Hi I had my dd on Sept 1. She was jaundice pretty bad and had to stay in the hospital for a couple extra days. She sleeps really good during the day but about 2 in the morning she wakes up to feed every hour. I cant get her to sleep in her bassinett. Any ideas on why she might be doing this? She sleeps fine in her bouncy chair and car seat and on our bed but not in her bed. I thought that it might be the vibrations in the bouncy seat but our bed doesnt vibrate. Any ideas would be helpful.

maybe she likes everything besides her bassinet because they are snug and comfy, the bassinet is a big open space. when shes in your bed shes happy because shes got you and daddy there for her. our dd was the same. its ok for her to sleep in her car seat or bouncer for a few weeks. our dd did this on occassion until we decided on co sleeping full time. co sleeping is not for everyone though. i think it's fairly normal for her age, she will get more used to open spaces, afterall she has been scrunched up in your tummy for nine months and she is accustomed to cozy places! i'm glad she is better now and congratulations! i hope everthing works itself out for you!

My ds#1 was the same, well atleast during the day. A night he would sleep in a bed but during the day...NO WAY!!! Ds#2 is much better but still prefers to be in his swing or bouncy during the day.
You might try warming her basinette up before you place her in it with a heating pad. Be sure to pull it out before you put her in. Also if you aren't already, try swaddling her in a blanket or two. She may want that tight cozy feeling she got so use to having.
Good luck!

Most babies do not sleep very well or for very long flat on their backs. There is nothing wrong with continuing to have her sleep in her carseat. You can place it right in the crib. Or, you can continue to use the bouncy or use her swing. Co-sleeping is fine too as long as you and DH are both ok with that. You could also try swaddling or you could have her sleep on her tummy if you are comfortable with it.

Nancy

I do not agree with letting an infant sleep in a car seat or bouncy seat. They are meant to be used discriminatingly, not for full time sleeping. My SIL is a PTA, my FIL is a chiro, and my husband is an MD, and NONE of them would recommend letting an infant sleep in a car seat every night. Propping a baby upright before they have the muscle development to do it on their own puts tremendous strain on their spine. A car seat is a necessity, however, bouncy seats are not, and it is for this reason that we chose to forgo them all together.

Having said, Steph hit the nail on the head. Your baby is used to sleeping in your tummy, so it's no wonder she doesn't want to sleep without you. It's TOTALLY normal! They slept with us, ate with us, rode with us, and listened to us for 9 months, it's going to take at least that long on the outside for them to feel secure enough to sleep on their own. Some people are blessed with easy sleepers, other, like me, are not. :p My daughter has co-slept with us since birth. She is 6 months old now, and only just recently have I been able to move her, while fully asleep, to her room for a few hours while DH and I snuggle and "watch TV" in bed.

Are you breastfeeding? Because if you are, co-sleeping is a God send in that department too. You just roll over, and voilà, she's feeding! No getting out of bed, fumbling with nursing pillows, trying to hold your head up as you rock BOTH of you to sleep. I honestly don't know how people can stay awake at night to do that.

Sleeping alone is not something that comes easy to a baby, and is not something that should be forced (in my opinion, anyways) either. Just keep following your daughters cues, and eventually she'll feel secure enough to sleep on her own.

my daughter too refused to sleep in her basinet. not until i got her a portable crib did she sleep a little better. i think it was because she had more space. my daughter would sleep in her bouncy seat all the time, and i didn't know it was bad for her, but she is as heathy as can be. she also slept in her swing, but it was the fisher price cradle swing, that was like a little bed, so i really don't see the harm in that. i didn't listen to the doctors though, i put her on her belly from the second week that i brought her home. she was very gassy, and it's what worked. i know many of people are against this, but it saved me from many sleepless nights, but she was in my room with me in her portable crib.

Thanks for all the replys. Dh wont let her sleep with me if Im asleep. She will lay on the bed by herself and be just fine. We just bought a cradleswing yesterday and she slept in that all night last night and only woke up one time. We did try the swadling but she would kick out of that before we could even get her layed back down in her basinet. We even bought one of those swaddling blankets and she could get out of that too. I was finding myself getting up and sleeping in the recliner with her every morning about 3am. Dh didnt mind me sleeping with her in the recliner. He just thinks that I might roll over on her in bed. I dont roll over in the recliner but when I get up for the day my back is so stiff from sleeping in it. She has kinda slowed down on her cluster feeding too. I find her cluster feeding more in the afternoon and evening instead of in the middle of the night. How soon did those of you who breastfed start to pump? I started earlier this week. I have gotten plenty of milk. I just pumped a little while ago and got 2 oz out of one side. I want dh to be able to feed her in a few weeks here and there and maybe one night I can sleep the whole night and have him get up instead.

Dh wont let her sleep with me if Im asleep.....

He just thinks that I might roll over on her in bed.

My husband said the same thing, but it wasn't him that had to get up every hour, so I obviously didn't listen. LOL! Plus, he's a man. No offense to the daddy's on the board, but they don't have our motherly instinct. I firmly believe that we must follow our motherly instincts, even if in the beginning they seem a bit shaky. They only get stronger as you hone them.

