How to get a 4wo to sleep in her crib rather than on me

[nwmomof2]

Hi there,

I have an almost 4 wo DD who is a good sleeper.  As long as a warm body is holding her.  She hates her crib or the pack and play bassinet.  I feel very fortunate to have such a great sleeper, but at night we want her to sleep in her own bed for safety reasons.  I don't mind holding her all day long, but I don't want her to get dependent on it. 

Does anyone have advice on how to get her to sleep in her own bed.  I let her cry quite a bit at this particular nap time (while reassuring her several times through the crying) and she seems to finally have fallen asleep.  But it has taken 45 mins of off and on crying.  Is she too young to let her do SOME crying?

So I guess those are my 2 questions.
1) advice for getting her to sleep in her crib
2) how much crying can I let her do at this age?

THanks!
Kathleen & Aisling

[Lan]

One thing I found was that my baby didn't like getting into cold sheets. So I would heat his bed up with a warm wheat bag before putting him in it. (I would take the bag out first before putting him in). The nice warm cot would make him drowsy and he'd drift off to sleep quite quickly. So you could try holding your daughter until he is drowsy but not asleep, whisk out the wheat bag (or hot water bottle) with 1 hand, and put her in with the other. Maybe pat a bit to mimic your heartbeat. I got quite good at juggling this! As she gets used to it you could try putting her in the cot a bit sooner so she is sleepy, but not almost asleep.

[GG]

Part of the reason she enjoys sleeping on you is not only the warm body but also your heartbeat as well as the fact that she gets to sleep on her tummy.  I'd say make sure that she doesn't have reflux.  That can make a baby really hate sleeping in her own crib.

Other than that, I recommend using pat/shush to get her to sleep in her crib.  Yes, she may cry for 45 min, but as long as you are there for her, patting/shushing accordingly, it's not for nothing.  She will learn and she will do it with her trust in you intact.

I highly recommend reading Tracy's special sleep interview.  There is a LOT of information in there but skim it for the parts that are specific to your baby's age.

[cymonguk]

Other things you can try, is the shh pat, method and if she likes going to sleep on you is to put her down before she actually goes off completely, this may wake her up slightly and then you can pat shh in the cot.

I have to say we are trying it differently we have had to break a reliance on feeding to sleep first and so now we pat shh baby to sleep on us, this consistently works now, and so we are now moving to putting her down as she nods off..

Be aware it may cause other issues at first such as her not sleeping as long (maybe hitting the 45 minute barrier)