The big transition...
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Forum Name: First baby? Second or more?
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URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=23604
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Topic: The big transition...
Posted By: KiwiL
Subject: The big transition...
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 3:02pm
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Woe is me, Jackson seems to be rapidly outgrowing his hammock, and I need to start thinking about transitioning him to his cot.
Here are my worries! 1) We may just have got into a bad habit of bouncing him to settle him - not only to initially go to sleep (only sometimes) but often to get him to make it into another sleep cycle. Obviously, can't bounce a cot! So I am concerned sleep is going to go out the window. 2) He's a kicker, which means moving to a sleeping bag, but that also means unswaddling him. I am terrified of this!!! He has, from day one, had a major fascination with his hands. They always have to be grasped or doing something when they are free, which is a big distraction. The only time I have unswaddled him overnight, he woke 5 times gagging on his hands. 3) We have "curtains" for the hammock, to make it darker (a Plunket suggestion when we had sleep trouble), but his room with the cot is very light and I am not sure how he will sleep with it being so light. We're in a rental property, so can't put any blackout blinds up. 4) The hammock has been great for his reflux, but he always spills if lying flat. I figure that's probably the easiest one to manage of all. 5) Does this spell the end of the Dream Feed? I always hear Jackson stir and pre-empt any drama by feeding straight away. This means his night feeds are done in 10 minutes. Will be different when I am responding to his noise on a baby monitor. I would really LOVE some tips in regards to the above. I am guessing I will have to do things gradually. But tips, particularly in regards to unswaddling and moving to a cot, would be REALLY appreciated. I have love, love, loved the hammock, but feel that the transition is going to be a hard one. Can you tell I am terrified?!?!? |
Replies:
Posted By: TysMummy
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 3:13pm
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ty has had the same thing with his hands.............he still gags on him but im leaving him to it and he started figuring out why you cant do it................ty aslo went into a safety sleep which he is still in he wont sleep without it on so maybe this will help too..............i also got black out curtains for his room. good luck ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: KiwiL
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 3:18pm
| Thanks TysMummy. Just edited my post about black out curtains - we're in a rental. |
Posted By: Mum2ET
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 3:20pm
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re: swaddling and sleeping bag, I am pretty sure you can still swaddle them while in a sleeping bag (I *think* I read this somewhere on the sleep store website). ------------- Mum to Ella (5) and Tom (2) |
Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 3:23pm
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For the room invest in some black out shades/curtains. We have them for all our bedrooms and its great for darkening the room and from spotlight they aren't too badly priced.
You can't bounce a cot but you can rock a cot. If you pop a book under one of the top end legs you can rock it if need be, this may also help with the reflux issue We also put a sheet up and tied it to the sides of the cot to get Daniel used to the open spaces. So it was more open than a basinette but not completely open sides like a cot. Worked well for us. |
Posted By: jaycee
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 3:25pm
Yes there is something on the Sleep Store website about weening them off being swaddled - and heaps of other useful info. It is a great site 
Maybe try the cot for day sleeps for a couple of days?? -------------   
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Posted By: FreeSpirit
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 3:53pm
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1) can you try humming to him to get him settled? or stroking his head?
2) keep swaddling (my girls a kicker too - 5and a half months) and when you make up the cot put the sheet and/or blanket on sideways so there's heaps to tuck in firmly. 3) could you buy a thick dark sheet (at least double size) and weight the corners to put over the cot as a shade? or just put sarongs up over the curtains to make it a bit darker in the room. 4) Reflux is easy to manage, just put a couple of good thick books or blocks of wood under the head of the cot to raise it. 5) I dreamfeed still! take note of what time you're giving the dream feed and once you know roghly when, get a good book and curl up in a chair just outside the nursery half an hour before you think bubs will wake (its a great excuse for time out) or just give a dream feed before bubs wakes. |
Posted By: blondy
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 3:59pm
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we had to re-train Natalie to get to sleep by herself when we moved her to a cot, but in hindsight it was a good thing, because who wants to spend time rocking them to sleep! lol. it was 2-3 days/nights of crying lots, and spending lots of time in the room with her, but has paid off!
