# newborn transition to bassinet?



## lovetheheights (Aug 7, 2008)

Hello!
We gave birth at home just a week ago, and for a few reasons don't want to co-sleep for very long. (there are cat issues, small bed issues, and I am not even sure she is getting better sleep with us-sometimes i think i disturb her once she is asleep)

It's less about staying asleep though- it's the getting to sleep and the transfer to another space- she has never gotten to sleep without BFing and I wonder if anyone has experience transitioning a newborn into a bassinet? I just feel like it's so far away! But if she could nap during the day in there and eventually at night, it would make a few things easier for all three of us in terms of our transitions.

thanks, and please, at this early stage and still pretty hormonal, don't tell me i am horrible for considering this. It was just never something we wanted to do for long term, though i value the decision for anyone who makes it.


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## sept15lija (Jun 21, 2008)

My DS slept in a bassinet for a little while here and there. He was pretty good about it usually when he was really new, as long as he was swaddled and fed. That didn't last long though....and then with the all night nursing sessions, it just didn't work not having him next to me, even right next to me in a bassinet.

The one tip I had read and we did have some success with was laying him down (swaddled) feet first and then slowly laying the rest of his body down. Then I would keep a hand on him for a little while until I was sure he was good and out. However after a certain period of time it was hit and miss, sometimes he would transfer OK and sometimes he wouldn't. It got more challenging as he got older. Just know they change all the time and what works today may not work tomorrow. It's just finally in the last few months (my DS is 15 months) that things have gotten a bit easier...I am waiting for the next difficult phase!







Good luck.


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## dearmama22 (Oct 20, 2008)

My baby sleeps in the bassinet next to our bed. It works for us right now. I did that from the beginning- so I guess that was my transition? I would nurse and than make sure he was almost asleep or at least drowsy and then put him down and he would fall right asleep. They get used to it after a while. Good luck!









and I agree, I think my LO actually sleeps better in his own space. When he is right next to me in bed I always wake him up by moving or touching/kissing/looking at him too much.


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## sarlusan (Jun 29, 2007)

I think a lot depends on the personality of the child. My first child would not sleep in the bassinet no matter what we did if her life depended on it. It didn't help that she had reflux, but even once that was mostly taken care of with medication, she just hated it. We co-slept until she was 18 months old. (And the transition to crib at that point was torture... but I was 3 months pregnant by then so I just couldn't take it any more!)

But... my son was a piece of cake. We co-slept for a week or two and then I just started putting him down in the bassinet. I nursed him to sleep - then put him in. He didn't seem to mind at all. I don't think I started doing a "sleep routine" until he was probably six or eight months old.

He is still (at two) a MUCH better sleeper than my daughter (who is now four).

So I think you just have to figure out what works for your child... but, if you start now, she will hopefully get used to it!


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## jeliphish (Jul 18, 2007)

DD slept part time in bassinet beside our bed and part time in our bed. She did much better in her bassinet and slept more soundly. She is still restless when she sleeps with us. She was in her bassinet for 6 months and then we transitioned to her crib. She would sleep in there the first half of the night and then come in bed with us. Now she is mostly full time in her crib.

I think it depends on the child. Try it out....co-sleeping needs to work for everyone and I don't feel it's right to sacrifice sleep for AP principle. If she does great in a bassinet beside you, then everyone will benefit. GL







things get easier I promise


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

The hardest part of the first few weeks of my daugter's life wasn't a lack of sleep... it was moving her from my arms into the bassinet! It seemed like as soon as I'd tense my body to move, she'd know what was coming, and she'd wake up. I just had to be really conscientous when I'd feed her to sleep -- I needed to be sure that I positioned myself somewhere that I could rise from bed smoothly. This often meant sitting at the edge of the bed, my back against the headboard.

It's hard to swap from a nursing hold to a carrying hold and then to a hold to set her down in the bassinet. I actually ended up going from a nursing hold to putting her over my shoulder, standing up, and burping/soothing her until she slept for a few minutes -- this was painful, because god knows I didn't want to sway back and forth OR wait for her to get through those first tenuous minutes of sleep, but sometimes I'd make my husband do this part for me.

I lay her down as close to flat as possible, but feet first. I found that if she tensed up as I lowered her, it meant she'd wake up when I set her down -- so if she did tense, I'd straighten back up and sway some more. I bend down with her, keeping her pressed to my shoulder/chest for as long as I can, and when her feet & back are on the mattress, gently lay her head down.

Sometimes I would need to use a rolled up blanket under her feet (she'd startle herself awake otherwise) or against her side (but only up to her chest, since I wanted to minimize any risk of suffocating if she somehow rolled). Most of the time I need to rest my hand on her stomach so she can be comforted by knowing I haven't abandoned her. I lift my fingers off her one by one, and replace them if she stirs.

