I've looked through this forum, but couldn't find a "method" to transition a baby from co-sleeping to own crib, so I thought I might as well ask. ;)
My 13 month old baby boy was born 5 weeks prematurely and spent 13 days in NICU. When he came home, he wouldn't have anything to do with co-sleeping and happily slept in his crib. I missed co-sleeping, but could see the perks of him in his own crib. When he was about 4 months old, he got croup 3 times and I spent my nights sleeping in a recliner with him on my chest. After he got well, he seemed to prefer me close at night, although he still spent a good portion of the night in his crib. Well, that slowly changed. At the moment, he takes a long afternoon nap in his crib, 2 - 3hrs. No issues there. Sometimes he also takes a shorter nap late in the afternoon. He usually breastfeeds to sleep right after his siblings go to bed, at 8pm. Sometimes a bit sooner, but that's usually when he shows that he's tired and needs to go to bed. He'll sleep in his crib until about 10pm - 10:30pm. If I'm not in bed by then, he'll nurse and go back to sleep in his crib. When he wakes up during the night and I'm already in bed, he refuses to be put back in his crib after nursing. Last night was really bad. He woke up and was still awake when I got ready for bed, so I just put him down with me. Even though he nursed about 3 times, he kept climbing all over me, rolling around, kicking his legs. He doesn't like for me to hold on to him during the night, but likes to have his feet and his head touching me. I tried patting his bottom, rubbing his back, patting his back, nursing, etc to get him to sleep, but he just kept flailing around and wimpering. Eventually, I got him tucked in tight with his back to my front and he finally fell asleep. I don't do well on little sleep. I become angry, grumpy and resentful. I need to find something that'll work for both of us.
If anyone has a way to transition baby to his crib full time, I'd love to hear it. I'd also like to night wean, but I guess that's an issue on its own. FTR, this child will not CIO. Once or twice, he's been left to cry and he doesn't stop. At all. He just screams worse and worse and becomes completely hysterical, so I don't let him cry if it can be helped. Anything other than CIO would be something I would be willing to try. Tnx!
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