we have only now started putting her to bed unwrapped. we wrapped her under a sleeping bag (as were using a miracle blanket/swaddleme), but the sleep store recommends swaddling outside the sleeping bag. we wrapped with one arm out for a few weeks, then both arms for 2-3 days, and now she is totally unwrapped! some babies cope without being wrapped straight away, but i think most need a transition, and that way you can make the sleeping bag associated with sleeping too. good luck! we were really worried about transitioning to the cot, but were very surprised at how well it went. definitely try some day sleeps in there first (although we just did day sleeps one day, and she was fine, so put her in there for the night too). -------------  
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Posted By: whitewave
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 4:13pm
| Spotlight have "magic" blinds that you can hang easily without making holes etc, perfect for rentals! |
Posted By: KiwiL
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 4:21pm
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There's some really good suggestions here!!
I wonder if it is possible to keep swaddling and use a Safe T Sleep in the cot? Or should I first work on getting Jackson out of the swaddle and then move to the cot. Continued swaddling is also making him really hot, as we have to wrap REALLY tight as he will wriggle out otherwise. Quite the houdini... I can see how swaddling over a sleeping bag would work, but wouldn't he get super hot? Especially if it were sleeping bag, then swaddle, then safe t sleep? The big thing will be resettling and chaos with free hands, so those are the things I think I need to remedy. I wonder if the darkness thing is not such a big deal, Jackson seems to wake after that first sleep cycle even in the darkness of his hammock.... I think the resettling is going to be more important. I would kind of like to avoid the black out blinds, because I worry that means he would not sleep anywhere else (eg on holiday or at grandparents houses etc). Loving the tips guys - thank you! |
Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 4:29pm
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We had Issy in her sleeping bag, we would wrap her (in merino also so she didnt overheat) and then we would pop her in the safety sleep. ------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year  http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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Posted By: FionaO
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 4:31pm
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So many questions We have just moved to the cot and so far so good. We still swaddle, there is no chance of not swaddling, you can swaddle round a sleeping bag, we are swaddling with muslin at the mo cos its warm and its fine. If I were you Laurie I would invest in something white noise like, the best thing we ever bought (off trade me) was an ocean wonders toy, on the ocean sounds setting he just starts to drift off and i don't mind that sleep association. Oh and the other thing is a little tomy star which projects happy little teddies on the wall and works miracles at getting him to sleep at 5am for some reason, we only ever use these toys at sleep time and not during the day. We dream feed from a cot, we just do it at the same time every day regardless of what happens earlier and find its still easy to settle, never up for more than 30 minutes during dream feed, and normally only about 10-15. Can you use the same bedding or anything from the hammock inside the cot so it smells or feels similar for a while? ------------- 
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Posted By: KiwiL
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 4:39pm
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You're telling me so many questions!! Ha ha.
We have the Ocean Wonders toy, and the Tomy toy, so will try both of those!! Anything that works and doesn't involve rocking and bouncing would be good!! As for the dreamfeed, I am more talking about that random one that happens anywhere between 3am and 5am. If it were predictable it would be much easier. I guess I could always set my alarm for 4am and dream feed him then, but then how will I know when he is ready to drop that feed? |
Posted By: KiwiL
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 4:41pm
| And another question I need people to solve for me.... where to put the ridiculous number of soft toys Jackson got given when he was born when I have to take them out of the cot?!?!? LOL! |
Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 4:44pm
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Well we have a wee pile of soft toys in the hammock! lol
The rest we have on top of her drawer. ------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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Posted By: fire_engine
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 5:11pm
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We have a bin under the house!
