Vent: sleeping in crib!!

[omahonycm]

Thanks guys! I feel a bit better. I just read this blog about how this mom made sure to put her babies down in different places/just drowsy, etc. and how they were sttn and great mappers because of it and how she only "let" them sleep an hour and a half. Let? I wanted to do serious damage at that little word.

Anyway, I can't swaddle because she hates it, has since week 2. I swaddled dd1 for 5 months, so I know that they can pitch a fit while doing it, but then settle. DD2 didn't sleep over 1/2 hour at night until I stopped. She fought it the whole time. And at night I have the closet light on/door open for a night light and day it's very dark with black out curtains. So, it's not that

She just HAS to move. Even when I'm holding her, I have to either be rocking or bouncing, or she wriggles and screams. She's ok in the swing sometimes. And I let her nap in there a lot. Usually I try the crib first, then when she wakes, I transfer her to the swing. Sometimes that works, other times she's awake - even if she was bawling from tiredness before going down and awake after 5min. Other times she sleeps for 2+ hours in the swing. How in the world am I supposed to have consistency?

I don't think there's an answer. I just needed to vent.

[mibarra]

You just do what you can. It gets better!

[dncegrl]

Both of my children hated being swaddled and I let them sleep in the swing. Both my children loved the swing because it was moving and soothed them into sleeping. They also fight sleep so putting them in their crib for naps was a losing battle. I feel for you! Hang in there!

[Belbaby3728]

Fisher price bouncy chair with vibrate setting (that doesn't shut off until you shut it off) is what worked wonders for my dd who sounds very similar to yours. At 11 months she still naps in it! Though those days are running out as she's outgrowing it.

[EmilytheStrange]

DD would sleep in her crib at night, but she would not nap there. She napped in the swing until she outgrew it around 6months.

if she's bawling from tiredness, I'd try to notice cues earlier and lay her down before she gets overtired.

[EmmaGM]

Mine has sttn since 6 weeks but STILL won't nap unless I hold him the. entire. time. I know I should keep trying to put him down but honestly I'd rather have a sore back/arms/shoulders/neck and get an hour of peace than try to put him down and never, ever get a break from him.

[Computermama]

My youngest couldn't go to sleep from drowsy on her own until very recently, and she's almost 7 months. The rare time I could get her to nap in her crib I'd have nursed her to sleep, waited until she got to that limp limbed sleepstate, and then carefully transferred her to the crib. She's not a stellar napper even now. I have a heck of a time getting her to nap even now, although occasionally I can get her to a drowsy enough point that she'll fall asleep and nap.

Basically you do what you have to. I'll try anything, put her in the swing, wear her, lie down with her on my bed and nurse her. I usually start by nursing her in the living room as normal and then try to transition her to the crib when she's sleepy and sated, but that simply doesn't always work. It does work at night, so I'm thinking for her some black out curtains or blinds are in order.

[Nerissa]

I would just skip the crib for nomat nap. Just put her right in the swing.

DD git to the point where she was so over tired from not getting good sleepmthat she wouldnt sleep more than an hour or somat night too. As soon as I started using thensw7ng she would sleep for 2mor 3 hours and slept eay better at night too.

[cinderella]

My little guy was the same. I was a wreck and had myself so stressed out b/c I couldn't get him to nap. At all. Anywhere.

Consistently trying the crib is what worked along with timing. The timing of the naps was super important. At your DD's age, I would put her down approx 60-90 minutes after she wakes. She might not sleep any but at least she'll get used to the process. My DS was about 4 months before he started napping....

[AZmommy]

my last slept in her fisher price rocker for almost a full year (she still climbs in at 2.5 years) if she wasn't cosleeping.