We made the decision to have her in our room in the beginning. She's our first baby. We didn't know what to expect. Not to mention we were the typical parents who wanted our baby close to be sure she was still breathing.
We had great plans to have her use the cradle my grandpa Sears made for me when I was born, but that didn't last long. And by long, I mean it lasted about a week. We had a lot of problems with the cradle, most of all, the fact that it rocked. I know that's what it's supposed to do, but it really seemed very sensitive to movement. Any time she would even turn her head it would tilt and she would kind of roll. Todd rigged it so it wouldn't, but we were always messing with it. Also, the cradle was cold. Rosie was pretty tiny when she was born and got cold really easily, and we could never get her warm enough in the cradle.
One day, unrelated to any conversation about the crib, my friend Jonna told me we could borrow their Snug-a-bunny Rock and Play basket. To be honest, I took it half out of courtesy half to have it on hand just in case. She said their daughter slept in it for a while before moving to her crib, but it was not at all something I would have considered buying ourselves.
Come to find out - it was a lifesaver! It was warm and made her feel tucked in. Rosie has napped and slept each night in it ever since. The problem is, she's starting to get a little too big for it and it's time to move her out. Not to mention she simply needs to learn to sleep in her crib and putting it off won't make the transition any easier.
Looking back, I'm happy we did what we did, but I also kind of wish we would have just started her in the crib in the first place. The crib isn't new for Rosie. She has spent some time napping in there, but she never sleeps very long or well in it.
We thought we'd start her on full-fledged crib training a couple nights ago, but it was a bust. She barely napped that day and was overly tired, which meant trying something new was not such a hot idea.
I regrouped and decided that instead of going cold turkey on the Snug-a-Bunny we'd use it at first for nights and all naps would be in the crib. Once she is more used to sleeping in the crib for any length of time we will begin to introduce it at night.
I feel pretty good about the plan. What's harder, though, is letting her fuss and deciding when to go comfort her. I have found so far that given a few minutes she will calm down. If it begins to escalate then I walk in and try to comfort her.
One of my sisters, Stacey, assures me after a week of training she will be a happy crib sleeper. Our plan might take a little longer, but I'm also hoping it will be a little smoother.
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