ACK! How Do I Get Him in the Crib?

My daughter spit up a LOT, too, and we were afraid to lay her flat that she would choke on her spit-up. She slept in one of the vibrating beds for months! I would snap the little belt around her & she never rolled out & slept really well, plus she was upright a bit, so we didn't worry as much about the spitting up. Eventually, we tried propping up the mattress at one end, but that didn't seem to work that well for her, but others say it worked for them. I had one of the little sleeping wedges that would help her stay on her side & that worked some, but mostly I didn't push it. Just keep trying off & on! Good Luck!

For a while I didn't believe in letting my son cry-it-out but when he hit 6 months his needs changed, his sleeping changed, and it was time to try it. It was hard but worked. The first bedtime he cried for 15 minutes and we had to struggle with our emotions. 3 days later it was down to 2 min then soon we had a baby happy to go to bed in his crib and he slepps 12 hours or more through the night.

He had terrible reflux and spent some nights in his swing and others in his carseat. When he stopped being satified with that we took some large books and made a layer under one side of his crib mattress to prop it up. This worked great and stayed this way for about 3 months until the reflux stopped. Mylanta cherry supreme worked well to treat the pain from the reflux.

Have you tried elevating his mattress? I assume he has outgrown his bouncer.

Hi! My daughter had GERD when she was a tiny baby. We also had to do the seat thing at night, we actually used a bouncy seat that we put in her cradle by our bed at night. When we moved her to the crib, we did it gradually. Started out just putting her down in the crib for her naps, and she adjusted very well to that. We did keep everything out of her crib, no toys or blankets, but instead used some of the zip-up blankets that babies can wear, I can't remember the name of them now. Also, as another poster stated, we propped one end of her mattress up with a rolled up towel under the mattress itself, which made it more like the seat, as it sat up a bit.
It took a while for her to adjust, but after about a week she was taking naps with no problems in her crib, and then after another week, she was sleeping in there at night. Good luck! I hope this helps.

We were silly and did co-sleeping for the first 6 months. When I was finally ready to put him to sleep in his crib, of course that didn't work for him. We tried all the methods out there, sleeping on the floor in his room, checking on him every 5 minutes and so on. Finally we did the mean method of letting him cry it out and in 3 nights, everything was fine and he had no problem going to sleep on his own in his crib, he also started sleeping through the night right after we did this. It really is hard and really does suck, but cry it out worked the best for Brody. Just make sure you stick to your normal schedule of putting him down for the night. Brody's schedule was bath, book, bottle and bed. Brody is a year now, we can give him a bath and just put him to bed now. Cry it out is so tough for the parents, but I really do think it works best. Good luck.

I can't really help with getting him out of the car seat. I just wanted to make sure to remind you that you do not want him on his back. I know that is advised. You want him on his side. I know from personal experience. On his back he can throw up and choke on it, especially if he has had problems! My cousin's baby died this way at 7 months 19 days old. Please get those wedges or something!!!!

I haven't been through this because luckily our kids slept great in the crib from day one. But I have several friends who went through this. A few of their tips.... start with baby in the carseat in the crib for a few days so he gets used to the crib, but he's still in the familiar carseat. Then prop up one end of the mattress - one warning, though. One friend tried this and it backfired because baby kept ending up head-down. Another idea is to tightly swaddled him at bedtime so he feels 'held tight' and secure just like in the carseat.

Eventually, you may just have to bite the bullet and put him down and let him cry for a few minutes for he adjust. There's a big difference between mad cry and pain cry at this age and it won't hurt the baby or scar them for life if you let them be mad for a little while.

My sister had the same problem with her little girl. They put her in the crib surrounded by blankets and stuffed animals. I know the doctors say that you're not suppose to do that cause they can roll into the animals and suffocate, but it's the only thing that worked for them. In her case it was the comfort of the closeness of the car seat. She just needed to be surrounded to feel safe. They never had any problems with her rolling into the animals. After she slept in the crib for a few nights, they gradually started removing the things in the crib. Now she sleeps through the night in her crib without all the stuff in it. Good luck :-)

Hi S.,

I don't know if my situation is the same as yours, but here's what we did. First of all, our pediatrician recommended that we elevate one end of our son's mattress to help with reflux. (It turned out he didn't have it, but we have kept the mattress elevated because he seems to like it.)

Also, we tuck him in under a blanket that is tucked tightly under the sides of the mattress. That way, he feels secure, but can't kick the blanket up over his face.

Finally, we just stuck it out. I know there are strong opinions over the "cry it out" debate, but it worked for us. We kept the monitor on and would listen to see if they were "mad" cries versus "pain" cries. At first, it would take him close to 2 hours to finally fall asleep (including the whimpering as well as the crying). However, that really didn't last long (a couple of weeks, maybe?) Now, I put him to bed when he's drowsy, but not necessarily asleep, and he is almost always asleep within a half hour, if not right away.

I can't tell you how glad I am that we just decided to bite the bullet. It's hard at first, but so worth it.

Good luck!

My baby is 6 weeks and she has reflux, too. I took several blankets, folded them and stair-stepped them so she is sleeping somewhat elevated. Elevating one end of the mattress didn't work for our first daughter, she kept sliding down, but this helps. If he's going to get messed up in the blankets, put the crib sheet on after you layer the blankets.

S., speaking as a nurse here...at 6 months, IF he is rolling over, you can let him sleep on his tummy. Research shows reflux babies do better either upright or on their bellies. If he rolls he can move enough to avoid SIDS type stuff and usually the window for that is over at 4-6 months. I would avoid the suffocation type toys/animals/blankets etc. OR try using a full wedge pillow...one that looks like a wedge of cheese, not propping the actual mattress up because then you have a dangerous spot between the mattress and crib. More importantly...this is a phase...nothing lasts forever and trust your instinct with his sleeping. :)

You may want to try one of those pillows that is supposed to help a baby sit to put in the crib and prop him against that when you lay him down. The support that will give him to keep him sitting up a bit and the way it surrounds him will resemble the way the car seat feels. Hope that helps.