Tonight as my husband was swinging our fifteen week daughter to sleep in her Amby, we realised that she's getting dangerously close to being too big for it! We've decided that we would like to try and introduce her to her cot - we'll move it next to our bed for now. However, I'm not sure how to get her to sleep in a stationary bed when she has become so dependent on movement to lull her to sleep. Has anyone who has successfully transitioned got any tips?
As a bit of background, during the day she usually goes down when tired and it can take up to twenty minutes of swinging for her to fall into deep sleep. At night she was feeding to sleep (at bedtime and once in the middle of the night), though I think she's in the throes of a developmental leap at the moment as she's stopped feeding to sleep. (Actually, last night she was up for two hours from 1am and we just couldn't settle her, though that's a question for another day!) For all her sleeps we play Music for Dreaming as a cue for rest, and do some gentle 'shhhh'-ing whilst rocking her. She used to love falling asleep in her sling but now refuses, so transferring from sling to cot is out. Anyway - does anyone ave any advice or experience in transitioning? Thank you!
We made the transition for our DD from her hammock to her cot at 11wks. She was getting dangerously close to rolling over in her hammock she was finding it uncomfortable and was wriggling around in it we were so worried she could roll over and then get stuck into it. So it was safer to just move her. She made the transition to her cot just fine! Mind you, we'd been letting her have some day sleeps in the cot in the few weeks leading up to this too so it wasn't foreign to her iykwim.
Good luck.... hopefully it will be a smooth transition for you
eta - I was disappointed that we had to move our DD at such a young age from her hammock! I really did think it would last her longer but maybe the next baby will like it more who knows...
Well my DS1 lasted in his Amby hammock until he was nearly two years old LOL! He was so happy in there and he didn't want to sleep anywhere else. He went straight from his hammock into a bed with no issues.
If you do want to put your DD into a cot you could try rocking/jiggling her in your arms until she is almost asleep and then putting her down. Then if she still stirs you could try patting her rhythmically until she goes to sleep. My DS2 loved to be put on his side and having his back patted.
Trish - did your DS ever try to roll over in the hammock? That is what we were so worried she would do as she could half roll and she would get stuck!! It was a bit scary! lol mind you, she's still not fully rolling on the floor yet either but she is very strong and seemed to be able to almost roll in the hammock !
I hope the next baby lasts a bit longer in the hammock than DD!
Ren - Nope, he never did roll over in there, I'm not sure why because he was such an active bub! You can use anti-roll pillows in the hammock to prevent your bub from rolling over in it.
We transitioned DD from her hammock to her cot at about 5 months old. We do the same as Trish - we roll DD on to her side and pat her bottom. DD also liked to have her body gently rolled back and forth when she was lying on her side - I think because she was so used to being bounced to sleep in the hammock.
Maybe start putting your DD in the cot for her day naps for a few days before transitioning her to the cot for all her sleeps?
When I was trying to get DD to sleep in her little cot, I just wobbled the cot and sang to her (well sang out like a Buddhist monk in a monotone...she loved that for some reason). Its probably not very good for the cot, but it worked for us. I was always taught to intervene when bub is crying and stop when they stop crying so they learn to fall asleep on their own...you're then only calming them...not actually putting them to sleep iykwim?
If they are comfy in there they can last quiet awhile, my dd lasted till 8 months when she rolled all the way over. She slept on her side alot in it, but I was not worried. We had the Amby one.
By that time she had learnt to self settle in hers, and tranistioned easily with just 3 days of settling her in the cot.
Moving from Hammock to Cot - suggestions?
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