Hi there. It’s Linda Szmulewitz owner of Sleep Tight Consultants. Today on the sleepy Qs podcast, we’re going to be talking about the transition from the bassinet to the crib. Before we get into discussing today’s topic, though, I wanted to remind everybody that if you’ve enjoyed this podcast, please write your five star review so we can continue to come here each week and talk to you about all the different things that you want to know about your children’s sleep. Also, please, don’t forget to send in your questions. We’re always happy to answer them here. Just go to www.sleepyqs.com to the contact page and write in your question. And we will make that our discussion topic of the week and answer your questions here.
Onto today’s topic: in our discussion today about the transition from the bassinet to the crib, We’re going to be talking about where your child is going to be sleeping when you move them from the bassinet to the crib. And also how to help that transition be just a little bit easier in terms of preparing your child for that move. And we’re also going to spend some time talking about the SNOO and moving from the SNOO to sleeping in a crib. For people who aren’t familiar with the SNOO, it’s a smart bassinet that was developed by Harvey Karp of the five SS Happiest Baby on the Block fame. And this is a bassinet that actually moves your child in it. It rocks your baby when they start crying and it amps up and it rocks more and then it rocks less depending on what your baby’s doing. And this is something that I’m going to get into discussing in terms of just how to know when it’s time to move your child out of the SNOO and how to make that process happen.
Bassinet sleeping is not required
So some things to think about when you think about the topic of moving your child from the bassinet to the crib. So, first of all, some children actually never sleep in a bassinet. There are many children who come home from the hospital and just go right into sleeping in their crib. Maybe that is happening because they’re moved into their own room right in the beginning, or maybe the crib is in the parent’s room.
There’s no requirement that your child ever sleep in a bassinet. It’s really out of convenience. It’s smaller. They tend to fit in small spaces. More easily. Parents can move them up against the side of their bed more easily so that they can be in close proximity to their baby overnight for ease of taking them out and feeding them and also the bassinets at a high level so you don’t have to reach down, but there’s no requirement that your child sleep in an actual bassinet. I know for a fact with my two children, my son slept in the bassinet portion of the pack and play, but we never had like a specific bassinet for him. And we did have one for my daughter, but I’m pretty sure that our cat preferred to sleep in it.
And she ended up sleeping in the pack and play as well. So some people never use them. But what happens with the bassinet is that it’s a small space. It’s not meant to be a place that your baby is able to sleep really very long-term. And in some cases how long they spend sleeping in there, it has to do with how big your child is and how quickly they’re growing.
And I say that because there are babies that are growing very quickly, or maybe they’re born already pretty big. And they grow out of that bassinet very fast. So parents will tell me that their child is rolling into the sides really easily, or they’re scooching themselves up to the sides, which most bassinets are made out of a very breathable material. So it’s not unsafe from a suffocation standpoint, but they just get uncomfortable. And sometimes it happens that your child’s toes and top of their head are touching each end. And so then, you know, it’s time to move them out.
Room sharing
But often babies are sleeping in their parents’ room in those early months. So in terms of the AAP guideline and what the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends for room sharing, the recommendation is that children room share for up to six months or up to a year even. And that recommendation changed several years ago. It used to always be six months that has not changed. But the up to the year recommendation changed for a very important reason. And that was because the AAP really wanted to recognize that children are co-sleeping and they want families to be doing that safely. And the idea is that if your child is in the room with you, then if they aren’t sleeping well, and they come out of their crib or bassinet or whatever they’re sleeping in. Then they’re much more likely to end up in the parents’ bed and co-sleeping where it’s not unsafe. If there are no adults using drugs and alcohol and there aren’t blankets and pillows everywhere, then you can actually co-sleep safely.
And the idea is that if your child is sleeping in a separate room, what happens if they’re waking up is that the adult goes in the other room to get the child when they wake up and may be more likely to fall asleep, holding them, sitting up in a chair, which is actually more unsafe than sleeping on a flat surface without blankets or pillows and without adults using drugs and alcohol, that if they’re, co-sleeping, that’s safer than being in a upright position. And that’s because. Their airway is more likely to crunch when they are being held in that upright position.
