It’s quite common for parents to wish and dream about the moment when their newborn could peacefully drift into sleep on their crib. The newborn stage is challenging and sometimes you’re running on 2 – 3-hour sleep and it’s normal but being able to put them down and let them sleep soundly on their crib is a huge win as it lets everyone else rest a little easier. But reality can sometimes be cruel, how to get newborn to sleep in a crib can be like solving a puzzle, from cuddles, cries but surely with a lot of patience.
If you’ll notice through the first weeks of your newborn’s life all they want is to be held and kept close, somewhat craving for the security of the womb. Which could be why they prefer being rocked or swayed to sleep rather than lying alone in their spacious, cold crib. Here’s also where tools like a front facing baby carrier can help fulfill their need to be close to you. Sleeping on their own in a crib can be supported when you hold your child snug in your chest and made them feel secured throughout the day. It promotes connection and gives your child confidence to rest easy on their own.
Whenever babies feel more secured during the day, they could sleep more confidently at night even when left on their own. So, if you still wonder how to put newborn to sleep in a crib, we’ll start by knowing how this world would feel like for a baby. And how you can replicate the comfort and security they experience in their womb through a sleep-friendly environment. All these without the crying and rocking all night long.
Understanding the Fourth Trimester: Why Newborns Crave Contact
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The first concept that you have to understand is that your newborn isn’t trying to be difficult, if they don’t want to sleep on their own in the crib. They don’t mean to give you a hard time and mess up with your sleep, they’re just tiny human beings trying to adjust to this new, cold world outside the womb. The “fourth trimester” is a common term used to define the first three months after birth. This is the great adjustment period where your little one learns to live and breathe outside the womb.
This is a great adjustment since all through the nine months they are surrounded by warmth, continuous gentle movements and constant loud sound. Now being placed in a wide, cold and quiet world it can be frightening and overwhelming at the same time. This is the reasoning behind why newborns fall asleep easier if they are rocked, help and carried close to your body since it’s the closest thing to being in the womb, it feels safe and familiar.
So, how to get newborn to sleep in a crib? You have to replicate these sensations while making sure that they’re still safe and independent.
The Safe Sleep Environment: Setting Up the Perfect Crib Space
More than your child’s readiness to sleep on their own, there are other considerable factors before letting your newborn sleep on the crib. You want to make sure that the crib is safe, sturdy and comfortable for a newborn to sleep on. Also, consider following the safe sleep guidelines created by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). This will guide you when you’re starting to introduce sleeping on the crib.
- Firm mattress covered with a fitted sheet
- No pillow, blankets bumpers or toys
- Keep your baby sleeping on their back for naps and nighttime sleep
- Place the crib on your room for at least 6 months
You could add comfort through other environmental factors instead of items on the crib:
- Maintain a comfortable room temperature
- A soft sound machine that mimics the sound inside the womb
- Low lighting
Combining these environmental factors with the secured, comforting space for your baby, they’ll begin to recognize that it’s a place that they could snooze and take a rest on.
Establishing a Consistent Bedtime Routine: Signals for Sleep
It’s common knowledge that babies thrive in routines and predictability of the series of events. So, one of the best steps in learning how to get newborn to sleep in a crib is creating a simple, predictable bedtime routine that brings comfort and calm as nighttime approaches. Creating this routine help them have an understanding of what’s to come and figure out that it’s time to sleep already. A routine doesn’t have to be detailed or elaborate a simple one like this could work:
- Warm bath or gentle wipe-down
- Fresh diaper and comfy sleepwear
- Quiet feeding in dim light
- Few minutes of gentle rocking or lullabies
- Swaddle and then lay on the crib while still drowsy
If you keep your routine consistent, these cues can help your baby’s brain associate these moments to sleeping. This greatly reduces resistance to bedtime with time.
Swaddle and Sound: Utilizing Calming Sleep Props
One of the most effective “hacks” of keeping your newborn settled on the crib is with swaddling. Since newborns still have the startle reflex, which causes the sudden wakings, swaddling help prevent this and also recreates the snug feeling which babies felt inside the womb.
