BabyBites

For sleep training, I decided to do it during the day at naptime when I had more energy to deal with any crying. I had rocked the baby to sleep both night and day so started a sleep routine during the day of just putting the baby in the crib after reading stories. It only took a week or so to have no crying for naps and subsequently, we never had to do CIO at night.

i set up a heating pad on the lowest setting in my son’s crib. if he falls asleep in my arms, i can gently place him down for a night’s sleep without disturbing him with cold sheets!

This only works for young babies – Swaddle! You need to swaddle really tightly – enough so that they can’t break free. This saved our sanity, but it stops working when they get bigger – around 4-5 months for our little guy.

We used a lambskin rug. It is antimicrobal and you can take it anywhere. It helped keep the baby familiar with something so he always slepted good. For sleep training we tried everything under the sun (Baby Whisper, Modified Ferber and cry it out). I think you have to figure out what works best for you and for your baby and go with it. If you are comfortable going in every few min to ensure they are safe – do it. We liked the cry it out once he was 6 mon + b/c we had a video monitor which helped ease my worries.

My baby is 10 weeks old. Up until 2 weeks ago, visiting grandparents not only rocked her to sleep for naps, but often held her or patted her almost the entire time she slept. Of course, I cannot do that every day myself, so I’ve been swaddling for naps (which we’ve always done at night) to substitute for being continually held, sometimes put her in the swing to continue “rocking” her, and patting when I hear her fuss.

have a consistent bedtime routine! my 4 y.o. knows his so well he can recite it– medicine (asthma meds), milk, brush teeth, book, bed. unfortunately, we’ve had some trouble establishing a routine with his little sister

We try to bring familiar things (her stuffed animals and blanket) while on vacation and stay as close to routine as possible no matter where we are. When we get home from vacation we also get right back into our old routine, even if it involves a day or two of CIO. By the way, the Bjorn travel crib is the best!!

We transitioned my 2.5 year old to a big boy bed about 3 months ago, shortly after his baby sister was born. What worked for us is that we hyped it up, and got him excited about it, but didn’t force him to sleep in it. But once he made the decision to sleep in it for the first time, we didn’t look back. We were firm with him that the crib was no longer an option, and he’s never asked for it! We may have gotten lucky though… even though he can get in and out of the bed by himself, he always yells for us to come get him in the morning and waits for us to get out of it!

We also recently (in the last 2 weeks) got rid of his pacifier. One afternoon at naptime we couldn’t find his pacifier, and I told him he would have to nap without it. We had planned to take it away soon anyways, this just gave me a reason to do it. He cried softly for about 1/2 an hour before he fell asleep, and asked for it for about 2 days, but now he tells us he’s a big boy because he doesn’t have the pacifier anymore. I think being firm about no more pacifier was also the key. Even though I found the lost pacifier later that day, if we had given it to him that night, then tried to take it away again, we would have had to start all over.

It’s tough to sleep in NYC. We completely blocked out light in our infant’s room by putting trash bags over the windows (underneath the blinds) and we got a sound machine.

Sleep associations are a great way to transition from bassinet to crib, sleeping on vacation or in the car. Only use them for sleep time!! My little one has a Sleep Sheep, a teddy and a pacifier. We always make it dark by using black out curtains and he can put himself to sleep (we did the progressive waiting Ferber thing), but for naps only. Don’t ask me for nighttime advice! He still wakes up at least once for some milk, for us to put his pacifier back or move hime back to a comfy position. He’s been rolling around like crazy in there and gets mushed up against the side of his crib

Hope this helps and I’m looking forward to reading all your tips. Best, Meghan

Our sleep situation is a little different because I have twins. We just separated them, but we don’t have room for 2 cribs. Our solution was to put one in the crib and one in the pack n play in our room. Before we go to bed, we drag the pack n play into the nursery. It’s a pain, but it works!

At home my daughter sleeps with both a sound machine and black out curtains.
When traveling on vacation I try to create the same environment. I found a great small travel sound machine that uses batteries at BB&B. I also bring black garbage bags and tape to hang on the windows to block out light!

Our 7 week old daughter gets extremely fussy in the evenings. We used to put her down late in the evening, around 10pm. Now we look for the cues of exhaustion and usually start her bedtime routine (bath, swaddle, quiet and dark environment, etc) around 7:30. She’s still in the bassinet in our room, but she sleeps on a sleep positioner, which we bring with us whenever we travel. Once we transition to the crib, we’ll still swaddle and put her on the positioner in the bed with a little blanket that smells like mom.