Big Cot move for 6 week old?

[Redling]

DS is a big baby at 6 weeks, 59 cms long and on 91st centile, with corresponding long arms and legs. also he's 12lb. He's currently sleeping in the night in the Hyde crib from Mothercare, and while he is fine length wise so far with about half a metre left above his head, his arms are sticking out the sides as he sleeps with them splayed out most the the time. He whacks his hands on the bars a few times in the night. It seems widthways it's not got a lot of room. He's never been terribly fond of the crib (although he's quietly sleeping in it right now!). I have two options basically, get an air wrap or something to stop his arms dangling out the bars and see how long we can keep him in the crib, which won't be much longer anyway, (up to 5 months?! Balls!) I estimate he'll be out by 3 -4 months. Or, I was thinking of building the big cot at the weekend and just starting him in there! I also wanted to start him on sleeping bags. Big change for his sleeping then, would it be better to just go for the cot now? My reasons for keeping him in the crib are selfish, to get money's worth out of the crib/bedding, and it's cute and right next to me. I've already cried at the thought of my tiny baby boy in his little crib growing up :( as much as I like that he's a strapping lad it feels all a bit too fast! However the cot can still go at the end of the bed as we have a big bedroom, and it avoids any later on cot transfer woes as he's changing his sleep for the better already this week so maybe this will get him in the sleeping bag and cot routine early and it will stick. I was gearing up for the trauma of putting him up to bed without me for the first time soon as he slept from 8-11 downstairs tonight, fed and settled between 11-12 and is back to a deep sleep so he's getting ready himself to sleep at night. It seems like a good opportunity to start a routine so maybe big cot would be best so he has the continuity. Pros and cons?

Agree with going for it, I can't imagine hitting the bars in the crib is helping with sleep

Expect a night or two unsettled, perhaps start with naps in it first for a few days.

On a personal note, I have no idea if it helped or not, when I put dd into the cot it seemed so big, so I put her width ways up near the side as she was short enough, so she had the closeness on 3 sides and it didn't seem so vast. Moved her normal way when she got a bit bigger.

Go for it! Sounds like he is a big lad.

We put DS into his cot at about 8 weeks - he slept so much better. Like your DS he kept smacking his arms against the sides of the bassinet. Once he was in the cot he slept so much better (until the sleep regressions, teething, colds came along )

Move him into the cot. Very common for big babies to be out of their Moses basket/first crib within the first few moths, and if you can keep him in you room then I wouldn't hesitate.

We moved DD into her cotbed at 10 weeks.

We put DS2 in the cot at 9 weeks. Didnt affect his sleep at all. He's been in a grobag from birth too (as is standard in this country)

I think it's much less traumatic for babies than we expect! We moved DD into cot at 9 weeks (also a long baby and on 91st centile for weight). She was absolutely fine, she stretches out in it now at 13 weeks. We did however put her in the cot to play for a few days first, and also put her Moses basket inside the cot (with the mattress removed from the cot, so just on the slatted supports) for 3 nights before moving her into the cot properly. Good luck!

Thanks for your help! He actually managed to wiggle round last night and wedge one leg out the side and bang his head against the other, and woke up crying, as you would! He's a beast of a baby. I just couldn't get my head round him moving so soon, but he will probably be comfier in the cot. I'd better buy some cot sheets! It just seems so weird to barely use the crib that I thought he'd be in for months, not 6 weeks! His feet are also practically touching the end of the Carrycot on the silvercross wayfarer so I guess he'll be in the seat soon. I assume it won't be unsafe as he's a fat giant!

My "little one" (at 2.5weeks length was 56cm on the 98th centile) now 3 weeks also keeps hitting his arms against sides of co sleeper, luckily it's not a bars type one but I'm getting worried how long I can keep him in it, he'll sleep on his baby beanbag downstairs (like a beanbag but firm with a harness, no sides, so glad I didn't like the idea of Moses basket, that would've been a waste of money!) for 4 hours in day but night time struggles to get 2 hours! Wonder if it's same problem of waking up due to hitting sides but we don't have space for his full cot in our room :(

I'll be very interested in hearing how the transition goes and like the idea of putting them in sideways to start, he does still seems way too small for his cot/bed normal way.

My ds was in his cot, in his room, at 3 weeks. HV horrified, and thinking back (almost 10 months now) it seems so weeny but he wasn't settling in the Moses basket so we decided to take a punt. Instantly happier and easier to settle, and started sleeping longer stretches. Ds was also a big baby and I just had a feeling that those flimsy mattresses in the baskets wasn't cutting it. We ended up getting an angelcare monitor which gave us some reassurance given that he was sleeping in a different room, we used it until about 6 months when he was rolling all over the shop and the alarm kept going off.

We haven't had a chance to build it yet but I I've bought some cot sheets and we are definitely going to go for it this weekend. I also hope it will make him sleep longer as I feel that he wakes up a lot not to feed but because he woke himself up hitting the bars. He also wakes himself up farting but I suppose the cot won't help that! I'll see how it goes, we have the room in the bedroom so i won't have to stress about him being in another room, but I am planning to start him going to bed at 8 rather then we take him up with us later, as he seems to go to sleep then every night in his Moses basket downstairs, so if he's given himself a bedtime I'd better start letting him! Time for Ewan the Sheep and baby monitor!

I had a brill nights sleep last night out of my big baby, a few days after my last post at 3.5 weeks old he was 11lb 7. As I mentioned before he too was hitting sides of co sleeper, he's always settled and sleep soundly (normally a grunter on back) on his belly on us. So I thought maybe he's a belly sleeper like his mommy and daddy are. The angelcare sensor pad monitor was delivered yesterday so I'd feel safer about sleeping him on his tummy against SIDS advice and we slept 10pm till 2am then 2:45am to 6am, we were only getting 2 hours at night so this is amazing! Plus I think I woke him at 2am as I woke up first.

On his tummy he can't wave his arms about so think this helped, we had planned to get this monitor before he was born and before we knew how big he was for when he moved to big cot so we've just ended up getting and using earlier, so worth it!