Need to change sleeping situation with 4mo

[GreenMomPhD]

My family and I are moving this week from AL to VA.  This new house is a rental and has 3 BRs.  My 4 mo old currently sleeps in our bedroom.  She has a pack n play but usually sleeps in the bed with us.  I nurse her lying down, get her to sleep, then when I try to move her to her bed, she wakes up, so she usually ends up back in the bed.  I hate having her in the bed with us, b/c I have to sleep om my side next to her.  I am a back sleeper, so this is killing my neck!!!!  I wake up hurting something awful!!  I think that she isn't sleeping in the pack n play for several reasons, the main one being that the padding on the pack n play is thin and not comfortable like the bed.

So, I would like to change things in the new place.  I would like her to sleep in the crib that we have, with a nice mattress.  My 2yo went to her own room at 6mo, and I would get up and go into her room, nurse her in the glider rocker, then put her in her crib.  I eventually want them to share a room, but until the little one sleeps thru the night, I don't know how I would nurse her w/o waking up my toddler.  My toddler will have a toddler bed in the new place; she slept in the crib that had been converted and had a side rail so she coudl get in and out of it.

We could set up the crib in our bedroom, but she'd still be with us and my husband thinks that part of the problem is that I am a noisy sleeper and I keep her from sleeping well.  The only other option I can think of is to put the crib in the guest room, but then what about when my parents visit, etc??  I'm leaning toward seting it up in our room, so we could see if the mattress is the issue.  Any mommas have some suggestions? Thanks!

[SeattleRain]

FWIW, I totally had that problem (and am still sort of having it). My son is 5 months and until 4 months slept primarily in our bedroom in a pack and play. Then he started waking up once or twice a night and it was hard for either of us to get any sleep because my husband and I alternate caring for DS during the night. So we decided to move him downstairs which was a great idea since he has a lovely organic mattress down there which is nice and soft and cozy and there's a glider that helps me soothe him down easier.

So two weeks ago we went to my parents house and he slept in their pack and play and OMG, that was a disaster. He woke up like, every 2 hours whereas at home in his crib he wakes up only twice in a 12 hour stretch. It was brutal. We finally decided that the cause of it must be that he's not as comfortable in the bed and I think my mom bought a replacement mattress like this: http://goores.com/goores/product.asp?s_id=0&prod_name=Baby%20Luxe%20Pack%20N%20Play%20Mattress&pf_id=PADCAADNDBBGJCIF&dept_id=3723&scpid=2&scid=scshoPADCAADNDBBGJCIF We haven't been back yet so I can't tell you that it helped. All I can say is that since being home, he's back to his twice a night business. Two nights ago we also put him upstairs to sleep in our room in the pack and play because had a large dinner party and we didn't want him to be disturbed and we had a bad nightwaking situation.

You should try sidecarring a crib and see if that helps. If you're not comfy bedsharing than it's probably not good for you or your family, but a sidecarred crib might help you with the nursing-crib transition problem and baby would have her own space. If that seems to solve your problem then you'll know its the pack and play.