Tell Me About Your Successful Newborn Sleeping Arrangements

[CharleeFarley]

So I'm five weeks in with a new babe and two older kids (8 and 6). The newborn sleeps alright some nights - 4-7 hours occasionally - but wakes every hour on others. There doesn't seem to be any pattern, but it's early days.

The main issue is that he hates his bedside crib (it's a BedNest and all three kids have refused to sleep in the damn thing - glad I dropped £300 on that piece of crap! 😂). If I feed him to sleep, he might settle in it to start with, but as soon as he wakes, he's in with me because he won't go back to sleep in the crib. I've tried a sleep positioner, a fleece for warmth, all sorts. But nope.

Looking for other ideas to get him out of my bed and easier to settle back to sleep during the night. Tell me what set ups have worked for you - including types of crib/basket/cot, what you line it with, positioners you use and any other accessories that have been life changers! ☺️

Sorry, only time. Dd coslept to 8 weeks and then decided her next to me was fine. Still cosleeps if unwell. Maybe try a sling for sleep until you are going to bed then co sleep until baby takes to the bednest?

@Whatamuddleduck Yeah, we're mostly co-sleeping at the mo. I did it for six months with DD and DS1, but DS2 is the least sensible co-sleeper in the world! 😂 He will only sleep on his side, pressed right up against me (and therefore under the duvet!) and resting his chin on my bare boob. Attempts to separate our bedding, sleep him on his back, move him to his own space on the mattress or even wear a top for warmth have all been met with indignant screaming. I've also got a memory foam mattress that I spent a bloody fortune on and really don't want to get rid of. 😬 If I could co-sleep with him more safely, I wouldn't mind so much about him not sleeping in the crib. Argh, babies! Why can't they just come out knowing how to sleep?! Stupid nature.

Bump

We used the snuzpod! Had the side down when DD was really young then we put the side up ... then moved her gradually away from the bed as she got older.

Seemed to work for us from what I can remember! We've never co-slept

Swaddling! It was the lifesaver that meant I could move my baby to his crib with out waking him.

I had a swaddled baby in a sleepyhead inside a bednest.

The only way I got any sleep with dts was with swaddling. I'm not sure what the advice is in it now. We couldn't safely hold two to sleep in our double bed so they were swaddled in the crib next to me.

Gro snug swaddle, then one of those arms up ones, in a sleepyhead. DS did okay in that combo.

I won’t mention the 4 month regression that went on for 3.5 months...

@dinodiva that is my baby exactly, yet we are 3.5months in to the sleep regression and no signs of stopping! I would love to swaddle him up again!!

Sleephead in the crib, warmed with a hot water bottle just before putting her down. Sleepsacks so she couldn't kick the blankets off - JoJo have one for newborns, it's basically just a heavyweight sheet in sleeping bag form. Dummy?

You guys are ace! Although you're costing me a fortune on Amazon! 😂 Have bought a Sleepyhead (or something similar) and some swaddle thingies. I'd love to use a dummy/paci but he gets nipple confusion. Sensitive babies are a pain in the ass! 😏 Fingers crossed we'll all get some sleep...

My best newborn sleeper was dd2, who was in a full size cot with the side off up against our bed, with a sleepyhead in.

However, she's currently heading in month 7 of the 4mo sleep regression (fml) so it really only worked as a newborn...

Dd1 and DS were both in the moses basket overnight and Dd1 slept fine, but DS woke every 1.5 hours until he was about 2.5!

I think it's less about what they sleep in, and more how they are programmed to sleep, and unfortunately we are along for the ride on that one 😑

Congratulations on your new baby.

Swaddle in a snuzpod is working well for my wriggly 6 week old. Jojo maman bébé makes some lovely swaddle blankets that I've been using with Velcro and room for their legs and hips.

Only thing about sleepyhead / pod nest things is that they aren't recommended by the Lullaby Trust because of the SIDs risk. I wasn't sure if you knew X

@BlueMoon33 ha! The never ending regression! I had been co sleeping to cope with the endless wake ups. Last weekend DH convinced me to put DS in his own room in the cot - massive improvement. Kind of gutted that I was probably making him wake up more. Little sod.

My last newborn slept well in a Cocoonababy between us in bed, he hated his next2me but once he was used to the Cocoobababy I could put it in his N2M if I wanted to. He slept swaddled in a high rocker until we went to bed. The swaddle we used was a stretchy Ikea blanket holding his arms down as both my babies startled themselves awake given half a chance!

We always coslept for sanity purposes. 😁

We co-slept the whole night last night. You have those nights where you just think, I can't be arsed with this tonight, just get in with me. 😂

@CharleeFarley most nights!

@dinodiva That’s interesting to hear, at the moment I haven’t got another room I can put the baby in, but looking for a new house in the new year where I can. I hope this baby appreciates he is getting a whole new home just so he will bloody sleep!

We did a whole bloody loft extension so he could have a bedroom!!

Hahaha!!

My 4 week old has a grosnug and a dummy in a moses basket

She wakes about 4 times a night

"You have those nights where you just think, I can't be arsed with this tonight, just get in with me. "

Yes yes yes! Every night including this one 🙄

Uh oh! Came down to my mum's place in the countryside for Christmas. DS2 only woke once the whole night! That's it, going to have to move here... 😂

Is it especially quiet there? Or temperature in the room? Or maybe it's the colour of the carpet...

Have a good Christmas op. Wouldn't it be a fab Christmas present!!!

@TheRhythmessCarolMan Yeah, it's super quiet compared to home. Home is in the city, in a basement maisonette on a corner lot. It's so loud that we have to drown it out with white noise (the city, not the baby...). Plus my neighbour is the kind of dickhead who thinks it's okay to blast some Slayer at 2:30am on a Tuesday. 🙄 Father Christmas is bringing him coal this year, the prick.

Both of mine were in a normal cot beside the bed from newborn to 3 months with dd and 8w with ds then moved to own room. This was 14 years ago so only other option was Moses baskets or co-sleeping