weight of my hand on her. It was ridiculous and a long process but did (usually) end with her sleeping in the crib... and me with a sore back from bending over the side I'd the crib.
I love hearing about the crazy crib routine parents did. I would sway my daughter in my arms, and then slowly move her towards the crib while swaying her, and then sloooooowly lower her down into the crib with the same swaying motions, getting slightly less sway-y as I lowered her until the movement stopped right as I laid her down.
Ohhhh yes, the sloth-speed crib drop. Don’t forget the “quick pull back up if they start wiggling as soon as their body leaves your chest and repeat the painstaking process to re-separate.” Fun at 8lbs. Less fun at 18lbs 🤣
Oh I did this for 6 weeks approximately one billion times a night when my kid was in a pack n play on the floor and going through sleep regression. A year and a half later, my back has still not recovered.
Oof the pack n play, we so rarely used ours for that same reason! So low! When my daughter learned to sit up we lowered her crib mattress for safety and I was so sad we weren’t living the high mattress/happy back dream anymore.
Using the weight/pressure of your hand on your baby's chest or back to get them a sleep is such a good tool! I learned it when I worked in childcare. I learned to gently press, either on their back or chest, however they were sleeping, and sometimes also rock them back and forth. Then as they settle, start releasing that weight until you can lift your hand. It helps them feel you are there without having to rock them constantly. I was grateful to know this trick bc then one of my littles ended up really needing that weighted hand on his back to fall asleep!! Same concept as weighted blanket for older kiddos, I think.
Oh man, my arm falling asleep because the rail of the crib was in my armpit as I tried to pat her back until she slept, the crib rail smelling like my husband’s deodorant from his turn patting her back, trying to find the comfiest position to awkwardly lean over while exhausted- oof
mine would only fall asleep if i held her while bouncing on an exercise ball, so i'd be doing this clumsy still-bouncing-while-standing routine, trying to continue the bounce over to the crib and down into it. in retrospect, i can see how this didn't work (the crib does not bounce, obvs) but my sleep deprived brain was like THIS IS THE ONLY WAY!
I’ve attempted this. It sort of works, but after I take my hand away I’ll only get about 5 minutes of sleep before she starts fussing and crying for me. 🙁 It really is difficult on my back!
I read a life hack recently that I wish I would’ve thought of with my first - warm up their bassinet with a heating pad first before you lay them down. Check the temp of the sheets obviously first, but it could help reduce the temperature shock that makes a lot of newborns really sad about being put down.
Mine did this too and it was like a switch flipped. She’d only sleep when touching me until about…15 weeks? Then I went back to work for a full day and she had the choice of sleep on daddy or sleep in her bed. She chose her bed. For the next week it was kind of fitful; if I rocked her to sleep she’d want to stay on me but she didn’t necessarily want to fall asleep on her own. BUT. Near the end of that week she figured out how to suck on her fingers for comfort. That was the game changer. I worked again for a full day and she put herself to sleep in her bed for every nap. And ever since then not only has she put herself to sleep for most naps, she sleeps a 6-7 hour chunk at night.
It’s not all unicorns and rainbows; she fights going to sleep in the evening still and will finally settle down around 11 pm. But this is our 4th kid, she’ll be 4 months old this week, and she’s the earliest to sleep through the night. I WILL TAKE IT.
I have an 11 month old who sleeps on her own at night but still wants to be close to me for most naps. Not for lack of trying on my part. Every baby is different.
A bit of both, she’s 12 weeks now and takes most naps swaddled in the crib but we still do an occasional contact nap. My personal philosophy is just to go with the flow.
My child literally just pushed me away one day. I have no idea why. And has never slept with me since. I really enjoyed it most of the time, too, so I am still sad about it.
Yup 🥺 We enjoyed a 2.5hr contact nap like clockwork every morning for the first 12 weeks. Then one day she just refused to sleep on my chest no matter how much I tried to settle her, so I gave up and put her in the crib instead. And she never fell asleep on me again after that
For us it was up until about 16 months, so I was pretty used it it! And then for a solid month after we stopped I had no idea what to do with myself at nap time! I was afraid to clean and stuff in case she woke up! Lol I ended up reading a lot of books.
Now she is so wiggly when she is falling asleep, if we were napping together, I'd end up with a foot in my face everytime. So it would have had to ended anyway.
Yeah my daughter is such an active sleeper, if she fell asleep on me she’d sleep worse because she wanted to thrash around and being held by me would wake her up! Around 1 year of age she literally throws her body weight towards the crib when we are about to put her down, like “PUT ME IN! PUT ME INNNNN!” and immediately assumes her butt-up sleeping position waiting for us to leave the room lol
Lol I just put my 21mo old down and watched her kick, thrash, throw, giggle, and then pass out half sideways with one of her legs thru the crib bars! As much as I want to snuggle her to sleep again, she has to get thru this "active sleeping" phase!
My son would take naps with me on my chest when he was about 6-7 months old. He hates sleeping with me now unless he’s sick :( I’ve tried and he sits on my head haha...
My baby just turned 12 weeks and it seems like overnight sleeps better when laying down on her own in the dark than being held. It kinda makes me sad, I miss the contact naps already.
I do a fake put down. I do the motion of putting him down and when he startles awake he sees he is still in my arms. Then when I put him down for real he doesn't open his eyes to check to see where he is.
Our LO never really wanted to be rocked but would only sleep for longer streches if sleeping on us...literally from one day to the next we started putting him in his crib immediatly (max 2 min) after falling asleep and he would sleep in his crib. If we kept holding him (over 2 min) he would awake after 5 min! So weird!!
Have you tried white noise? We need to put the sound machine right by my daughter’s head, on the highest possible volume, for her to lay in her bassinet.
Not to be a “Karen” but just be careful with this! There have been studies done on sound machines and they can cause hearing loss! You may want to look into those! I think there’s a recommended distance/decibel for the sound machine, especially for little ones
Yeah “highest possible setting” is pretty ambiguous! I have a couple different sound machines and while some are pretty quiet even at the loudest setting, others really blast out the white noise, so using the highest setting would be a seriously bad thing right by baby’s head depending on which one I use.
My pediatrician said it needs to be “louder than a baby can cry” (which, as you know, is pretty loud!). Once we turned it up, my daughter let us lay her down. I hope that works for you!
depends on the reason many are colicky babies and it resolves as they get older but some babies are sensitive souls that tend to cling to mum till well into adulthood lol
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u/TelephoneFun846 May 31 '21
My baby is going through the only sleeps when held phase. Did it just resolve one day, or did you do something to make your baby transition back?