Everyone wants to sleep and we all want to do so safely. Depending on where you are in the world, the recommendations may be different. As a US based company, we do follow the AAP guidelines for safe sleep which are:

Alone
On your Back
In the Crib

We always want to keep a few things in mind when putting babies to sleep in the crib:

1. Always place your baby on a firm mattress in a safe crib with a tightly fitted sheet. 
2. Never use soft bedding, comforters, pillows, loose sheets, blankets, toys, baby loungers or bumpers in the crib or sleep area. 
3. No hats! 
4. Keep the room at a comfortable temperature, not too hot! 
5. Lower the mattress height as your baby ages!

As with most things baby sleep, getting your baby to actually sleep in the crib comes down to a few important things:

• Overtiredness
• Hunger
• Too much daytime sleep
• Gas

If your baby is overtired, hungry, sleeps too much during the day or they have trapped gas it will likely be more challenging for them to sleep in the crib comfortably. The reason is that all of these situations impact their ability to fall asleep and stay asleep.

We always recommend rocking your baby completely to sleep (at least until they’re sleeping through the night) and starting this process 15 minutes before the end of their OWT. It’s so important to limit their daytime sleep to what’s called for on the guide and work to have them asleep within their OWT. 

If we’re able to consistently achieve this, then they’re more likely to be able to sleep in their crib comfortably. If you’re still noticing they’re having difficulty, I would suggest burping more. Trapped gas can cause them to feel uncomfortable, which can cause them to wake more often.

We believe there’s always something that we can do to improve infant sleep so don’t ever feel like your baby just hates the crib or they’re too used to you rocking them. Most of the time when we hear that, it’s really that we need to fix something above so always take a look at your daytime to see what could be impacting their ability to sleep comfortably. 

If you are looking for help with getting your baby to consistently sleep through the night in their crib, check out our NO CRY IT OUT Infant and Toddler Online Programs, where you can learn a simple 3-step method to achieve sleep…without the sleep training.

You got this!