Can you transfer your sleeping baby from car/pram to the cot?

[attc]

DS most of the time will not 'transfer' from the car/pram to his cot if he has fallen asleep. He will wake up, start screaming, be very difficult to settle and when he does calm down, he is fully awake and thinks he has had his full sleep!

This is a real bummer, as he is so hard to get to sleep, that I quite often resort to the car or pram to get him off to sleep (only during the day).

It would be so much better if I could move him into his cot once asleep (I worry about him sleeping in the car - his neck is on a funny angle, is it bad to sleep 'sitting', sometimes it gets hot or cold, I'd be able to relax more when he is asleep etc etc).

Does anyone have any good tricks of the trade on how to move them into the cot? Any things they have learnt that help them do it successfully. I realise that its probably just baby dependent, but every now and then I try it again (usually with no success)...

[Pandora]

Not always.
CAr to pram is often OK becuase we keep moving very quickly.

DS1 was teh same though and I found it went in phases. FOr a long time he was imp[ossible then all of a sudden it became very easy to transfer him from the car to his cot, then hed go for a while where it was hard again.

I think its just luck.

[PinkPalace]

When i do car to cot i actually leave the car running and music on.
Will run inside prepare the room (curtains and start his music).
Then when i take him out i hold him very tight and place him on his tummy so he still feels like he is being hugged.

sometimes he will stirr and put out a lil cry but he is asleep and will settle back down.

I thie go back and turn the car off.

[beckoes]

Never!!! the amount of times ive sat in the car for hours while DD got her sleep casue there is no way i could get her out the car without her waking fully and after a few mins sleep she thinks shes hours and its party time!!
She used to only sleep in the sling when she was tiny and i just physically couldnt stand up and walk around with her in there for hours so i would really gently put her in the rocker we had, which was basically the only place she would sleep in the day, that normally went quite smoothly, but then i had music on and the rocker going full speed! neil diamond was my day sleep saviour! shed sleep when he was playing 99% of the time!

[Pandora]

When i do car to cot i actually leave the car running and music on.
Will run inside prepare the room (curtains and start his music).
Then when i take him out i hold him very tight..

:yeahthat:

I also don't shut the door til I come back outside

[Honeybee]

I have never successfully done this, I tried several times and the same thing would happen - DS would wake up screaming and was then impossible to resettle. I ended up doing what Beckoes did - sitting in the car with the engine running for up to 2 hours so DS could get his sleep. It was a bit annoying, but I did get a lot of reading done! Now I just stay home in the mornings so that I am home when nap time comes around.

Sorry I can't help!!

[sneakysparkle]

Both my girls have always been really good at transferring!

I think my proudest achievement in this area was one afternoon I went shopping - they both fell asleep in the car on the way, and I was able to put them BOTH in the pram, then shop, then put them both BACK in the car while they were still asleep! They woke up when I got home!

[Shanti]

DD doesnt' easily transfer from car to pram as she knows we are out and about so wants to look around!!
However coming home from car to cot she is really good. But only if she's just fallen asleep in the car in the last 15mins.... any longer than that than when i move her she wakes up and thinks she's had her sleep! lol very difficult timing it!!
I make sure her room is ready to go if we are out and i know we'll be coming home around the time she'll be sleep and then i take her straight upstairs and worry about the bags and closing the garage door etc later on..... we have a good little system in place now!
Sometimes she'll let out a little cry but it's only cos i'm moving her and she falls back asleep! The other day I left the radio on when we went out and that woke her up as i took her upstairs!! Doh!

Good luck! It's very tricky working out these babies at times!!

[Early Kids]

I am blessed, I have two really good sleepers. They will stir when you move them but 99% of the time they do not wake. I can move them from baby carrier/sling to pram to car seat to cot, ect, ect.

I really believe thats its a child by child thing, but here's what I do:

I very carefully and slowly ease my hands under him and try to keep him in the same position he fell asleep in. I use my hands and arms to keep that contact he had with the car seat/pram ect.

*ETA* I've never had to leave my car running or put music on to transfer, but I guess it's worth a try

Good Luck xx

[Nelle]

Not me! Never works. I think DH has managed once or twice. What DOES work though, is to leave them in the car, nick in and prepare a warm bottle/drink, then transfer them to their bed, and the drink helps settle them back to sleep.

[Frangipani]

We can usually transfer our 21month old from car to cot, but very rarely from car to pram.

I get him ready in the car- usually before i drive, like take off his shoes and pants (if he has jeans or uncomfy ones on). I usually leave his blinds and curtains closed when i leave to go out anyway, but if there not i'll quickly get those done. Then as i'm getting him out of the car i'm constantly shhh'ing and try to keep his head out of sunlight. Then lay him in bed, turn his musical seahorse on- so he knows where he is and sneak out.

But i do find it can depend on how tired he is and what sleep stage he is at. Same as Shanti said- anything over 15-20mins it usually doesn't work (unless its night time or he is really, really tired).

Just an idea if its possible if your having trouble with their sleeping during the day- have you tried laying down with him. I've done this when all else has failed and it usually works. I think he enjoys the hair stroking and tummy tickle- puts him to sleep within minutes. Then if you've got things to do wait for the deep sleep signs and sneak out.

[Rowellen]

My DS is like Shanti's DD. Any more than 10 or 15 minutes - no chance but before that, he transfers quite easily. I don't have to do anything special to his room - just cuddle him close & protect his eyes from the sunlight and he normally stays asleep. He'll often open his eyes when I first get him out of the car but goes back to sleep straight away once he's in position. If we're not at home though, he'll usually wake up.

[Rumpleteaser]

I couldn't transfer in the early months, DS would always wake. Probably from 8 months onwards it started to get easier. If I'm t/f from car to cot at home 99% of the time I don't have any issues, but trying to transfer him anywhere else I would only have success 15% of the time.

[Twin Sister]

I've been really lucky. Even at 2 years I can still transfer my sleeping DS from car to cot and back but he has a soother which helps keep him drowsy (he's only allowed to have it when sleeping so associates it with sleep time). I have to try and keep him as horizontal as possible though as he will wake up if I lift him too upright or jiggle him too much.

[Arcadia]

DD is a mixed bag, and it depends on whether it really is nap time, how busy the road is etc.

BUT one trick I have, is to put her straight onto the boob (literally there in the back of the car) and carry her into the house feeding (obviously having unlocked the house first) and let her feed for a while and then transfer to the cot.

Never even tried car to pram...but I used to do car to sling a lot and sling to cot has always been easy.

HTH

[attc]

Hi All,

Thanks for your replies - interesting to see that there really is a mixed bag when it comes to transferring!

I too have sat in the car for hours on quite a few occasions! Today I tried the transfer again (set everything up beforehand as suggested)....he woke, screamed, but thankfully, I was successful at putting him onto the boob when we got to his room, where he dropped off to sleep again....phew! That doesn't always work, perhaps its my timing as he'd only been asleep for 5-10 mins!

If only there was a magical, fail safe formula for figuring out our little bubs!

[*LovemyKids*]

Well i learnt early on that you need to start doing this STRAIGHT away and they get used to it!!!

With my first DS there is NO WAY he would stay asleep, if i got home and he was still asleep i would drive the car out under the pergola and put the windows down and sit outside with him till he woke up!!!! Never left him alone or anything!!

Then with my next two babies i just started transferring then as soon as they were born and they were used to it!! Even now at 3 and 2 they will still stay asleep or open their eyes and i tell them to go back to sleep and they do!!

Start early that it the trick!!!! Worked for me anyway!!