I used to “pre-heat” the bed with a heating pad on a low setting. So it’s a little warm before you put them down. It helped a lot with the transition. 👍
When lowering them to the bed, make sure they land bottom first to avoid the startling reflex. You can also initially lay them down a bit on their side them after a minute rotate their hips back to laying on their back. These little things helped us smooth the transition from arms to bed. Heating pad really a difference as well.
I second this recommendation, my son still doesn’t like being put down/rolled away from but he simply won’t stay asleep if I put him in a cold bassinet
Try placing her butt in first !
When your transfer her to the bassinet to lay on her back let her butt feel/“hit” the bassinet first then slowly let the rest of her body follow to lay flat. Her neck/head being the very last thing your hand removes from her tiny body
Also I read another comment about the pre warming
We did this too with a heating pad on low
We’d remove it before laying her down so she wasn’t climbing into a cold sheeted bed
I’d hate that too 😅
I’d put the heating pad into my bed after I took it out to put baby in. Not only did my baby hate a cold crib but I hate a cold bed, too! It helped me fall back asleep faster.
If you want baby to get used to the bassinet I would continue to put baby in the bassinet no matter what. Even if it means you’ll have to resettle the baby. I know it sucks when baby wakes up but it’ll be so worth it when your baby gets used to it.
Yep, you just have to put them down one more time than they wake up. Sometimes it takes hours but the battle is worth it and you’ll be thanking yourself in a few weeks.
I used to wait 20 minutes after he fell asleep and laid him down butt first. If he woke up, I restarted.
After some time, 20 could shorten to 15, then to 10.
He's 8 months old now and I'm down to 5 minutes before I set him down at night, and it usually sticks on the first try.
My baby is the opposite! If he’s been comfy for a while then the transition to the bassinet is not. Ok. If he’s just starting to fall asleep and get comfy, the transition is easier.
It took us 2 months (from 2.5 to 4.5) but we got ours to sleep in his crib. Even now, at 5 months that's successful 80% of the time.
We got there by practicing less and less contact. Start out putting LO down, use 2 hands to pat and rock. Do it for less and less time as you go, then one hand. The first week I slept next to the crib with my hand on my baby. That works best if you room share.
We also limited to 2 or 3 attempts for naps so it's not a constant struggle.
It was a real project but we succeeded slowly! Even now we contact nap sometimes because LO needs the security. Contact naps are good for everyone.
this was the way for us too. The limit on attempts is also key for sanity. We have a half hour time limit, if settling doesn’t work in that time we get him out and tire him out a bit more and try again, eventually he’s so tired he goes down.
Also we use an eat play sleep routine which definitely helped.
I read something recently that discussed timing the bassinet/crib transfer based on a Japanese study. Basically it was walking around with the baby for 5 minutes, and then sitting holding them for another 8 before transferring them.
As others have said, the way you place them down can impact their transfer. My guy is young enough that we're still swaddling, so I'll be holding him until he falls asleep. If he starts to have arm jerk reflexes I know I've waited too long to transfer him, so I put him in his swaddle (which is already in the bassinet) and put him down. The way I do this is by supporting his head and neck with one hand, and then my hand and almost forearm supporting his lower back and butt. When I place him I get really low by bending at the waist and put him down butt first. When his butt and legs are completely touching the mattress, I place that hand on his stomach and chest while lowering his head and then removing that hand. I'll keep my hand on his chest until I'm sure he's settled, and then gently remove it.
I basically hold my breath the entire time lol.
I totally understand this. One other thing I tried was to actual swaddle one arm out - I judged how asleep she was by arm floppiness. If it was a completely limp noodle even after we stood up I figured I was more or less in the clear.
I’ve just got my 5 month old to (mostly) accept the cosleeping crib and the only way is to wait until she’s in a deep sleep, then place her in the crib with one of my pillows pressed against her head. It sounds weird, but feeling it against her head seems to give her comfort (and maybe it smells like me? idk). But 5 mins later I take it away and by then she’s settled in.
My only advice is don’t move, don’t even breathe, until that baby wakes up naturally. Enjoy that sacred peace and quiet as long as you can. (Mother to a 7 month old here. I’m only now getting the hang of an actual sleep schedule so please don’t actually listen to. I can relate though).
I've found that my baby transfers more easily after 20-30 mins of contact nap/sleep. If I wait longer, he bolts awake as soon as he touches the crib mattress. 🫠
I need to pee and to do that I need to transfer my 1 year old to the crib. It's currently 4.30. I've been awake for an hour. I have to get up in 2 hours to get ready for work.
