Please teach me how to put my 9 week old DS into the crib

[Hope2025]

DS has been a contact napper since birth. He won’t go to sleep on/in anything unless it’s a human being or a pram in motion (not a stationary one). In nine weeks, we have had perhaps four instances of him sleeping in the Moses basket for up to 30 mins after being transferred in once asleep.

We co-sleep on the advice of a midwife but it really can’t continue. Lying in exactly the same position for hours (along with a fractured arm - another story!) is getting really painful. And I worry what will happen once he starts rolling and moving. Finally, I need him to be able to sleep in a stationary pram. If I go out for a coffee or brunch then I have to hold him in my arms the entire time and it’s difficult.

So - if you have been here before - please - firstly, is there any hope for putting him to sleep in the expensive waste of space Snuzpod next to the bed, without him waking and getting distressed within seconds? If so, how? When do I transfer him? What are the magic tricks and tips I’m missing? Is there any hope for independent sleeping in the next few weeks?

I can't help loads because I had a contact napper who never slept in a cot for naps....but I read loads of info and apparently you need to wait until they are properly asleep to transfer (ie hold up their arm and if it just drops they're gone!) and then very gently place them down, keep one hand gently on their front and then slowly remove.

Or just give in like me and learn to enjoy the cuddles until they are two! Or you could get one of those machines that swings them back and forth - saw one today with my niece and it worked a charm!

Thank you for the arm tip!

Enjoying the cuddles… oh I do! And gladly. But co-sleeping is causing my body real pain. As much as I love him next to me, I can’t go on like it.

Off to google a swingy machine?!

Have you tried one of the rockets on the pram to rock it?

Blow gently on their face as you move them
Helps distract them from other movement

We had a Joie Serina swing chair for DS, worked a treat for daytime naps (always closely supervised) or needing my arms back for 5 minutes.
I tended to use a sling when out, although I became adept at pushing the pram back and forth with one foot too!
I think DS had reflux - not formally diagnosed but he couldn't be laid flat for about 20 mins after feeding or he'd wake and scream - if I sat up with him on my chest (or delegated to DH!) before laying him down, we could usually transfer.
Cold sheets can also jerk them awake - tricky in the winter.

Oh, & this may be tricky with your injury, but when transferring to the next-to-me we had to hold DS super-close, basically fold ourselves in half to lay him down very gently while still in contact with our chests, and then stay in position over him for 10 seconds or so or he'd wake up.

We had this and because she as colicky too I needed to put her down when she napped or I literally couldn't do anything.

We used to warm the bassinet of the Oram with a hot water bottle first and then when it was warm (so felt like a human being) take out the hot water bottle and as long as was in a deep enough sleep carefully transfer her. I think she was about 9 hours weeks actually when she started allowing us!

Good luck it is tough.

We did a slow process of transferring from chest to bouncer once in a milk coma. You then gently bounce the bouncer with a foot (or turn on the bouncer feature if it has it) plus used white noise to hide the sound of me moving around. I got ds to nap for 20minutes at a time at first from about 4 months. This then got longer and longer and the sleeping naturally split into three regular naps of 40minutes then 2 at 90minutes by about 7 months. By 5-6 months we could just put him in the bouncer at nap time and bounce him to sleep.

Yes - I had high hopes as they work magic for my antenatal group. I’d say if he’s asleep when the pram stops then it might buy us ten minutes before he wakes up? It’s as though the motion isn’t the same as being pushed - and he knows it!

I always joked that DD had a spirit level in her as if you got her beyond a certain angle she just cried and you couldn’t put her down. Nothing worked for us I’m afraid except her getting bigger but it didn’t last forever and now she’s a moody teenager I’d love to have a snuggly baby back. (This is probably unhelpful)

I can sympathise. DS contact napped in the sling until at least 12 weeks and beyond his first couple of weeks wouldn't really nap in the pram out and about and I also spent coffee and brunch dates with a napping baby in one arm and coffee in the other hand. I went with it out and about like that because I knew he would sleep for 30 mins in my arms and it was less stressful than fighting him to sleep in the pram.

