From sling to crib?

[Nikkiniek]

My lg is nearly 11 weeks and never was a great sleeper. At first she fell asleep on the boob, then progressed to arms but now only sleeps after being walked around in the wrap. I need some reassurance/feedback on how and when to start working on her nap schedule as this is something I don't want to sustain...! I absolutely do not want her to cry it out - she is way too young - but what else can/should I be doing to prepare her for learning to fall asleep on her own. Night time she feeds (ebf) and falls asleep in my arms when she is done. I transfer her to her moses basket without problems but as soon as it's daylight she will instantly wake if I or her down. Thoughts, feedback and experiences will be greatly appreciated!

No advice unfortunately but I'm in the same situation with my almost 15 week oldI'm hoping she just sort of grows out of it but I'm not holding out much hope! At least it's in a wrap so we still have both hands free

At least it's comforting to know I'm not alone...! Having a bit of an insecure day where I am doubting if I'm doing the right thing by her. Don't want to start too early but not too late either and instill all sort of props/bad habits that will be even tougher to break!

I worry about it constantly too! At the moment I'm just going along with it for my own sanity and I'd rather she had enough sleep. If I try just popping her down she just chats to the ceiling and won't fall asleep I figure there are worse things than having to wear them to sleep! They're only tiny wanting to be so close to you to sleep for a short time anyway

What's tough with your first child (Well it was with me) is defining what sort of parent you are.

The two extremes are the attachment parent and the independant sleeper.

The attachment parent is their baby's source of comfort. They are defined by things like:

• breastfeeding to sleep
• cosleeping
• letting baby stay asleep on the breast with no attempt to move
• naps in your arms
• rocking to resettle in your arms
• sling naps with boob access
• sling walking to keep nap going

The down-side of attachment parenting comes down to having realistic expectations. Your baby is going to need your help to get to sleep well into the toddler years.

The independant napper uses props. Lots of them. They use props as a way to help baby be comforted independantly of the parent so that as time goes on, the parent is needed less and less. Independant parenting used things like:

• dummy
• swaddle
• sleepyhead
• hands-off movement (like pushchair, bouncer)
• in-cot settling (patting, shushing etc)

The downsides of independant settling is the use of props for sleep.

There are lots of in-between areas between the two. But what you can't realistically have is an attachment parented independant sleeper.

If you are going to be your child's source of comfort - you will need to be well into the toddler years. If you want an independant sleeper, baby needs props for independant comfort.

You can't say I don't want to have to always comfort my child go to sleep, so my child should learn to have no comfort. You need to replace parental comfort with independant comfort.