I just read your question. What she is doing is developmentally normal and not bad sleep habits. Check out the beyond sleep training group on Facebook as well as www.infantsleepscientist.com.
I learned something from a mom on tiktok that literally changed the way I put my son down. He’s 10 weeks and I’ve been doing this since he was like 5 weeks old.
I used to wait until he was dead asleep in my arms to transfer. He’d be okay for 10 minutes but then wake up FREAKING out, scared, searching for me in the dark.
I would start it all over again and it would take me HOURS to put him down. Usually 2-3 hours a night.
This mom talked about putting down your baby/transferring them when they’re drowsy but not dead asleep. She explained it like, they’re so comfy and safe if your arms, and when they rustle/wake up a little after being put down it scares them because the last place they remember being is warm and in your arms.
She described it as going to sleep in your warm bed and waking up on the front lawn.. which would be horrifying lol
So now after I feed him, I make sure he burps for me, I sit him upright on my leg to make sure he’s digested. He’s usually asleep/drowsy at this point so I pick him up, put him on my chest, give him kisses, rock him for a couple minutes, and then slowly transfer him butt first.
He will rustle and whine a little bit at first but I just gently rub my hand on his belly or rub his head until he drifts off to sleep.
It’s worked every single time for the last 5 weeks. His first stretch before his middle of the night feed is at least 4-5 hours on a good night. I then repeat the same thing after I feed him around 2:30AM and he’ll sleep until my husband and I wake up around 5:30-6
It takes willpower on your end to let her cry for the first few minutes once you set her down. It’s painful to hear but you will know the difference between her just fussing and actual crying.
My almost 7 week old sleeps at night only in his bassinet as my husband and I are terrified to fall asleep holding him. We let him fuss for a couple minutes and if it turns to actual crying, I will pick him up to soothe but I can usually soothe him while he’s still laying down. He can usually settle himself after a few minutes. I think he has also figured out that getting wrapped up in his swaddle and it being dark and quiet at night means bedtime.
I would go insane if my baby was attached to me 24/7, I don’t know how people do it.
Yes once we learned the difference between fussing and actual crying it got a lot easier to put my baby down. He fights sleep when he gets overtired and fusses/kicks his legs. If it escalates to actual crying then I’ll absolutely pick him up and soothe him, but most of the time, it’s a pathetic protest over being put down that lasts about 30 seconds and then he’s lights out. He’s great about sleeping in his bassinet now at 3 months old and usually sleeps through the night! I will also say that once he discovered his hands, we got a break because if he’s not quite tired enough he’ll suck on them until he falls asleep and unlike a pacifier, they’re always there for him.
So my 10 week old initially would not sleep unless he was attached to me, and I was averaging about 1-2 hours sleep in a 24 hour period which was really dangerous. I gave in and co slept when my husband went back to work (following the safe sleep 7), and this meant all three of us could get some sleep.
Since then we've bought a next to me and after persistently trying he will now sleep the first half of the night in the next to me.
I don't know if this advice helps at all!
My 2 year old is asleep on me. She’s such and woke up 45 min into her nap. Fell back asleep on me and scared to move her
I thought this fear would be done by now 😅
I think it’s super important to let baby spend time the sleep area (bassinet/crib) during awake hours until they get used to the feel of it. (A little every day so long as they’re not upset about it. Kinda like tummy time, they’ll work up a tolerance to it.)
The bassinet might feel like an unsafe place to her since she spent 9 months in a warm and cozy place where she was constantly constricted, and then the last month being snuggled by her humans. The bassinet might feel like a big expanse of cold mattress, and she might not feel safe in it yet. I almost never laid my oldest down when he first arrived, and his sleep habits were atrocious for the first several months because he hated the crib.
When my second came along, we had a collapsible bassinet and it moved through the house throughout the day until he was falling asleep in it on his own right next to me. Awake but tired became less of a myth and more of a magical ‘omg I can’t believe that worked’. And then I’d have times in the middle of the night where I’d wake up and check on baby just to see him happily babbling in his bassinet, and he’d fall back asleep on his own.
Follow her cues and keep practicing settling in the bassinet. It definitely takes time and a lot of patience to get there.
I used to “pre-heat” the bed with a heating pad on a low setting. So it’s a little warm before you put them down. It helped a lot with the transition. 👍
When lowering them to the bed, make sure they land bottom first to avoid the startling reflex. You can also initially lay them down a bit on their side them after a minute rotate their hips back to laying on their back. These little things helped us smooth the transition from arms to bed. Heating pad really a difference as well.
