How can I get my 5 week old to sleep in her crib?!?

Question

We have been having a hard time getting our five week old daughter to sleep in her crib. 75% of the time she ends up sleeping in our bed as my fiance has to get up early and it's a two hour long process to get her to sleep.
We have tried putting something that smells like us in her crib, as well as giving her a pacifier but nothing works. Even if we wait until she is passed out completely she wakes up right as we are putting her down.

Now normally I wouldn't mind her sleeping in our bed as I tend to wake up everytime she moves or makes a sound but the other night I fell into a deep sleep and though nothing bad happened I fear that I am getting too comfortable with her sleeping in our bed and that if I continue to fall into a deep sleep everynight I may end up rolling on her and I do not want that to happen.

Please any ideas would be appreciated, however let me say I refuse to let her cry it out in her crib. She is only a month old and I don't want her to feel abandoned.

Her crib is only 3 feet away from our bed.

her crib is a pack'n play that has a bassinate

Answer 1

Bring your crib into your room next to you, then slowly work her way into sleeping in it and knowing its okay to be not as close, but still close...than maybe moving her to a diff room onces she gets a little more relaxed with the idea

Answer 2

OK well my daughter was the same way and finally I broke down and did the best thing I have ever done in my life. I put her on her stomach with the snuggle thing that you can by I think mine is a "sound sleeper". Any way it has like the wall on the side. And I put a thin rolled blanket in between her legs (like her umbilical cord...they did this in the NICU) anyway she has slept in her crib since and she will be 4 months old on the 22nd. And I know there are going to be all kinds of people who read this and say you will harm the baby by putting it on there stomach and that it can cause SIDS. I know this but did you also know that your home being to warm can cause SIDS? Just watch the baby if this works. I bought one of the sleep monitor pads that measures the movement every 8 seconds and if there is none it vibrates to make the baby move or take a breath and it also sets off an alarm for the parents with lights and sound. the thing has went off one time and that is because my husband set it off because he forgot to hit the button saying we were picking the child up. So it is what you are comfortable with. Oh by the way everything I have told you about fits in a bassinet also. Good luck:)

Answer 3

Do you have a mobile over her crib? If not, you should get one. I have a 5 weeks old son and we started putting him to his crib 2 weeks ago {we also had him in our bed most of the time, but my husband once fell into deep sleep and accidentally hit him, not hard, but we are afraid since}. We would put him down in the crib during the day when he was in a good mood and turn on the mobil, so he would get used to being there. Then we started to do that at night, one of us was always in the next room and when he started crying, we came in and had a hand on him until he fell back to sleep. It took us couple of nights, but he is sleeping through the night now. Oh and I almost forgot, he has a big teddy bear {it is a pillow with bears head, it is so nice and smooth} and it is right next to his head, so he can turn to him. I think he likes it, makes him probably feel like there is somebody with him. We took it away one night and he was waking up more often.

Answer 4

Because my sister had a baby that is now 4! i have experienced quite a few things and i am going through child development. anyway, my suggestion to you is that even tho you said dont let her cry it out in her crib.....dont ever think of that as a suggestion, its not good to ignore a child because then it may become a habbit to where if the child really needs help then you tend to not go rescue the child. so thats why you shouldnt think of that as a suggestion.

another suggestion is that you could pick her up rock her a little, put her in the crib and let her kno that your not leaving. while doing that, rub her back very gently and sing her a nice soft song to help her fall asleep, or if you dont want to sing, buy a wind up stuffed animal that doesnt cost to much from walmart and wind it up and let it play while still rubbin her back...and maybe when she finally gets to sleep maybe put something really gentle that wont harm her on her back so that it can make her think that your still touching her! Well i hope that all of this helps you very much....good luck!

and if all else fails continue for a little while to let her sleep in your bed, because eventually she will be comfortable in her crib, thats exactly how my nephew was! and my sister was also afraid of crushing him but it wus her intuition knowin that she wouldnt crush him by accident! but like i said, be precautious of continuing to do that!

ONCE AGAIN, GOOD LUCK WITH EVERYTHING!