Before I got pregnant I was a super sleeper, and could literally sleep through a hurricane (I did, hurricane Frances!). I was scared that I might roll on DD when she was a newborn because I was such a deep sleeper, and sleep deprived to boot, but there are products you can get now that fit in the middle of your bed, and are like a bassinet that fits between you and your husband. They even have little battery operated lights so you don't even have to roll over to turn the light on. Some even have pockets for a diaper or two, so you REALLY don't have to get out of bed. I never used one, because it only took a day or two to get into the swing of it, but if your husband will forbid you from sleeping with your baby otherwise, it might be a smart investment. They're only about 40 bucks.

Now that Ava is 6 months old it is much easier, and I'm always aware of where she is.

Women have slept with their babies since the dawn of man. In fact, humans are the only lactating mammal on the planet who puts their young in a separate sleeping area while we are still nursing.

And, if you look at the department of vital statistics, there are fewer deaths per year from babies sleeping with their parents, then babies sleeping alone in their cribs. Co-sleeping, tummy to tummy, has actually been shown to regulate an infants breathing and reduce SIDS. However, doing it SAFELY is the key. No soft beds (feather and such), no heavy comforters, no big pillows, no sleeping under the influence (duh), and use a bed rail (another duh).

If I remember correctly, around 500 or so deaths in 7 years were in the family bed, while 7000 cases of crib deaths (SIDS) were reported.

Ok, I'm off my co-sleeping soap box now. :p ;) Actually, Ava is going through an independent phase right now, and seems to actually sleep better on her own. She almost always ends up in bed with us in the early morning, but not falling asleep with her in kind of lonely. Even my husband, who was against it in the beginning, misses her falling asleep between us (despite the fact that she snaps the elastic on his shorts.. LOL!).

If I remember correctly, around 500 or so deaths in 7 years were in the family bed, while 7000 cases of crib deaths (SIDS) were reported.



My dh and I went to school with a couple whose 1 yr old was killed while sleeping in the bed with them. The father had rolled over on him and smothered him.

That being said, I was NEVER an advocate for having babies sleep with their parents. But it's strange- it does seem that women tend to have better instincts when sleeping with children. My dd is almost 4 months and I also breastfeed. I have a bassinet next to me. I did have one of those $40 co-sleepers that you put in the bed with you while they're small and it does really ease your mind. It was great until she was about 8 weeks old. She'd literally have her legs hanging over it. I packed it away.

I have been really lucky though when it comes to dd sleeping habits. She likes to sleep alot! She gets up once, around 5 am to nurse, and I do do that with her laying next to me. We both drift off to sleep and she'll wake up around 8 am and we do it again, both waking up sometime around 11am. But, my husband goes to work at 5am so she free to have his side of the bed. That being said, if you (and only you know this for sure) know that you can sleep her and still be coherent, go for it. But I'd try the co-sleeper thing first.

I started pumping immediately. They brought me one in the hospital room and once I got home, I continued it. I have that Medela Pump In Style (love it!). Our big plan was for dh to also be able to wake up and feed her! HA! That happened once! He definitely does not have the instinct because when she'd wake up, he was still snoring away! Then he wonders why now when she cries, she wants me and not him, LOL!!

My dh and I went to school with a couple whose 1 yr old was killed while sleeping in the bed with them. The father had rolled over on him and smothered him.

I know a couple who lost their 3 month old to SIDS. She slept on her back, in a cool room, on a non toxic mattress.

At a year old though, I would think there was more to just rolling over on a baby. Anybody I know who has a 1 year old sleeping with them are always telling me how active they are. My daughter is able to roll away from me now, which is nice because we can sleep in different directions. SHE is aware of where she is, and a 1 year old would be even better at that. Cases like that always make me wonder what caused it. A loose head board, causing a gap between the mattress? A large comforter to get tangled in, preventing the baby from moving? A few glasses of wine before bed? A soft mattress? I couldn't roll over on a tennis ball on our bed, there just isn't enough "give" in the mattress to physically roll over something like that.

The difference between the "risks" of co-sleeping and the risks of dying in a crib are that accidents from co-sleeping could have almost always been prevented, but you can't prevent SIDS. Just like the couple I know above who seemingly did everything "right". It's very, very rare for an infant to die in a safe co-sleeping arrangement (no large comforters, no sleep aids, no soft mattresses, etc).

This was something I researched A LOT before Ava was born. My instinct told me that nature intended for mothers to sleep with their babies, after all, dogs do it, horses do it, cats do it, lions do it, dolphins do it, even rats and mice do it, so why wouldn't I? Well... everyone kept telling me how "unsafe" it was, and it just didn't wash with me. I couldn't believe that something so natural was more dangerous then something so unnatural (like a crib). I was right. There was just wasn't enough information to support the notion that co-sleeping was dangerous. In fact, I found the opposite to be true - it's safer then them sleeping alone in a crib! Who'da thunk it? :D