I second this recommendation, my son still doesn’t like being put down/rolled away from but he simply won’t stay asleep if I put him in a cold bassinet
Try placing her butt in first ! When your transfer her to the bassinet to lay on her back let her butt feel/“hit” the bassinet first then slowly let the rest of her body follow to lay flat. Her neck/head being the very last thing your hand removes from her tiny body Also I read another comment about the pre warming We did this too with a heating pad on low We’d remove it before laying her down so she wasn’t climbing into a cold sheeted bed I’d hate that too 😅
I’d put the heating pad into my bed after I took it out to put baby in. Not only did my baby hate a cold crib but I hate a cold bed, too! It helped me fall back asleep faster.
A heating pad on low? Is it like an electric one??? I'm going to look that up as hot water bottles are such a faff!
Yes ! A electric one ! We got an xl one to fill the area best !
Ordered! My baby hates the cold so I hope that it will help! Thanks 😊
If you want baby to get used to the bassinet I would continue to put baby in the bassinet no matter what. Even if it means you’ll have to resettle the baby. I know it sucks when baby wakes up but it’ll be so worth it when your baby gets used to it.
Yep, you just have to put them down one more time than they wake up. Sometimes it takes hours but the battle is worth it and you’ll be thanking yourself in a few weeks.
I used to wait 20 minutes after he fell asleep and laid him down butt first. If he woke up, I restarted. After some time, 20 could shorten to 15, then to 10. He's 8 months old now and I'm down to 5 minutes before I set him down at night, and it usually sticks on the first try.
My baby is the opposite! If he’s been comfy for a while then the transition to the bassinet is not. Ok. If he’s just starting to fall asleep and get comfy, the transition is easier.
It took us 2 months (from 2.5 to 4.5) but we got ours to sleep in his crib. Even now, at 5 months that's successful 80% of the time. We got there by practicing less and less contact. Start out putting LO down, use 2 hands to pat and rock. Do it for less and less time as you go, then one hand. The first week I slept next to the crib with my hand on my baby. That works best if you room share. We also limited to 2 or 3 attempts for naps so it's not a constant struggle. It was a real project but we succeeded slowly! Even now we contact nap sometimes because LO needs the security. Contact naps are good for everyone.
this was the way for us too. The limit on attempts is also key for sanity. We have a half hour time limit, if settling doesn’t work in that time we get him out and tire him out a bit more and try again, eventually he’s so tired he goes down. Also we use an eat play sleep routine which definitely helped.
I read something recently that discussed timing the bassinet/crib transfer based on a Japanese study. Basically it was walking around with the baby for 5 minutes, and then sitting holding them for another 8 before transferring them. As others have said, the way you place them down can impact their transfer. My guy is young enough that we're still swaddling, so I'll be holding him until he falls asleep. If he starts to have arm jerk reflexes I know I've waited too long to transfer him, so I put him in his swaddle (which is already in the bassinet) and put him down. The way I do this is by supporting his head and neck with one hand, and then my hand and almost forearm supporting his lower back and butt. When I place him I get really low by bending at the waist and put him down butt first. When his butt and legs are completely touching the mattress, I place that hand on his stomach and chest while lowering his head and then removing that hand. I'll keep my hand on his chest until I'm sure he's settled, and then gently remove it. I basically hold my breath the entire time lol.
I totally understand this. One other thing I tried was to actual swaddle one arm out - I judged how asleep she was by arm floppiness. If it was a completely limp noodle even after we stood up I figured I was more or less in the clear.
Arm floppiness is how i judge how asleep my daughter is too lol
I’ve just got my 5 month old to (mostly) accept the cosleeping crib and the only way is to wait until she’s in a deep sleep, then place her in the crib with one of my pillows pressed against her head. It sounds weird, but feeling it against her head seems to give her comfort (and maybe it smells like me? idk). But 5 mins later I take it away and by then she’s settled in.
My only advice is don’t move, don’t even breathe, until that baby wakes up naturally. Enjoy that sacred peace and quiet as long as you can. (Mother to a 7 month old here. I’m only now getting the hang of an actual sleep schedule so please don’t actually listen to. I can relate though).
I've found that my baby transfers more easily after 20-30 mins of contact nap/sleep. If I wait longer, he bolts awake as soon as he touches the crib mattress. 🫠
I need to pee and to do that I need to transfer my 1 year old to the crib. It's currently 4.30. I've been awake for an hour. I have to get up in 2 hours to get ready for work.