Choose breathable cotton or muslin swaddles, they provide comfort but won’t trap too much heat. When you swaddle your baby make sure that it’s secure around the body but loose at the hips. If your baby starts to show interest and signs of rolling immediately halt the swaddling.
Swaddling can be twice as effective when paired with shushing sounds. This simple duo of swaddle and sound resembles the feel inside the womb. The shushing and rhythmic sound like heartbeat and blood flow helps calm your baby’s nervous system. With this powerful combo, many parents succeed with making their child sleep on the crib on their own.
The Warm Transfer Technique: Moving the Baby Without Waking Them
One of the most nerve-wrecking moment of learning how to get newborn to sleep in a crib is whenever they fall asleep in your arms and you’d have to lay them down on their crib. It’s like a minefield where one wrong step and you’ll be on a full-blown meltdown. We’ll share you the secret. What you need to do is keep this transition smooth and warm.
Before you lay your little one down you should:
- Warm their crib surface a little bit, it could be with your hands or a war, but not hot, heating pad for a few minutes. Then remove it before placing your baby inside.
- Keep your touch firm but steady when you’re already lowering them down. Keep one hand over their chest for a few seconds after you’ve laid them down.
- Pause and stay with them for a few seconds before pulling your hands away.
This minimizes the temperature change and the pressure that your baby feels, it also reduces the chances of startling them causing them to wake.
The “Drowsy But Awake” Rule: Key to Independent Crib Sleep
When you’re learning how to get newborn to sleep in a crib, embracing the “drowsy but awake” rule could be considered the hardest but the most rewarding lesson to learn.
Instead of the continuous rocking until your child fell asleep, you could aim to let them down when their eyes are heavy but not fully closed. Now what you’re teaching them here is that the crib is a place where the sleeping happens, and not just where they’re placed after they’re already out cold.
This part takes a lot of patience but don’t let this discourage you. It really takes patience and repetition but once you’ve laid a strong foundation for their healthy sleep habits it will all make sense and bear fruit sooner than you think.
Dealing with the Mid-Night Wake-Up: Gentle Resettling Strategies
There are times when even the best sleepers wake during the night, we’ll this is how babies are wired. But the goal here isn’t to prevent wakeups, but for your little ones to learn how to settle back to sleep safely.
Whenever your baby fusses or stirs in the middle of the night, the last thing you’ll want to do is to rush to them immediately. especially when you’re teaching them to self-soothe, you’ll have to take a moment, because at some point they may drift back to sleep on their own. But if in case their crying continues, reach out to them in a calming manner, keep the lights dimmed and avoid interacting too much.
Other than this, you could also try:
- Offering a pacifier
- Some gentle shushes or pat on the chest
- Slightly rocking the crib or your baby’s body
As much as you can avoid picking them up every time, unless they truly need comfort or feeding. With consistency they will realize that nighttime is for resting and not for playtime.
Breaking the Feed-to-Sleep Habit: Separating Eating from Drowsiness
Falling asleep while feeding is pretty common with many newborns, but as they grow, this somehow interferes with independent sleeping. So, to help your baby learn to self-soothe, try to separate feedings from falling asleep, make sure to have ample time in between feeding and sleeping especially during nighttime routines.
Instead of right on feeding before sleeping, you can try feeding them first, let them engage in a calming activity, before placing them in a crib. With time they will learn not to associate feeding with falling asleep and lean more on to learning that cribs are for falling asleep. This small shift can make a huge difference in their long-term sleeping habits.
Conclusion
Learning how to get newborn to sleep in a crib is not going to happen overnight. This is about a gentle, consistent approach and building of habits and trust over time. Every child is a little bit different, and what works for one may not be as helpful for another, but it’s okay.
Throughout the day, you can keep your little ones close using tools like a front facing baby carrier to provide them the comfort and contact that they crave and need. Now when the night comes, you can replicate this closeness with warmth, sound and simple routine to efficiently put them to sleep.
Over time, with your consistency, patience and practice, your newborn will adjust and learn to associate falling asleep with the crib. And finally, you’ll get the sleep you deserve.
