Sleep and Bouncers

Hey everyone,

Lately, I've been perservering with Madeleine in her bassinette. She doesn't go down in there after every feed and sometimes will grizzle, I go in, give her a pat and walk out again and repeat the process a few times. Sometimes she'll go down to sleep herself and sometimes she won't. I don't rock her to sleep all the time either. She does love her vibrating bouncer, it's a Fisher Price one. She loves being in it and I find if she won't settle, I pop her in that and she'll go to sleep and be really content! But when I go to move her into her bassinette, she'll wake and be rather unhappy lol! This happens mainly through the day, she'll go in her bassinette at night most of the time and during her 2am feed, she'll go back in. Sometimes though we co-sleep with her and she settles straight away.

My question is, is there any harm that can be done to Madeleine being in the bouncer a bit and falling asleep in there? Of course I supervise her so that's not a problem. Has anyone got any sleeping tips for me regarding putting her in the bassinette? I have used music, heat pack, rocking bassinette, patting her etc etc but to no avail. Do they grow out of this or is this just a phase because she's still no little??

Thanks for your help.

Love Bindy xo

All of my children, as babies, fell asleep as some point or another in their bouncers.

I do not think it does them any harm at all.

I didn't use a bassinette at all: we opted for a hammock. It may be, that if if Madeline likes the motion of a bouncer, that she may sleep beautifully in a hammock?

Worth a look anyway:

BellyBelly Product Review - Baby Hammock

There were many a time the only way I could get DD to sleep was to bounce her off in the bouncer. It never did her any harm. There was even a period where the only way she would have a day sleep was IN the bouncer. She eventually went back to the bassinet. She was always in the same room as me when sleeping in the bouncer (usually at my feet) so I didn't worry about it. And if it meant she slept - I was happy!!!!

Our DD had many days sleeps in her bouncer. Was just so easy to pop her in, rock her to sleep while I kicked back and watched bit TV (and was great leg exercise too!).
Only prob we found was when she did start getting bigger and couldn't use it anymore, then we did have some probs with settling.

I am in two minds abou this so I'll explain both!!

1 - at this stage in your life (she's only 3 weeks old!!) I would do ANYTHING that gives her and you some sleep!!! Most mums would agree that the first 6 weeks are the hardest and you need to get by and if that give you some relief then go for it! BTW - sorry to anyone who disagrees and says it gets harder - I'm not there yet!!

2 - my health nurse said, and I tend to agree, that if you don't put them in their beds (cot or bassinette) to sleep then they won't get used to self-settling and won't have proper sleeps. Also rocking is great and I certainly do it though mostly when away from home. The problem is they can get used to that too much and then you might have to rock them for a long time.

When we were having trouble with DD sleeping at about 6 weeks we read a few books and we made sure that before put her down she was fed, burped and changed and showing tired signs. When we put her down we let her protest (not scream) for a bout 5 mins then go back to her an comfort her. We usually only had to do it once or twice and it worked.

Anyway just a tip but it may not work for you and the one rule I do listen to is "DO WHAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU AND YOUR BABY!!" Best wishes!

Hi Bindy,

My DS grew out of needing to be rocked to sleep at 6 weeks, but that was mainly because I had had enough and he needed to go to sleep himself. Before this he just couldn't go to sleep himself and we just did what we needed to do to get him to sleep and to get through the tough times. Keep trying every now and then to put her in the bassinet as she will eventually be ready. When we can't get DS to have a late afternoon sleep and he is really tired we put him in his swing and he falls asleep every time. We only do it as a last resort as we don't want him to get used to it. Maybe once a week.