If you don't cosleep, but BF what's the normal transition...

[flower01]

Ok, i'm curious how this works for most people. With 1st baby, and now 2nd (who is 3 months) We had a cosleeper by our bed that was really only used for the first week or so. Baby slept with me and I BF'd throughout the night never even bothering to look at a clock. But, i know that lots of people use a cosleeper or pack n play by their bed for the early weeks, but then eventually their babies go into cribs. At what age does this happen, and how does it work with BFing? And when the baby is bedside during those early weeks, do you really stay awake enough during BFing to put them back in the cosleeper after each feeding.

It's partly curiosity and partly feeling like i might have to get my DS comfortable sleeping on his own.

[DeerMother]

I didn't try to put dc in a crib until they were sleeping more through the night. Even then, when they did transition to a crib, when they woke I either brought them to our bed or had a twin on the floor I'd sleep with them in.

DD started sleeping pretty well at night around 4 months. Ds started sleeping well at night around 18 months.

[jeliphish]

DD2 moved to a crib around 6/7 months. She falls asleep and the nights she doesn't STTN, she will wake around 1 or 2am and come to our bed, nurse, and sleep.

[crunchy_mommy]

I spent at least four months staying awake after each feeding so I could put him back in the co-sleeper. Every time I put him back in there he woke up and I'd have to nurse him back down. FINALLY I came to my senses around 5-6 months and just kept him in the bed. He wakes just as often (if not more) but I feel wayyyy more rested!!! So we ditched the crib, he never even made it there.

If you have a good sleeper I could see how it would work to transition to a crib for part/all of the night... but I can't really see how it would work for a not-so-good sleeper unless you do some sort of CIO.

[calpurnia]

In DD's early weeks I couldn't nurse side lying because of her latch, & I couldn't nurse sitting in bed because of my stitches/bruises, so I had to get out of bed to go sit on my valley cushion to nurse. So it was very easy to stay awake to put her in her carrycot beside the bed

[llwr]

Most of the bassinet/pack-n-play types say not to use it after 3 mos. I have a sidecar arrangement. I nurse sitting in the bed and DD2 is a very good night-sleeper, so it hasn't been hard to stay awake to put her back in. When she moves to the crib, I'll sleep on a couch in that room for a while so we can still be close.

[tracymom1]

DD slept in bed with me for 2 months, then in a co-sleeper for about one month and then into her crib. She was around 31/2 months when she started sleeping well so I made the adjustment then. Now she wakes anywhere from 1 to 3 times a night to feed. I have a rocking chair in there and I nurse her and put her back in the crib. She almost always falls right back to sleep and if she doesn't I rock her until she is calm and happy.

Truth be told, DH does not like co-sleeping so we made the transition earlier than I would have liked. If it were up to me she would still be in our bed, but I have to try to keep the peace, KWIM? If she hated the crib I wouldn't have done it, but she seems to enjoy being in there - she is always smiling when she wakes up!

[Plarka]

DD slept in a moses basket next to my bed till about 3 or 4 months, then in a crib next to my bed. When she was 13 months we moved her crib to her own room. While she was in our room, I sat up in my bed to nurse her, then put her back in her bed. I didn't want to get into co-sleeping. Then while in her room, she woke to nurse till 18 months and I just went in there to nurse her and put her back in her crib.

[Mosaic]

DD slept in a pnp in our room for the first month, then after that went right to her crib. Honestly, I never got the side-lying nursing thing down and always nursed in another room, in part to avoid disturbing DH and in part because I had a nursing chair all set up with water and whatever else I might need for marathon nursing sessions. Sometimes we both fell asleep in that chair, but I'd always get up and go back to our beds eventually.

[annekh23]

Depends on the size of your baby and their development, which is what any number on the device will be estimated from.

We have an arms reach cosleeper, the mini, I think, so it's bigger than some bassinets, plus we have a small baby, so we're still using it at 7.5mths, but we're only getting away with that because she hasn't pulled up on anything and we really wouldn't want the cosleeper to be the first thing she pulls up on, so we need to switch to a regular crib ASAP!

[Sk8ermaiden]

I absolutely can't breastfeed in bed, so I get up every time anyway. She has slept in her crib (in our room) since she was born pretty much - unless she seems to really be needing me, and then we squeeze her into the bed. Even sitting up in a recliner I frequently fell asleep with the baby, so I can't imagine staying awake in bed!

[CrunchyChristianMama]

I kept my DD in a bassinet beside the bed for a few weeks, and then she was in a crib in her own room because I couldn't sleep with all the noises she made in her sleep waking me up.

I did stay awake mostly throughout her feedings, although I dosed off I'm sure off and on. It's kind of a blur at this point. I also couldn't nurse side-lying until she was several months old which didn't help.

[busymama77]

We are not a co-sleeping family and DS was in his crib from practically day one of being at home. If I he needed to be nursed, I would go into his room and take care of his needs. I'd stay up a little bit after nursing to rock him, cuddle, swaddle, change his diaper...whatever he needed and then he went back to his crib. He was a great sleeper from the get-go, so I think that helped out quite a bit.

We'll do the same with DS#2.

[Punchy Kaby]

Ds started in a bassinet next to our bed, sometimes he would sleep next to me a couple of hrs if I didn't wake up. He transitioned to a crib in his room around 3 months when I started really needing the sleep. DH was great, usually brought him to me and took him back. DS was always in his crib for naps during the day so it was a familiar place.

DD is 8 months now and she was in a bassinet sometimes and our bed sometimes. I would just fall asleep and not realize she was there until she woke looking for my nipple again. We have co slept off and on. I don't really like it as I don't sleep as well and she wakes up a whole lot more. She transitioned to her bed at 3 months as well. Now DH brings her to me and sometimes takes her back, other times I will nurse her in her room. She sleeps a whole lot better on her own and is getting bigger blocks of time slowly. She is a very social baby and when she is in bed with us she thinks it is time to play or will wake up and start crawling.

[ktmama]

Ds was with us in a co-sleeper until four months, then in his own room in a crib where he naps and begins his nights. He sleeps that first block for about three hours and then I might just bring him into bed if I'm sleepy. If not, then I bring him in at his next waking. This works great for us because I'm a WOHM and I can't deal with any sleep deprivation, so I definitely was NOT handling getting up to go into his room and nurse him well!

[MamaPhD]

DD was in our bed for the first 2-3 weeks. DUring this time, we put her in bassinet in our room for some naps so she will get used to it. I sat up in bed to nurse her each time because we couldn't nurse lying down until much later (4-6mo?).

From about 3 weeks to 2.5 months, DD slept in the bassinet at night and took some naps in the crib in her room, again to get her used to it. Not a big deal to pick her up 4 steps away, feed then return.

Before DD was 3 mo, she was too big for the bassinet so we moved her. When she woke up at night, I would go over to her room (next to ours) and feed her/change her. Sometimes DH could just rock her a bit (depending on when last feeding was) and put her back to sleep.

What's surprising is that it really isn't that bad getting up at night. When I was pregnant, I really dreadded the night feedings. But having done it for almost a year, I got used to it pretty well. DD was good and woke up every few hours (not every 20 minutes), so that helped a lot. She started to STTN around 9-10 mo, and I realized I feel just as well rested STTN. I can do 1-2 night feedings (DD went right back to sleep with 1-5 minutes of nursing) and feel pretty good. Just zombie walk over, feed then come back to bed.