Answer 5

When my son was doing the same thing I brought his crib into our room, put it next to the bed and took one side off of it. The next week I put the side back up. The week after I moved it closer to the hallway, and the week after that he was in his room. The two hardest parts were the first and the last week since they were the biggest changes. Although I wouldn't let her cry it out now, if you don't get her used to sleeping in it now it will have to come down to that when she gets older. And also, don't worry if you have to let her cry for a while as she gets older, she'll go through growth spurts and when the separation anxiety kicks in, you're bound for some rough nights. You'll do fine. And she'll be fine.
Good Luck :)

Answer 6

I am totally against cry it out methods.It is not healthy at all!
I had the same problem,and at the end i gave up. My 5 months old daughter sleeps with me.I was never afraid that i can hurt her while sleeping,as i feel every move of hers.
Here is some tips for you.
It is good to have a big bed.Have 2 separate covers,for yourself and the baby.Keep one pillow for yourself.In other words have less stuff on the bed.
I love co-sleeping.
The only bad thing is that daddy has to sleep by himself,otherwise it is really dangerous.

Answer 7

You can ease her into sleeping in her crib slowly. I have done this. You put her down and she wakes up crying. So you pick her back up and rock her back to sleep. Put her back in the crib. She will probably wake up again, keep picking her up and then putting her down. Eventually they get so exhausted that they give up and let you put them in the crib. She will get used to this and she will start letting you put her down more easily between 8 and 12 weeks. Consider letting her fuss a little. You may be surprised at how quickly she goes to sleep. I am not a big fan of letting them scream in their crib until they fall asleep, but a little fussing does not mean she feels abandoned. I felt they way you did with my first child, but when my second child came I realized that sometimes you have to put them down when they would rather be held, they fuss and then they get over it. If anything, my second child is more well adjusted than my first child was and we NEVER let the first one cry in the crib.

If you are a deep sleeper, it is probably a good idea to get her out of your bed. I sleep with my baby still at 9 mos, but better safe than sorry.

Answer 8

You could sleep with her in the crook of your arm...lie on your back or side with her head over your elbow. With your arm like this, it's not possible to roll onto her. Just be sure the pillow and blankets are away from her head. Another idea is to cuddle her to sleep wrapped in a blanket. When she has fallen asleep, wait several minutes, then move her and the blanket to the crib. Because she was wrapped up when she fell asleep and the blanket is nice and warm, she should stay asleep or go right back. Just be sure the blanket is not near her face when you put her down. Good Luck.

Answer 9

When I brought my daughter home from the hospital I slept down stairs on the couch with the bassinet by my side. Mind you I was still healing so going up and down the stairs was really painful. Then I moved up to our bedroom and had the bassinet by my side again, I would nurse her and put her back in. I've fallen asleep with my daughter in my arms in our bed thousands of times. I got comfortable too but as she gets older things change. My husband works too and if he wanted any sleep he had to adjust to sleeping in the spare room or downstairs, the baby and I came first. Don't rush your baby to go to sleep she can sense your rushing her. Just relax, nurse her if you are breastfeeding, let her sleep in your arms or on your bed and slowly move her to her crib. My daughter is 6 months old, she sleeps in her own room now but when she gets up at 6 or 7, I take her into my bed nurse her and we fall asleep together. if i had the strenght I would take her back but if I don't we sleep together. I love sleeping with her, it's a great feeling, her little body and the little sounds they make. It's precious. Good luck.

Answer 10

This is a hard choice to make. My second child would not sleep in his crib until he was ten months old, so we ended up cherishing the time we had with him snuggling. When we put him in his crib, he would wake up instantly, we discovered that it was the noise of the crib mattress. So I ended up wrapping the mattress with a full size sheet before putting the crib sheet on, and he slept better in it after.

Answer 11

I owuld not suggest youlet her "cry it out" either that is just terrible... But you just need to keep putting her in her crib until she gets used to it, and try to make a habit of laying her down as soon as she falls asleep instead of holding her while she sleeps... even in the daytime, you can also try buying one of those things that keeps them from rolling, it may help her to feel like she doesn't have all this space around her kinda like being close to someone or something, you can also but this thing it's called a co-sleeper it is a little bed that goes in your bed and keeps you from rolling on the baby, I think they even sell them @ walmart or target