Safe Sleep 7 says formula fed babies shouldn’t co-sleep/bed-share. Do you?

[chenml60]

@rawrightx Backstreet Boys! Awful, but kinda funny, sorry! I heard phantom cries in the shower or when I was trying to nap and someone else had the baby, and I would hear patterned noises or distant tunes in the white noise machine. I hated it.

 

[rawrightx]

@chenml60 It’s funny now. I heard phantom cries later on. I think it was the ac.

 

[kaylalala]

@chenml60 That was a tough phase. Sorry you're going through it. Not that this helps you sleep, but I baby wore during the day for a couple of months to get her to nap and then she'd sleep better at night. We went through the same thing where she'd only sleep in our arms and there were definitely a few scary times where I'd fall asleep sitting up in the bed with her still in my arms...but she slept and my neck ached for a few days lol Any family near by the are willing to stay the night with the baby a couple times a week? We lucked out and my mom stayed the night with the baby 3 nights a week in our guest room. That was a life saver! It'll get better and I hope you get some much needed sleep. Sorry I have no advice other than it will pass.

 

[chenml60]

@kaylalala Thank you for your empathy. We contact nap all day long. I wear him in a sling and it hasn’t helped him sleep deeper at night, at least independently. We don’t have any retired or stay at home family members who live close enough to help more than a day a week. But thank you for offering ideas!

 

[kaylalala]

@chenml60 Also we use the Merlin Sleep Suit and she loves it. Her pediatrician recommended it at her 2 month appointment. She's 4 months now and still loves it.

 

[chenml60]

@kaylalala We have our 2 month appointment coming up this week but we have talked to a few pediatric nurses and doctors about our situation already. We have Kaiser and I have called the advice line so many times seeking any kind of help to solve our problem (other than bed sharing) and the only advice we have been given to to let him cry.

 

[kaylalala]

@chenml60 Thats tough to do. Another thing that I tried and worked 75% of the time was laying her on her bassinet and then laying next to her in my bed and just laying my hand on her belly/chest and she would sleep and I would sleep. Hope you get some helpful advice after the 2month appt.

 

[chenml60]

@kaylalala Our 2 month appointment was yesterday and er were just told to get the Snoo which we can’t afford, so not helpful!

 

[kaylalala]

@chenml60 That sucks. The snoo is ridiculously expensive. Our hand me down bassinet has wheels and we used to lay in bed next to her and just roll it back and forth so she'd sleep lol we'd usually fall asleep too. I hope this phase passes for y'all soon! I was thinking of having another baby and then I remember how miserable that was and how sleep deprived we were and then I snap out of it. You can do it!

 

[dcouchotvore]

@chenml60 I got in the co-sleeping position, waited my baby to fall asleep, silently left after alone in the adult bed alone (we have more than one adult bed in the house) she fell asleep-it was easier than putting her back to the crib. After a while we started using a side sleeping pillow for a while (yes I know, dangerous) & I had a device that alerts me when baby does not have a life signal. After she could flip back and forth freely @ 7 mo., I am not so worried about SIDS anymore.

 

[chenml60]

@dcouchotvore Getting him down isn’t the problem. He’ll go down quietly in his bassinet. It’s the waking up every 20 minutes after that was killing me. He seems to stay asleep, at least 20-40 minutes longer if he’s next to me when he stirs awake.

 

[bobross]

@chenml60 How old/heavy is your baby now? I would say maybe revisit the sleep sack situation and see if that helps. Babies change all the time so it could be he'll be a little more malleable now than he was last time.

If it were me, I'd probably put him into a magic Merlin sleep sack (it makes them look like the stay puft marshmallow man but has a very soothing full body hug type thing happening and it modulates their startle reflex. I'd let him fall asleep next to me and then slide him over to his sidecar bassinet. I'd also us an electric heating pad that I could place between the two of us so that baby could feel warmth if he snuggled nearer to the side where I am but not actually be able to get his face against it.

All that said, I realize that might not be possible but I'd probably do some combo of trying a sleep aid (if not the Merlin, the zipadee zip is another good one if they are rolling and cannot be swaddled, otherwise the Ollie is good if not) and being near to them and using a heat source to "soften" the transition.

Another option is the guava lotus travel crib. It opens from the side so you could sleep on the floor on a floor pad and do the same thing but slide him into the travel crib and zip it up after he's slid so as to separate the two spaces.

Just trying to brainstorm in case you're looking for something else outside of cosleeping. Hope you get some good sleep soon!

 

[chenml60]

@bobross Yes, definitely looking for other options, thank you so much for the info! I’m going to look into it right away.

 

[hope2012]

@chenml60 This might be controversial but we purchased an owlet sock so we could have more peace of mine not safe sleeping 100%. My baby will only sleep on us too and my husband has epilepsy so he has to rest so we can’t take overnight shifts.

The only thing that works is a small fuzzy blanket that he is swaddled in inside the bassinet next to me. We make sure it inst close to his mouth but you never know. I feel a lot better knowing a large alarm will go off if he gets it on him.

He has a cleft palate and lip so he gets a lot more air than a normal baby and is very gassy. We also put him in a munchkin chair during the day to sleep since its more up right and helps with acid! When I was in the hospital, they even out his basinet at an angle to help

 

[chenml60]

@hope2012 Coincidentally, my husband also has epilepsy and cannot take night shifts or bed share for the same exact reason!

 

[purpurin]

@chenml60 We do sometimes. We did a lot when she was younger and we couldn’t take it anymore. My husband gets severely physically ill if he doesn’t sleep enough and I get severely mentally ill.

We always tried to put her in the crib still and eventually she started accepting the crib more. Now at 10.5 months she sleeps in the crib 99.9% of the time. We have been cosleeping the last week because she has an ear infection.

One of us sleeps with her in the bed in the nursery. So only one parent. Her crib is one side of the bed and is secured there so she can’t push it over and get stuck between the bed and the crib.

Parent on the other side. Tight fitted sheet, no blankets. Small pillow for parent. No drinking/smoking/drug use for the parent who might end up cosleeping (we take turns). She’s 10.5months old now so she sleeps on her side as the little spoon. She wears a footed long sleeve onesie and a sleep sack. I wear pjs, socks, and a sweater.

The last few days she slept okay in the crib until about 4am. Which is better than last week when she had a really high fever and my husband and I took shifts to stay awake and hold her upright so she would sleep. I’m hopeful this means a couple more days and she’ll be back in the crib all the time.

 

[cgmaj44]

@chenml60 Not judging at all, but i'm wondering if a bassinet with a drop side would help transition him to his own sleep space? I can't think of the exact wording, but there are bassinets that are specifically made with either just 3 sides or a side that comes off so they can be right up next to your bed and you could be close to them, even put an arm in with them, but there's no risk of rolling onto them. Just a thought?