Newborn won't sleep in moses basket at night

egan2020

I had a baby girl last week and everything is going great except for the dreaded night time. She sleeps no problem in her moses basket during the day but as soon as we try to put her in it in our room in the night time she just won't settle. I've walked around the room with her and she nods off in a couple of minutes but when I put her down again, she wakes after about twenty minutes.

We've ended up taking her into the bed with us and she falls asleep within minutes and one of the nights she slept for six hours!

We don't really mind having her in the bed but I had this problem with my other daughter eight years ago and took her into the bed and she ended up there for about five years :eek:

So does anyone have any tips for me. I mentioned it to the public health nurse who said she'd come around in her own time but I'm not so sure based on my experience with my other daughter.

mrsberries

Hi there - congrats!

We've kinda the same problem with our 5 week old girl. For us the moses basket is in the bedroom and she sleeps in the pram during the day. What we've had to do is bring down the moses basket downstairs and try and settle her in it there and bring it up. Can take a few goes to get her off but we get there eventually. Ive made a rule also we only take her into the bed after 7am in the morning but understand that sometimes it can feel like the only solution!!!

Best of luck

Hey - Congratulations!

My advice is be cruel to be kind. Make sure she stays in the moses basket - but you can comfort her by gently stroking her cheek. It takes time, but if they learn now they will always be better at settling themselves at night.

You feel bad because they cry - but in 3 months time you will have a child that has more energy during the day because they sleep better at night.

Ayla

OP - congrats on the birth of your daughter.

Your child is one week old - in my opinion, babes are basic creatures who can only exist by animal instincts until they're about 6 months. This means that they can't "learn" to sleep at this age...they sleep when they're tired and they cry/awake when they need something.

If your daughter sleeps well in the basket during the day, maybe that's b/c she can sense people around her and is comforted. At night, then, suddenly she's sleeping on her own in a dark quiet room, and she's likely getting nervous. That's why babes frequently do sleep better in a co-sleeping situation, b/c they know everyone's nearby.

Just b/c your 1st born coslept until the age of 5 doesn't mean it'll happen with your 2nd child. Once she's older (at least 6 months) she can start recognizing, remembering and rationalizing, and at that point you can "teach" her to sleep on her own in her own space. Until then, maybe she's trying to teach you that she needs comfort at nighttime (which is completely natural and understandable).

She's one week old, give her some time!

egan2020

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I think I'll try Mrs. Berries' one first and if that doesn't work well then the bed it is. When I had my other daughter I was living at home with my parents so it was just me and her in a double bed and to be honest I didn't really make an effort to get her to sleep on her own and it went from there.

I asked the public health nurse about letting her cry and she advised against this and said she is way too young to be taught to go to sleep especially having been nice and snug inside for nine months.

mrsberries

egan2020 wrote: »

I asked the public health nurse about letting her cry and she advised against this and said she is way too young to be taught to go to sleep especially having been nice and snug inside for nine months.

Exactly. Ive had a lot of well meaning family members telling me to stop picking mine up everytime she cries and tutting when I mentioned taking her into the bed to get her to sleep but they are so used to listening to your voice and heartbeat of course they want you near for comfort. We keep her in the room with us all the time. It will get better though as she starts to sleep for longer and gets used to the basket Theres plenty of time in the future to get them to learn to settle themselves.

Moonbeam

both of my babies were happier snuggled up to us at night for the 1st few weeks,the world is a big scary place!
Never had any issues with settling or sleeping either of them after 6 weeks one is 15 weeks the other is 28 months.

angelfire9

Aisling never took to the moses basket either and like you I ended up bringing her to bed at night more often than not out of sheer exhaustion
She is 21 weeks now and sleeping in her cot as happy as larry
We think the fact that she couldn't see out of the basket freaked her out
In the cot she can see everything around her when she wakes up and generally she sleeps 8/9 hours a night
(She is in her own room for the last month or so and took to it like a duck to water)

How Strange

Thank god you're not letting your little baba cry. Controlled crying has it's place but its just downright cruel to let a newborn baby cry and not attend to her. They're traumatised and need lots of hugs, cuddles, love and reassurance from their mum and they're crying for a reason.

Our little fella was the same as yours in that he wouldn't sleep in a big cot or small cot. He did actually like his moses basket but it took us over two weeks to figure it out and he slept on my chest until we did.

I'm breastfeeding so while he starts the night in his moses basket he inevitably ends up in our bed. I heard all the stories about how we'll regret it and we'll never get him into his own cot but from my point of view if he co-sleeps with me then we all get a night's sleep.

Your moses basket could be too cold for her so try keeping it warm with a hot water bottle or keep her swaddled so she doesn't sense any difference in temperature from the warmth of your arms to the cold of the moses basket. She may prefer to sleep in a bigger cot. When we were in your position my mam said we just had to try everything until we found out what he liked and it really was a eureka moment when we figured it out and he had his first night of sleeping on his own.

Don't worry too much about where she's sleeping for the moment; she'll settle down in a couple of weeks or so. You have lots of time to establish routines etc later on. Right now you need to sleep so co-sleep with your baby if you feel comfortable doing it. As far as I'm concerned you can't 'ruin' or 'spoil' a newborn baby. They need al the love and reassurance you can give them.

shining star

Congratulations on your new baby! I have a nearly two week old baby girl and while she does settle quite well in the moses basket, we do pick her up whenever she cries rather than leaving her to cry it out. With my first I was probably more adamant about getting in to a routine, but this time I feel that she's probably a bit scared sometimes and might feel lonely in the basket on her own after being inside me for so long! So I would do whatever feels right for you, and hopefully she will settle a bit better in a few weeks time.

egan2020

Update - I settled her downstairs last night and brought her upstairs and she stayed in her moses basket until her first feed and I brought her into the bed after that for rest of the night. I think I'll stick with this for now and deal with getting her into the cot at a later stage. The important thing is that I have much more energy today than I did on the couple of days after I was trying to settle her on her own.

magztar

Congratualations!

My daughter was the same.She would sleep in the morning in the moses basket downstairs but not a hope upstairs at night.I really think it could have been because there was noise downstairs and then dead quiet at night.We use to bring her into the bed with us,We found that also anytime she move in the moses basket she would wake up from the creaking noise of it so we put her in the cot in our room at 5 weeks and kept the basket downstairs for during the day,We finally moved her into her own room at 6 weeks and not a bother since..But the best advice was giving to me was do anything to get sleep for you and your baby,If it means take her into the bed and both of ye get rest do it!
As the other post says she's only a week old babys will get into a routine in time!Dont be stressing pet!