Close proximity helps with attunement
Babies often room share because it’s important for them to be in close proximity to their parents. Parents are going to be more attuned to what’s happening with their baby. You’re going to be able to hear your child breathing more easily. And hear them you will. Babies are very noisy. All new parents are okay quite surprised by how loud babies are. They make all sorts of grunting noises. They’ll often scream out in their sleep and you’ll jump up and you run over and you’re like, what’s happening? Everything okay? And you lean over that bassinet and lo and behold, they’re fast asleep again. And that’s just because as they go through light sleep cycles, they wake up more, sometimes more than others and they do scream out. But this doesn’t actually mean that they’re distressed or even awake for that matter. Of course now you’re awake.
So moving your child out of the bassinet, it can be a big change for parents. But moving them out of the bassinet, doesn’t always mean that you’re moving them out of your room. So let’s talk about this for a minute. So some babies are, as I said before, very big. And they might grow out of that bassinet in two months.
And so you may choose to still have your child in your room, but if you feel like, you know what, we just can’t fit the crib in our room, or maybe you don’t want to break out the tools because it does require that you take it apart to fit it through the doorway. Then if you want your child to still room share, you might want to consider putting them in a pack n play in your room. That’s something that’s going to be smaller. It’s easy to move around. It’s collapsible. It’s not a permanent fixture in your room, but it can be a short term solution to still having your child in your room, but not having them in a bassinet that they’ve now outgrown.
Things to think about ahead of time
If you’re going to be moving your child though into the crib, whether this is in your room or in their own room, few things you might want to consider before you’re doing that. So first of all, has your child ever slept in that crib? And in most cases, they probably have not. Maybe some babies have napped in there, but in some instances, children haven’t ever really spent much time in that space awake. So you do want to help your child acclimate to that space. What that means is that during the daytime put them in the crib. Put them in there when they’re awake, when they’re happy, let them roll around in there, or at least spend time on their belly in there when they’re being supervised. So definitely tummy time is a great thing to do in the crib. It’s great because you can get down at eye level with your baby and really interact with them. You can put toys in there so that they can engage with things that are around them. And just starting to think of that space as a familiar environment. Also, this is a good purpose if you have any sort of a musical toy or a mobile using it to help your child start to spend a little bit of extra time in their crib.
That’s actually the best purpose for those, because typically when it comes to sleeping, I usually recommend the parents not use those. Once you’re actually wanting your child to sleep in that space. It’s often also a safe place to put your child if you just need to go to the bathroom so you can put them in there and let them, you know, spend some time in there and think of that as a familiar place. I often have parents also roll their child around in there, especially if they’re starting to roll outside the crib, but once they get into the crib, now they get a little bit intimidated by the crib rails. And so actually physically rolling your child around in that space can be helpful at helping them start to get a sense of the boundaries around them.
May be a bigger change for parents then babies
If moving your child out of the bassinet means that you will also be moving them into their own room. This is often a bigger change for parents than it is for your child. So for younger babies, especially under nine months, their sleep environment is what they’re sleeping in. So they’re going to be much more likely to notice that they’re sleeping in a bigger space, then they’ll notice that they’re sleeping in a separate room. That being said, even being in a bigger space for a lot of babies, it doesn’t really phase them when they’re so young. So I don’t generally find that this is a huge change for most babies. Who it’s a bigger change for are the parents in many cases, because for your child’s entire life that you’ve known them you’ve known them to be sleeping in your room. And so this is a big change for you. And this is something that I’ll often hear from moms that they’re reluctant to move their baby, because it just feels odd to not have them so present. And so if you’re going to be moving your child and you’re still feeling a little bit conflicted about it, I’ll often tell moms. Well go sleep in your baby’s room. You know, they can still be in that space. They can still be in the crib, but you can still be present. So maybe that means that you throw a mattress on the floor. In some cases, the babies room might have been a guestroom at some point in time. There might already be a bed in there. So you can sleep in that room until you’re starting to feel more comfortable and more confident with your child in that separate space.
I wanted to spend a little bit of time talking about the SNOO and transitioning out of the SNOO. So for those of you who are not familiar with the SNOO. The SNOO is a smart bassinet that was developed by Harvey Karp, who is the author of Happiest Baby on the Block. And he talks all about the five S’s, which are many different techniques that you can use to soothe your baby in the first three months of their life.
And the SNOO is a bassinet that is connected to an app on your phone. So you have control over it, even when you’re not present. And the idea is that it actually rocks your baby. So it listens for your baby’s crying. If your baby wakes up and starts fussing, then it will start rocking and it will go up in levels depending on how amped up your child is.
