Getting Baby to Sleep in Crib

Is there light in his room? Try putting up some blackout curtains.

I know the horse is already out of the barn, and I know many will disagree, but I've said for years that if you want your baby to sleep well on their own, and you want to sleep reasonably well, don't cosleep. I know that it works well for many families, but I simply don't understand why anyone would want their kids in their marriage bed. Nope, nope, nope.

Good luck with your transition!

i disagree with your doctor. you've sleep-trained this baby to co-sleep his whole life, so suddenly making him sleep alone is a big adjustment. i think it's mean to expect him to adjust immediately or cry for half an hour.
i think i'd just keep trying to do it gradually. put him in there to play for a few minutes here and there when you're busy with other things. but not leave him there for long. make it a friendly happy place to be.
i don't think there are any easy answers for a baby who's in a groove already.
khairete
S.

I used to go in every 5 minutes, but would not pick them up, just lay them back down and calm them with talking. He is getting old enough to understand the word no, and if you are caving to him (by taking him back in your bed, ect) then he is learning that if he just cries long enough you will give in. Don't just leave him to cry, but make him stay in his crib and don't give in and he will eventually learn.

If it is just the crib he hates then try a mattress on the floor. My boys both transitioned out of their crib at 15 months, and he is not too far off from that.

Suz T. Is right.
It's not his fault his routine is being upended!
Could you try the Supernanny technique where you sit in the room, allowing him to see the side of your face, then everv10 minutes, scoot further toward the door?
Music on all night might help.
And yes, as Suz suggested, pop him in there with a few toys wile you sweep or clean up the bathroom or get dressed so this CRIB is not the bad guy!

If the crib has to stay in your room for a while, maybe a divider that can be seen through? I have a 4 panel carved wood divider (teak) that I got donkey years ago. I blocks a bit, but you can see through it if you are looking! I used it as a room divider for my girls when they shared to block off the sleeping area from the desk area.

Just a thought!

best

Maybe this is way out there advice... But what about moving the crib into one of your other kids rooms? Then he doesn't sleep alone? I did that with my second daughter and my older daughter who was granted 22 months older than her and was a toddler and unable to get into the crib herself from the outside was so excited and loved to have her there. I know that wouldn't work for a lot of people but for our family it worked out perfect. (They still love to sleep together and their now 5 and almost 4 years old).

CIO is worth trying but I would hesitate to start the clock at thirty minutes. I think for a baby of 11 months who has developed the routine he has that amount of time could make matters worse. Besides he might be on the verge of separation anxiety and I think "abandoning" him in his crib for thirty minutes at a stretch could trigger deeper/worse episodes of separation anxiety.

If you decide to try CIO, I would try smaller intervals of letting him cry. Five minutes of crying, go in to soothe for a couple minutes (try not to pick him up), leave for another five minutes, repeat. One of mine had a very hard time not being picked up and did not respond at all to CIO of any variety. We did a hybrid thing with him which worked gradually over several months. It was a painfully slow process but we dug deep for our patience and rode it out. We would start at five minutes of his crying and would pick him up to soothe when we went in there. It would take a long while for him to settle to sleep. When he seemed to fall asleep faster, we extended the time to about ten minutes. We never left him longer than twenty minutes. He would escalate too much and get too wound up at which point sleep was a total impossibility. For us it was all about listening to his cries to gage how he was feeling and responding accordingly. Whiney cries, leave him longer. Demanding cries, go check on him. We could never go to him wound up ourselves because he definitely fed off our stress.

There are lots of versions of CIO so explore them to find one that speaks to you. As you know stick it out consistently for at least two weeks. Good luck because it is hard to change routines.

No body wants to do CIO. But some kids will not transfer to a crib asleep. So you can be the parent willing to rock to sleep, or pat backs to sleep all you want, but if baby isn't having it, baby isn't having it. As a parent of three who had two bad sleeper who would not be transferred, I had two choices: CIO, or let them wander about miserable until they crash out on the floor somewhere. With those two options, I relented to CIO. No its not fun, but they need to nap. They NEED it. You've exhausted your other options. Its not cruel. Its just one of many hard things that some parents and some babes have to go through.
I did find that my bad sleepers did cry for longer than 30 minutes for naps when just starting CIO. That turned into 10 minutes of fussing within a week or so. Eventually even my bad sleepers embraced the sleep instead of fighting it.

Try the pick up put down method or standing near the crib with just a hand on his back but say nothing. Is the swing rocking? If so, he's used to being rocked to sleep. Can you rock him for a few minutes and lay him down? Or put him in the swing but not turn it on to get him used to a different method of sleep?

I did the soothing pat on back and go in (when I felt it was necessary, not by a clock) but with babies who were already used to sleeping in cribs. For me, it was just when they reached the stage when they were showing they could sleep through but just needed reassurance.

Too often I think people Ferberize their kids when they are very far from being at that stage. You can't take a baby who is either scared or upset at something new and leave them to scream for 1/2 hour. It's just going to make him more upset.

I would ditch your doctor's advice. It doesn't work in all cases - kids have to be ready.

What about you laying on the floor while he falls asleep? I did that with one of mine. For whatever reason, she started having problems laying down and going to sleep - so for 2 or 3 nights, I just brought in my blanket, and lay on floor - 10-15 minutes, she was asleep. I just shortened my time and by the third night it was me just sitting in chair until she relaxed. I just read a book - didn't talk to her.

Could you try something like that? It's a big adjustment for some to go from being with you to a crib and separate room.

Good luck :)

My son rarely slept in his crib. He used the pack n play (rarely) that was in our room or we would sleep in our bed. My husband convinced me to put Nick in a toddler bed at a year old and it worked. We started earlier with the crib mattress on the floor. He hated the crib.