Question
Help! Transitioning from bassinet to crib
We recently moved our 2 month old son from his cozy (and now too small) bassinet to his crib and it's been really difficult for him. Does anyone have any advice on how to make this transition easier? Thanks in advance!
Read more: 
11 Answers
Does he like to be swaddled still? That always makes babies feel secure. My daughter liked knowing where the "walls" of the crib were so I always put her close to one corner. She would usually scoot her head so it would touch the bumper pad or have one hand/arm resting against it by the time I came in to check on her. Babies still remember how cozy your womb was, and can feel "adrift" if placed in the middle of a crib. Every kid is different but you might want to give it a try. If that doesn't work, have you thought of co-sleeping? The best sleep my daughter gets is when she is in between us in the bed. It works for some families.
I did the same thing with my son at 8 weeks old... it was tough but will be worth your while to get him use to his big crib asap. Try letting him play in there during the day to get use to his surroundings... also just like VenturaMom said swaddle him (my son hated it, but I have heard GREAT THINGS!) and make sure he feels safe because a big crib will feel HUGE and really open to him compared to his bassinet...Can you rock him till he is almost asleep and then put him in the bed? That is the main thing I did to move Travis over... I would try and get him as close to asleep as possible, but make sure he was still aware of his surroundings adn put him in the crib... I would also stand over and pat his back and sing to him for a few minutes to get him good and cozy before walking away.The good thing is your son will not understand distance for a while (about 6-8 months) so the main problem is just he is unsure of his new surroundings and noises... GOOD LUCK!
~Lindsay~
~Lindsay~
I'm not sure what the product is called, but it's this pad that you can put in a crib and you velcro these little bumpers around your baby's body... basically, they hug the baby and keep him from moving around too much. my baby liked it because I think the crib felt too big and open after the bassinet. I'm projecting of course... but it seemed to help in the transition
I call it a baby taco holder, lol. It looks like a larger version of those things you get to hold tacos upright on the dinner table. It is wonderful. We are in the process of transitioning our 13 wk old to her crib, and she doesn't sleep more than a few minutes at a time in her crib if I don't put in the baby taco holder. It has been the best thing to help us transition her!
-Kaycie <
Read here.
My baby was in a NICU for 8 weeks and they nested him. They recommended I do this when I took him home and it worked like a charm. Until he was 15 lbs - then he was just too big. Basically you have a low wedge under the fitted sheet, also under the fitted sheet you roll 1 beach towels lengthwise and then wrap them in a horseshoe under the fitted sheet. So the baby's head is on the wedge end and the baby's body in the nest (horseshoe) all of it except baby is under a fitted sheet. Worked wonderfully!
Jennifer, Lusby, Maryland
I transitioned my son when he was 5 weeks old. He was getting too big for the basinette. What I did was I put the Basinette bedding in my sons crib (just set it in there) and let him sleep in that in the crib for awhile and then took it out a few weeks later and he had very little problems adjusting after that. Good Luck!
I moved my daughter to a crib at 4 months. She hated being swaddled but didn't like the roomyness of her crib either. She liked to be in a confined space but not wrapped up so I used a sleep wedge(foam wegdes that go on either side of the baby not allowing them to roll over). I would also place her up against the top of the crib bumper so the top of her head was touching it. I know crib bumpers are considered a SIDS hazard and not recommended. To fix that problem I weaved her bumper in and out of the railings of her crib sides so they can't be moved or pulled down into the crib.
Smile, it increases your face value!
Jodi
Smile, it increases your face value! :)
Jodi
My son is 8-months old and has been sleeping in his crib for only about 2 months. We bought a small crib (porta crib size) before he was born because we didn't have a separate bedroom for him and needed to fit him in our room and then moved house before he was born and were able to give him his own room. Our transition went something like this when we couldn't get him to sleep in the crib as a newborn ...
He slept in a co-sleeper in the bed with us until he outgrew that at about 6 weeks. Then we transitioned him into a baby rocker chair which propped back into a cradle (but he still slept in our room). At about 2 1/2 months we moved him into his room in the chair, which cradled him comfortably. It was another 2 months before we transitioned him into his crib and only then because he outgrew the chair (for sleeping). We configured the mattress with blankets, so that it cradled around him. I rolled up blankets around the edge of the crib and then placed the portacrib mattress over them so it created the same cradle shape as the chair. Slowly, over a matter of a few weeks, we removed the blankets until he was lying flat to sleep. When we got a full sized crib from my sister, whose daughter had outgrown it, we had no problem moving him from one crib to the other. He's been sleeping in the regular crib for 2 to 3 months now and mostly sleeps through the night. Sometimes you just have to transition them slowly. I hope this helps.
DGartland
DGartland
What helped me with my daughter was using a shirt. Recommended to me by my sister, I took a shirt that I had worn or wore to bed a couple of times that had my scent on it and put it in the crib and laid my daughter on top of it when she was asleep. This way she could still sense me.