Tips for Newborn sleeping in crib

[Emmaaa1990]

Hi

My baby is only 9 days old but doesn't seem to settle of a night in her next to me crib. We've tried to make it as cosy as possible for her even warning a hot water bottle up in there before putting her in it. She sleeps in the day time but for some reason won't stay and settle of a night and much prefers mummy cuddles.

Has anyone got any tips or is this something that will get better in the coming weeks? I appreciate she is only young so may struggle but I just wondered if this is normal and if I can sort this out in her earlier weeks?

If anyone can help much appreciated FTM! Just wanna do what's best for her.

Thanks :)

It's very normal for a newborn to want to be close to their mum or dad and be held, it can be absolutely exhausting.
Have a read about the fourth trimester if you haven't already.

It should get better as she gets older. She's still very new and it sounds really normal to me. We struggled to get my DD to sleep in her next to me to begin with too but we presevered and got there. I often think the first 3 months of parenthood are just about surviving - so do what you have to do and be kind to yourself.

I also think it's very normal for newborns to sleep more in the day and be more restless at night (also my experience).

Until my DD was a bit more settled at night time, DH and I would 'work' shifts. He would have her from say 9pm-2am as he stayed up later than I did, and she slept mostly in the bassinet part of her pram downstairs with him or in a travel cot. 2am-9am I would have her and she would sleep upstairs in her next to me (she would usually wake for a feed around 1:30am/2am so we could swap). That way we both got some sleep at night! I know it may not work for everyone but it worked for us.

Totally normal. Do you have a Moses basket? DS preferred that to the next to me for the first few weeks. I think the next to me was too big for him.

My little boy was the same and much preferred being held to fall asleep rather than being in his bedside crib.

We found that warming it slightly with a hot water bottle and also putting an item of clothing of mine or my husbands flat in the cot helped (we removed both of these just before we put him in). We think the heat made it less of a shock to be put down and the mattress smelt slightly of us.

Our DS never did get used to sleeping in his little crib at night. We ended up doing shifts as a PP did, which turned into co sleeping, then him in cot with the side taken off pushed up to our bed, and hes been in his own cot since 12mo. Of course it wont take every baby that long but u adored co sleeping so much I was in no rush to move him out.

*I adored co sleeping

It's probably not the crib, newborns are programmed to wake in the night to feed, mothers milk producing capacity is greatest then. That doesn't help for getting sleep, sounds like you're doing great, just relax, go with it and nap when you can x

9 days is still really little. My DD didn't start sleeping in a co sleeping cot until she was a little over a month. She would go to sleep on their during the day however would absolutely refuse to be set in their during the night. However after 1 month she happily slept in their every single night.

I bought a purflo night bed, and put that inside the crib. They're safe for overnight sleeping, and it seemed to settle my son a bit more. I think he felt 'enclosed' when we used that and a swaddle.

purflo.com/the-sleep-tight-baby-bed/?gclid=CjwKCAjwh472BRAGEiwAvHVfGo1PINAqGT2UNcr-WI2wYcROAXTB3d-YFbQmTWhyIP4-okx8Q7f74RoCg-wQAvD_BwE

I have no advice cause my newborn only slept on me all night til he was 7 weeks old and we caved and got a sleepyhead and put that in the beside crib. Absolute lifesaver! Next baby will have a sleepyhead from day 1

I think most babies are resistant to cribs to start with, my DD certainly was. We would put her down asleep and as soon as she was in it, she'd wake instantly. I'll be honest, there were nights where I fell asleep with her on me. It did eventually change but not until she was a bit older unfortunately. 9 days is still very very young and I don't think the baby will even realise it is no longer a part of you yet.

It is tough but it does eventually get easier.

Hey! It will get better, I promise white noise was a godsend for us. Still use it now and my daughter is 10 weeks. Try rocking her to sleep too, that can sometimes help. She'll soon adjust and she will settle. Hope that helps x

When I say rocking - I meant rocking her next to be crib. But yeah, as pp's have said too, it's totally normal for her to not settle as she's so young it's just exhausting but it will get better!

When my DS was newborn he slept best when he was swaddled. He hates his arms being covered now at 7 months but worked at the time.

Oh yeah just to add - im pretty sure the purflo is the secondary thing to the swaddle. My son generally sleeps pretty well now (8 weeks), but im 100% convinced its because of the swaddle. Theres a load of different types out there and ive spent a small fortune on finding the one that suits my son. Initially the Groswaddles were great, but he got too big for them and became strong enough to wriggle out of them. Since then ive found the Love To Dream ones really good as it lets him sleep with his arms up

Both of mine were like this. What worked for us all to get some sleep was to co-sleep for a while. Gradually I was able to sleep a couple of inches away rather than actually touching. Then after a couple of weeks baby would sleep in the bedside crib if I was right up at the edge of the bed.

DS never liked being swaddled, but DD is 3 months and still swaddled for most naps and overnight.