Moving from Rock and Sleep to Crib

Put her in the crib. Sit on the floor beside the crib, and put your hand through the slats and stroke her leg. She will still cry, but she will know that you are there. She will eventually cry herself to sleep. Leave the room. She'll probably wake up in the middle of the night. Do the same thing. Don't talk to her, don't pick her up. Don't feed her until 5:00 am.

What you are having to do is teach her to self-soothe. She hasn't had to do it before, and it's hard. It will be hard for you too because you won't get much sleep for a while. But the payoff is that she eventually will stop waking often, and you will stop going in. She will cry for a while and then stop. And then she will stop waking up. And you will all have some good sleep.

Be 100% consistent, or don't do it at all. 100% consistent means no picking her up and no talking to her, period.

Good luck,
Dawn

we used the ferber method, it worked for us.

good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

I loved the rock and sleep. I moved mine about the same time because she wanted to sleep on her tummy and I was getting worred about her trying to flip over in it. In the crib though, she has to have her head in a corner or maybe it feels too big? Good luck!!

First, are you sure she was ready to sleep unswaddled? My son was weaned off of it at 5 months, too, but my daughter needed the swaddle until she was nearly 8 months old. It is not a big deal as long as your child gets plenty of time to exercise her torso and arms during the awake periods.

Secondly, she's a little young to go to sleep without being rocked at all. Most experts recommend you begin sleep training around 5.5. to 6 months old. However, if you are determined, I was able to sleep train both of my kids in about two weeks. They were both over 6 months at the time, but the technique I used was the sing and rock them until their eyes started to get fluttery closed, then put them down in the crib but keep my arms around them and even keep singing until they fell asleep. Once they had mastered that, I would keep my arms around them for a little while, then pull away. Once they mastered that, I would put them in the crib with their eyes fluttering and then walk out, and this process took about 2 weeks.

After a little longer, maybe a month, I was able to just sing them a song or two and put them in the crib wide awake. But my kids do well will transitions. Good luck.

I agree with Amanda L. Start with nap time, then slowly start putting her in there at night. We had to move my 4mnth old to the crib when she was only two months old (I had a hard time putting her in her own room, I wanted her in my room!) because she was strong enough to keep trying to turn herself sideways in her bassinet. It was rough at first but she did adjust. Hang in there.

We used the Babywise series of sleep-training books. Ferber is also good.

(click on "sleep-training" or search for it in the upper right corner for more detailed discussions)

Try nap times in the crib, but keep her in a familiar place at night. When she gets used to the crib during the day, THEN try her in there at night. She has just hit the age where she is able to identify "different," and things always look a little scarier in the dark.

Other than place, get a routine and stick with it, for both naptime AND bedtime.

Ferber has wonderful advice for establishing routines.

Good luck, and hang in there, momma!