MASSIVE PROBLEMS 9 month old wont move from amby nest to cot.......

[notsoslimnow]

hi can anyone help.my 9 month old sleep perfectly from 7.30pm at night till 8 am.however since being born he has slept in an amby nest.he is now getting big for it and im trying to slowly move him to his cot.he absolutely HATES the cot and screams every 10 mins the whole time he is in there.as soon as i put him in it he flips to his tummy and crawls up and down it crying.i think the worst thing for him is having to lay flat without headf and neck support like in the amby.he has always liked sleeping sort of scrunched up,his favourite place to sleep was always the car seat .i am now getting to the point where i dont know what to do.ive tried easing him into the cot by asking him to sleep there just for his day time nap but he ends up crying for 1hr and a half and then being tired and upset the rest of the day! gratefull for ANY help...

[TheDuckSaysQuack]

I really feel for you. There is a sleep topic under Body and Soul - you may want to post this there.

Remember - one day he will sleep normally in a big bed - this will pass.

[bigchris]

could you put the nest inside the cot so he can get used to the cot, we did that with the moses basket

[porcupine11]

Hi, we transferred our DS gradually from nest to cot, starting at 8 months. We started with lots of co-sleeping so he could get used to lying flat (he'd co-slept a little in the past anyway), and he was very comfortable in our bed (he always tried to snuggle up to us, as I guess he was used to feeling snuggled in the Amby) so I also started putting him down for day time naps flat on our bed (with bed guards).

Still loads of crying every time he was put in the cot (though if he fell asleep feeding or was very drowsy e.g. after falling asleep in car seat, I'd put him straight in cot and he wouldnt' notice until he woke up).

Then after he was very good at falling asleep on our bed on his own, I put him down in cot for daytime naps, and he suddenly didn't mind one day... he went to sleep happily on his own. I give him just two cot toys and they are always the same. I started doing this when he was still in the bed.

All this time I kept trying to put him down at night in the cot, transferring him to the bed if he got very upset (I didn't want to make the cot a 'miserable' place). There was a period of about three weeks where he'd nap happily in the day in the cot but scream as soon as he was put in it at night.

Then gradually, he spent longer and longer in the cot without waking up, and now (at 9.5 months) I can leave him to go to sleep in the cot in the evening too. He does move around it, and tries to curl himself up on his side, like in the Amby (curled up, not on side that is). He's in a sleeping bag, which helps gives a snug feeling.

The key for me was packing up the Amby and hiding it away, so I wasn't tempted to use it again! Our friends are taking it even more gradually and stopped any bouncing to sleep before attempting cot, so at least their baby could fall asleep without being bounced.

You could also try hanging something from the ceiling, so it looks more like the snug cover of the Amby when your baby looks up.

[shhhh]

put the nest into his cot..?

Allow him to sleep in the nest, in the cot for a few weeks then remove it.

Cots can seem big daunting things for babies. Sleeping in a moses basket or similar gives them that security.

[porcupine11]

You can't really put the nests in cots as they hang from a frame (like mini hammocks) and it might be unstable if you tried to prop it high enough (we considered this). i wonder if there is something that could go in the cot though, that helps the baby sleep in a curled up position - look on babyREFLUX.com, where we got our nest?

[Kenny10]

Hi notsoslimnow

we used a baby hammock as well and had exactly the same problem at 8 months. Our son hated the cot and for a while was waking up 10 -12 times a night. In the end we would take him into our bed after a certain point (usually 12pm) but he didnt sleep particularly well there either. I weaned him off night feedings at 10 months and he has slept through the night since then. i think the key was sticking with the cot for at least a little part of the night so he got a bit used to it. But it was very tough for about four weeks and we were up and down the stairs every 30 mins at one point. To be honest although i thought the hammock was a lovely sleeping place for him i would be reluctant to use it for a second child as the transition was too tough.

not much help probably but it will get better. Really!

[Ewe]

You can get a reinforced spring that means you can use the Amby for longer, I know a friend who did this and she then just moved her DS from Amby to bed.

Thankfully DD moved over quite easily but she always had her naps in her cot which helped I think.

[Ewe]

It can hold up to 40lbs

[OrangeKnickers]

do you have to move him? I think ds was in there till he was about a year old, then we moved him to a bed. It only took a couple of nights so maybe your ds isn't ready?

(I now wish I had moved him to a cot so he couldn't escape at 5am but that's another story).

I think a pillow would help. Then his head is propped up.

[Kenny10]

we did put a long cushion in the cot which curled around to form a nest like structure for him. i got it in a maternity shop when i was pregnant. that might have helped a bit to make him feel a bit more secure eventually. i only moved him from the hammock because it got too hard to take him in and out during the night when i was feeding but if he was sleeping through the night i probably would have left him until he was older.