Clara Is In Her Crib!

I'm so happy to report that our little girl is now sleeping in her crib! My husband and I have wanted to make this transition for a couple of months now but Clara had different plans. She has had an adverse reaction to her crib since day one! Whenever we put her in the crib, she has been unhappy - crying and blowing sad raspberries! We have been working with her trying to make the crib a positive experience, but have seen little to no results. We've tried reserving her favorite toys to play with in the crib, playing her favorite music while she's in the crib (she loves Pat Benatar and Kenny Rogers - what a cool kiddo). I even made her a lovely butterfly mobile for Christmas but none of those seemed to produce desirable results.

I understand it is common for high needs babies to fight the crib and take longer to develop sleep patterns that fit with the family's schedule - so we've been patient with Clara. She has been sleeping next to our bed for the past seven months. She outgrew her bassinet at five months so we moved her to a pack-n-play, but she didn't seem to sleep as well and was waking up every two hours (sometimes more) for comfort. This has been going on for months and we were exhausted! We had tried a bunch of different strategies, but it was so hard for her to get to sleep and stay asleep. Her being a light sleeper didn't help as she would easily awaken if my husband or I rolled over or shifted positions in bed.

I knew she was ready for the transition and I remained positive that it was going to work out and be a huge leap forward for all of us. If it didn't work we could always go back to her sleeping next to us and try again in a month or so...so what was the harm in trying? I'm so glad we gave it a shot because it has actually worked! She is sleeping better and for longer stretches. She is still working on the self soothing but I know that will come with time. Clara will often awake 30 to 45 minutes after we get her to sleep so we have been giving her the opportunity to put herself back to sleep. It's so cute to watch her on the baby monitor. She'll start fussing and that will transition into her singing "ba, ba", "da, da", or "ma, ma". I really can't believe how well she's doing with the crib. We knew she was ready for her crib but we are still pleasantly surprised and so proud of our little girl!