And don't just move away as soon as she settles! Stay there for a little bit -- 30 seconds to a minute at least -- they seem to know when you leave and if they're still a bit awake, it can wake them up more.

I have a squeaky bedframe, so have to lie back down verrrry slowly, or the bed will creak and sometimes wake her 

Hopefully this helps? I think I read your question right







Good luck & congrats on your little one.


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## haurelia (Mar 12, 2009)

Hi Mama, congrats on your baby!
Hang in there, it WILL get better. Co-sleeping has infinite variations, it doesn't mean you have to share your bed, per se.

We've shared our bed with DS since his day of birth 2 1/2 months ago. However, we're now trying to get him napping in the Amby bed during the day in preparation for perhaps putting him in the Amby at our bedside at night eventually (like when he's sleeping for 5 or 6 hour stretches). Previously, I'd been wearing him for all his naps in a Moby, but he's getting pretty heavy to wear all day on my chest, and it's hard to transition from the Moby if he was still asleep and I needed to put him down for some reason.

What has worked for us (we've been trying for a couple of weeks) is either:
1. Changing, feeding and then wearing him in the mei-tai until he's deeply asleep, then bending over our bed, unwrapping the mei-tai as he's laying flat on the big bed, then scooping him up for a gentle transfer to Amby.
OR
2. side-lying nursing until he's deeply drowsy or asleep. Scoop up for gentle transfer.
Not sure if you're at a point of using a paci at all (we weren't until a couple of weeks ago), but if he's not quite all the way asleep, sometimes that helps keep him going once he's in the Amby and off the chest/breast.

All that being said, it doesn't always work, and sometimes (like RIGHT NOW) I just end up wearing him until I'm ready to go to bed with him (he'll always always always sleep soundly if I'm there too).

HTH mama, and just make sure you're sleeping whenever you can.


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## mojobot2000 (Jun 29, 2008)

I'm going through this right now with my 10 week old...she's been in our bed since birth, but she's a terrifically squirmy, kicky, and snorty sleeper, and not only do I not sleep well with her, she doesn't either, because I'm constantly intervening whenever she starts squirming, kicking, etc., whereas when she's in her space she'll just "squirm it out," and stay conked. We were also bfing to sleep, and I wanted to change that so that I'm replaceable at bedtime.

Here's what's been working really well for us:

At around the same time every day (between 7:30 and 8:30 PM), I give her a good, long feeding, but not to sleep. It helps that this isn't prime sleepy time for her. Then I give her a bath, swaddle her, turn on my Renee and Jeremy lullaby album, give her a pacifier, and just sit snuggling her, singing, stroking her head until her little eyes start to droop but she's not asleep. Then I lay her in her bassinet (we're using the Arm's Reach still, planning on transitioning to a separate crib at some point down the road), pat her tummy rhythmically, and say stuff like, "shh, shh, sleepy baby, night night." I then hang out nearby but out of sight. If she starts to wake up too much (sometimes because she loses the binkie), I give her a few more pats and shh's (and replace binkie if necessary), until the eyes are droopy again...but again stop before she's totally asleep. It's taken a lot of practice to identify the EXACT line where intervention is necessary and will help her fall asleep rather than interfering with her natural process. Sometimes it works better if I actually leave the room and only come back in if there's a clear, "Hey, I'm awake!" noise. Eventually, she goes out like a light, and will spit out the binkie on her own (and not need it replaced) -- and I can go watch a movie with my husband. We're getting solid stretches of 6-9 hours of sleep this way, and this after 10 weeks of her sleeping on me in a carrier or my lap until I went to bed, then waking up for more feeding to put her back to sleep, and "needing" bfing all night any time she started to wake up. I'm hoping to lose the binkie altogether when she's ready, but one thing at a time.

I basically got this method from the "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" book, which for all other things I HATE and actually tore into pieces and threw in the trash just last night. But the new bedtime ritual is working wonderfully for all of us.


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## mojobot2000 (Jun 29, 2008)

I should mention that putting her down while she's sleepy but before she's totally asleep has nothing to do with any kind of ideological belief that she "should" be able to get to sleep without me. It just works better this way, because it avoids the whole "WAIT A MINUTE, THIS ISN'T WHERE I FELL ASLEEP, WHERE AM I, WTF, GIVE ME BACK MY BOOBIE, WAH WAH WAH!" wake up she went through during her first light sleep cycle when I tried to sneak her into the bassinet after she fell asleep on/with me. Putting her to sleep this way, she knows that it's safe to be lying there alone and she's able to go back to sleep when she starts to re-surface.


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