After 12 weeks we worked on transferring him to the cot for naps. Bum first then head and then sshhh and pat/hand on chest worked well after some practice. Then wake windows started to get bigger and we just went out when he didn't need a sleep and still do it to this day (he's 12 months) and it works for us. I know I don't have to stress about him sleeping out and about.

From about 7 weeks I started to put her in the cot on her side with a dummy, cover her eyes with my hand and gently rock her while shushing. If she fussed I would just kind of hold her in position and keep rocking or patting her bum - she always fell asleep within a few minutes. Then rolled her onto her back once she was out. This was a trick from a sleep consultant I met at a baby group. She gradually needed less rocking until we could put her straight down. Never did the whole transferring thing, she always woke up.

Get a rockit for the pram. Have you swaddled him?

I bought a rockit.
Still contact napping for all naps in the day but main problem was the nights for me, I bought an attachment off Etsy for the rock it to enable it to go onto Snuzpod this helped transition them into the snuzpod to now not needing the rock it on at all.
it helped if I held for 30 minutes once asleep as they drop into a deeper sleep then if you think your moving slow… move slower haha, legs down first then bum then back then head.
I think persistence aswell helped us. We kept just giving up and holding all night but we started putting in crib then holding then putting back in, all night long. After a day or two baby went longer and longer periods in there.

Some babies just love cuddles more than others mine still won’t let go of day time cuddles but I’m embracing it for now.

Prioritise either night or day first helped me x

I’m having the exact same issue at 9 weeks! so you’re not alone. I am feeling extremely suffocated by it all. Have a toddler too and feel like I’ve not had any quality time with him and it’s making me so sad.

hoping that it’s a matter of time - I am being quite lazy in trying though due to sleep deprivation plus not wanting to risk waking him to have to put him to sleep again?! It’s so tough and must admit I am longing for 6m+ which sounds absolutely awful….

Have you tried swaddling? That's the only way my little one would sleep for the first few months

Not really - we have a gro bag but he seems to still move a bit! Would you recommend just a blanket to swaddle? Do you do it before their feed? Thanks :)

Definitely warm the crib first - then as others have said it's a case of slowly, slowly. We used to move DD in our arms a few mins before trying to put her down so she wasn't cuddled against us but was more in our hands and forearms if thatf makes any sense. Then we very carefully lowered her into the crib and stayed still with our hands still under her. Next step was slowly removing the hand under her back/bum, then another pause. Then very carefully taking the hand out from under her head (using the other hand to help if necessary). Pause again with a hand on her chest for a minute or so. Then gradually withdraw. The whole process used to take about 5 mins or so - the key is very slowly and pause if they start to stir. Good luck!

I used these which worked great. I know it doesn't work for all babies but worth trying if your grow bags don't keep their arms tucked in?

www.amazon.co.uk/Tommee-Tippee-Baby-Newborns-Original-Grobag-Hip-Healthy-Cotton-Rich/dp/B09NDWL6FV/ref=asc_df_B09NDWL6FV?mcid=96a0ba5bd3ef3c9d9e841fc4cff3bd2c&th=1&psc=1&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696352643967&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7004868533292812302&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9191952&hvtargid=pla-1642389306934&psc=1&gad_source=1

Its really cold at the moment. I wonder if you warmed the crib before transferring the baby, they would stay asleep? I imagine going from warm to cold bed would wake the baby. Hot water bottle?

I used to wrap mine tight in a shawl so they felt secure.

I used to put a t-shirt that I had worn for a day under them in the crib so they could smell me. This seemed to help them sleep.

Always did the hot water bottle trick as well.

I would try a dummy. It will help him soothe himself to sleep. Of course you then have the problem of getting him off the dummy, but with a fractured arm I think you need to put your immediate needs first.

With a side sleeper, I found it best to get baby to sleep, then kind of recline on my bed and put baby in crib from the side, rather than placing them down from above. And I’d keep my arm round them a little while, before withdrawing.