Baby won't sleep in crib

amother

Olive

Mon, May 23 2016, 1:08 pm

Baby is 3.5 months. He was sleeping OK, but then he got a cold and slept very poorly for several days and after getting over that, starting breaking out of his swaddle, so we stopped swaddling (I anyway always stop swaddling by 4 months). Since then, he won't sleep in the crib. I thought it would take a few days, it always did with my others, but it's a week already and there's no change. He will only sleep while held. I can't function like this. The last few nights, I took him into bed with me and he slept well, but I didn't. Bed sharing really doesn't work for me. He hasn't napped in hours. He falls asleep on me and the second his head hits the crib, he's up again. I tried letting him fuss a bit, but the fussing turns to crying eventually, and I can't let such a young baby cry. How do I teach him how to sleep, normally, in his crib?

fbc

Mon, May 23 2016, 4:57 pm

Will b following!! Same thing by us, right now our daughter sleeps in her soft cushy bouncer which we put in between our beds. She sleeps very well there bc she feels like she's being held tight. When her paci falls out, then it's chaos!!

amother

Olive

Mon, May 23 2016, 5:03 pm

He is in our room, but I don't think that's it. He won't nap in the crib either. Don't feel comfortable putting him with older siblings, they're small too and I don't trust them not to climb in his crib to play with him.

cozyblanket

Mon, May 23 2016, 8:56 pm

Your baby probably is overtired due to the recent illness and his lack of sleep from it. He needs to catch up on sleep in order to be able to sleep well without a swaddle. I know this is much easier said than done. How do you swaddle? With a regular receiving blanket or with a velcro swaddle blanket? If you use the former (he likely won't get out of it), I would very much suggest getting the later and using that to get him back in the sleeping groove - in his own crib too! Load him up on as much sleep as possible, using the velcro swaddle in his crib for a couple weeks (get ones like "swaddle me" brand or "summer infant"). Then you can slowly start making the swaddle blanket a bit looser and looser (do this very slowly!) to wean him off the blanket. But don't be in too much of a rush to do this. First, he has to have gotten a lot of sleep... because tired babies don't sleep well!!

amother

Olive

Mon, May 23 2016, 9:10 pm

cozyblanket wrote:

Thank you. I was using the velcro swaddler (summer infant) and he was busting out of it. I posted on another forum and someone suggested using it and wrapping the panels tightly around his middle, so he'll get a snug feel even with his arms out. Trying that tonight. If it doesn't help, I will try your suggestion and see if maybe he'll go for a few more nights of swaddling and then through the swaddle weaning process.