Tales from the Crib

As everyone who I talk to on a regular basis knows, something that I've been really nervous about is moving Ella out of her swing to sleep and into the big-girl CRIB! We made the move into the nursery so she's in her own room, but has still been sleeping in the swing. It's hard to want to move her out of it, because she sleeps amazingly well in it. She started sleeping through the night right around 7 weeks (although not every night)and has had many nights of sleeping 8-10 hours straight overnight. The times I've tried to put her down in her crib for naps, her longest record has been no more than 2 hours (and usually closer to 1). Obviously though this is not the long-term solution. At daycare she'll need to sleep in a crib so there's no getting around it, we've just got to take the plunge and do it.

When we went to the pediatrician for Ella's 2 week appointment and we discussed her sleeping arrangements, he said "well, it's fine that she sleeps in the crib, but you know, she WILL outgrow it and sooner or later you're going to have to pay the piper" (words that have haunted us ever since.) When we took her to her 2-month appointment last week, he asked the dreaded question again: "does she sleep on her back in the crib?"...hmmm, "we-eeelllll, she's actually still sleeping in the swing," I truthfully replied. At which point he actually started laughing. He (obviously) said it'll be easier now than later and we should just get it over with.

The day after her rough night following her vaccinations, I was really scared to try it thinking she was too out of sorts to be able to adjust; but Mom was here, willing to stay overnight and "pay the piper." So, no more excuses, I decided to just commit to it, no turning back, and move the little babydoll into her crib!

So, night 1 was Tuesday night. I put her down around 10:15 and Mom got up with her overnight - she woke up briefly at 2 am, 4 am, ate at 5 am, then woke up for the morning around 7 am. Definitely not her best night, 3 wake-ups.

Night 2, Wednesday night: I put her down at 8:30 pm, she slept until 1:30 am; I fed her and put her back down by 2am and she slept through until 7 am. Only 1 wake up!

Night 3, Thursday night: She slept from 10:15 pm until 6:30 am - what a little champ!!

Night 4, Friday night: Regression...after unsucessfully trying to put her down from 8:30 to 11:30, I caved and let her sleep in bed with us. After feeding her at 2:30 I moved her into her crib and she slept until 7 am.

Night 5, Saturday night: Success!! She slept from 8:15 am to 5:45 am - over 9 hours!

I am not naive enough to think that it's all going to be smooth sailing from here, but it has been so much better than I thought and she's doing so well in her crib. Unfortunately she's getting too strong for her swaddle blanket, so the next step is going to be getting her to sleep un-swaddled.

For now though I'm just happy this has been easier than anticipated!