We had a similar issue. 1 - we patted his head - worked fine. You can also buy super duper cot rocking things on TM - about $150 2 - we swaddled under a sleeping bag, you can swaddle then safetsleep. Daniel was swaddled till last week, so there's no rush for you to get rid of the swaddle. 4 - you can still dreamfeed and you may be amazed at how your body will wake you up before he needs it! Daniel has been in a different room forever, and it's never been a problem. In the middle of the night, they are generally programmed to open their mouths and fall back asleep. When we went from hammock to cot, we started it just with 1 day sleep at a time, so it was a gentle transition. It took about a week. Good luck! ------------- Mum to two wee boys |
Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 09 January 2009 at 8:53pm
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Laurie when I moved Caden to his cot (at 2 months old)I kept him swaddled and put him in the Safe T Sleep, he looked like he was in a straight jacket but he slept well and in the morning his hands were always free anyways lol
At about 4 months or sooner I gave up sawddling him as he hated it by then and he went into a sleep bag and in the safe t sleep. Now he just sleeps any old way in his cot and not in the bag cos its far to hot. But also, Im just wondering if it may be getting to hot to swaddle him anyways? Maybe try him in the safe t sleep with no swaddle for one night and see how you go. ------------- |
Posted By: JessDub
Date Posted: 10 January 2009 at 2:32pm
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We've just transitioned our two month old son from his miracle blanket AND his hammock to his cot. The hammock was too hot and he got too long for the MB.
I thought it would be more traumatic than it was. We started putting him into the cot for daysleeps to get used to the idea and he took to it pretty much straight away. We put him in his gogo bag then swaddle his arms to his side like the miracle blanket does* - but with a muslin. And put the safety sleep around him to keep his arms in. SNUG! On these hot nights, just swaddling his arms ala miracle blanket style with a muslin is adequate. He's not worried about having his legs swaddled. Even though you are in a rental, wouldn't it be worth your while to get some cheap block out curtains from spotlight or even a dark blanket to put over the curtains? If you're not worried about having the room light when he's not sleeping, how about tinfoil on the windows?!! Good luck, sorry I can't answer your question about dream feeding. * Miracle blanket wrap - put baby in middle top of muslin. Fold left corner over left arm (his right arm) and tuck under body, fold right corner over right arm and tuck under body. Marvellous. |
Posted By: KiwiL
Date Posted: 10 January 2009 at 6:44pm
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Yeah, am thinking we'll swaddle and then Safe T Sleep for a while, then slowly release him from the swaddle in order to go into a sleeping bag by winter.
We've got a miracle blanket and it's the only thing that keeps him out of trouble! |
Posted By: denny25
Date Posted: 10 January 2009 at 9:59pm
| We're currently in the process of weaning Ava off the wrap. She has been wrapped and then in a safetsleep - we just pinned the safetsleep to her wrap as per the instructions on the safetsleep. Currently she has one arm out at night. We'll do that for a week, then leave both arms out, then swaddle just her torso (all the time while being in her safetsleep). |
Posted By: scribe
Date Posted: 11 January 2009 at 1:49pm
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A month ago we moved Clara from the hammock to the cot; we started with putting her in there for day sleeps and then night sleeps. We had a few nights where it was hard to get her off to sleep, but like you we needed to wean her off the rocking to sleep anyway... when we did it was such a relief! And actually the transition was easier than I thought - she never woke in the night as a result of being in the cot, and after a few days she grew to really love stretching out in the cot... we had to put her back in the hammock, cos we had guests staying in her room, and she was not happy!
Re: rocking the cot, we found that patting her bottom, or front, was just as soothing (except once when we had a few horror nights after her jabs and resorted to the hammock to get her off to sleep). Oh, and she has reflux too; raising the end of the cot wasn't as effective as the hammock at keeping the milk down but it helped a lot. On the subject of wrapping, we went cold turkey (well, into a sleeping bag) at about 3 months and had no problems. Clara is a real kicker too and loves playing with her hands but it's part of her self-settling - she plays with her cuddly, a rabbit soft toy (folds the ribbon ears around, under her nose) and, combined with the kicking and talking, sends herself off to sleep... so I wouldn't worry too much about leaving his hands free. Good luck, I'm sure you'll be fine! |
Posted By: KiwiL
Date Posted: 05 August 2009 at 3:49pm
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Bump for Serendipity.
And, for the record, the transition was a piece of cake, and Jackson's sleeping only improved after being put in the cot. Improved further once he was allowed to be unswaddled, and improved again once he was out of his safety sleep. Guess my boy just wanted to be freeee! |