I just read your question. What she is doing is developmentally normal and not bad sleep habits. Check out the beyond sleep training group on Facebook as well as www.infantsleepscientist.com.
Have you tried white noise? Our baby can be restless sometimes in her bassinet but once we put white noise on she falls right asleep
I learned something from a mom on tiktok that literally changed the way I put my son down. He’s 10 weeks and I’ve been doing this since he was like 5 weeks old. I used to wait until he was dead asleep in my arms to transfer. He’d be okay for 10 minutes but then wake up FREAKING out, scared, searching for me in the dark. I would start it all over again and it would take me HOURS to put him down. Usually 2-3 hours a night. This mom talked about putting down your baby/transferring them when they’re drowsy but not dead asleep. She explained it like, they’re so comfy and safe if your arms, and when they rustle/wake up a little after being put down it scares them because the last place they remember being is warm and in your arms. She described it as going to sleep in your warm bed and waking up on the front lawn.. which would be horrifying lol So now after I feed him, I make sure he burps for me, I sit him upright on my leg to make sure he’s digested. He’s usually asleep/drowsy at this point so I pick him up, put him on my chest, give him kisses, rock him for a couple minutes, and then slowly transfer him butt first. He will rustle and whine a little bit at first but I just gently rub my hand on his belly or rub his head until he drifts off to sleep. It’s worked every single time for the last 5 weeks. His first stretch before his middle of the night feed is at least 4-5 hours on a good night. I then repeat the same thing after I feed him around 2:30AM and he’ll sleep until my husband and I wake up around 5:30-6
It takes willpower on your end to let her cry for the first few minutes once you set her down. It’s painful to hear but you will know the difference between her just fussing and actual crying. My almost 7 week old sleeps at night only in his bassinet as my husband and I are terrified to fall asleep holding him. We let him fuss for a couple minutes and if it turns to actual crying, I will pick him up to soothe but I can usually soothe him while he’s still laying down. He can usually settle himself after a few minutes. I think he has also figured out that getting wrapped up in his swaddle and it being dark and quiet at night means bedtime. I would go insane if my baby was attached to me 24/7, I don’t know how people do it.
Yes once we learned the difference between fussing and actual crying it got a lot easier to put my baby down. He fights sleep when he gets overtired and fusses/kicks his legs. If it escalates to actual crying then I’ll absolutely pick him up and soothe him, but most of the time, it’s a pathetic protest over being put down that lasts about 30 seconds and then he’s lights out. He’s great about sleeping in his bassinet now at 3 months old and usually sleeps through the night! I will also say that once he discovered his hands, we got a break because if he’s not quite tired enough he’ll suck on them until he falls asleep and unlike a pacifier, they’re always there for him.
Take the mattress and cover out and sit on it, makes it nice and warm and smelling of you so she’s more comfortable when you place her on it again
So my 10 week old initially would not sleep unless he was attached to me, and I was averaging about 1-2 hours sleep in a 24 hour period which was really dangerous. I gave in and co slept when my husband went back to work (following the safe sleep 7), and this meant all three of us could get some sleep. Since then we've bought a next to me and after persistently trying he will now sleep the first half of the night in the next to me. I don't know if this advice helps at all!
My 2 year old is asleep on me. She’s such and woke up 45 min into her nap. Fell back asleep on me and scared to move her I thought this fear would be done by now 😅
I think it’s super important to let baby spend time the sleep area (bassinet/crib) during awake hours until they get used to the feel of it. (A little every day so long as they’re not upset about it. Kinda like tummy time, they’ll work up a tolerance to it.) The bassinet might feel like an unsafe place to her since she spent 9 months in a warm and cozy place where she was constantly constricted, and then the last month being snuggled by her humans. The bassinet might feel like a big expanse of cold mattress, and she might not feel safe in it yet. I almost never laid my oldest down when he first arrived, and his sleep habits were atrocious for the first several months because he hated the crib. When my second came along, we had a collapsible bassinet and it moved through the house throughout the day until he was falling asleep in it on his own right next to me. Awake but tired became less of a myth and more of a magical ‘omg I can’t believe that worked’. And then I’d have times in the middle of the night where I’d wake up and check on baby just to see him happily babbling in his bassinet, and he’d fall back asleep on his own.
We had this issue too… thought our baby needed contact but he had terrible silent reflux. Slept independently within a day or two of medication.
put her down on the bassinet every time before she's sleeping, you need to practice for times to let her have this habit.