At some point, it will tell you, you need to come and get your child if it’s to the point where the rocking isn’t soothing them. And so of course it’s not advocating that you neglect your child, but if your child responds to that movement, if that motion is what really helps your child, then it can be really useful. And it’s something that I find, especially in the early months when things are very hard babies, aren’t sleeping very much parents. Aren’t getting a lot of sleep. If you have older children that you’re trying to take care of, being so sleep deprived can be very hard on the functioning of the family. And so this is a tool and if it’s one that works for your child, then I am a strong advocate of using it. Unfortunately, it’s quite expensive. You can rent it so you don’t have to purchase it. And I know many families now that are able to borrow it from a friend that may have purchased it, which is a pretty lucky thing to be able to do.
So I would encourage you to find those friends that are willing to loan out their SNOO. Parents will ask me all the time, how I feel about it. And I think that if there’s something that can make your life a little bit easier in the early months and it’s safe to use it, then by all means I recommend using it if it works for you. The thing about the SNOO is that in order for it to be safe, your child is actually attached to it. So they’re in a swaddle and I like the SNOO swaddle, in general, as a swaddle that you can purchase and not even use in the SNOO, if your child’s just going to be sleeping in a crib or bassinet, you can get their SNOO swaddle. It’s called the Sleepea swaddle. I love that swaddle. It’s actually a great one. It’s got flaps on the inside that keep your baby’s arms snugged down by their side. It has an option for transitioning them out of it. So as an aside, I really liked that swaddle in general. But when you use it in the SNOO, there are pieces that actually attach it to the bassinet.
So when it’s rocking your child, they’re not moving all around, it’s holding them still in place. What this also does is it prevents your child from rolling in the swaddle, in the SNOO. So if you have a baby who’s rolling outside of the SNOO or outside of the crib in general when they’re awake and you’re concerned that they might roll in their sleep while they’re swaddled, which is an indication that they need to come out of the swaddle, then the SNOO is actually a good answer for this, because there are a lot of babies who are starting to roll and their parents are reluctant to take them out of the swaddle, but they they have to for safety reasons. And now they are flailing all over the place cause they’re really not quite ready to be on swaddled. And the SNOO is great for that because it will keep them safe. It will keep them from rolling over.
There was actually a rumor. And I don’t know if this has happened, I need to look into it. But there was a rumor that at some point, this new was applying to be covered under health insurance, because they were able to determine that it actually keeps babies so much safer and there’s never been any safety incident with a baby sleeping in the SNOO that there have been zero reported deaths. It’s actually being, they’re trying to determine that it was actually a safer way for your child to sleep then just being swaddled in a bassinet or a crib.
So in terms of transitioning out of the SNOO, I know many families who use it are terrified to move their child out of it. They’re concerned that without that immobilizing swaddle, and without the motion that their child isn’t going to sleep well anymore. And there certainly are a lot of children who do very well in it. I’ve also seen some that really don’t respond to the motion that aren’t really seeking that and don’t care about it. And so in that case, it’s not such a big deal. I’ve worked with many families that go from having their child in this new fully swaddled one night with the motion to the next night, no swaddle in a crib and are going in awake and are sleep training.
So that is absolutely something you can do. In terms of just transitioning out of it, the SNOO does have a weaning mode on it. So that means that the motion won’t be triggered on quite so easily. And you can start to adjust your baby to sleeping without the motion.
Just like with any other bassinet to crib transition, I do recommend acclimating your child to the space that they’re going to be sleeping in. And if they aren’t rolling yet and you are ready to transition them out of the SNOO, you can just put them in a regular swaddle in the crib where they’re going to be sleeping. So it doesn’t have to be a big adjustment for your child to move from the SNOO to the crib. I usually find that it’s helpful to have a few days where the motion isn’t on so that they’re at least used to sleeping without that motion. But again, they’re moving from sleeping in one flat space to another flat space, and that isn’t as much of an adjustment as you would imagine it to be.
Another thing that I believe I didn’t mention earlier is when you’re moving into the crib, it’s a big space and your baby may not be quite so used to having so much space all around them. And so in that case, I will sometimes suggest that parents put children in the short direction, in their crib. There’s no rule that says that they have to go the long way. And you know, babies do often notice that there’s a lot of space around them. And a lot of children like to feel a little bit more snuggled in and a little bit more confined. In fact, in many cases you might see that they actually move themselves over to the sides of the crib, or they were doing this in the bassinet because they’d like to feel pressure on different parts of their body. And so if you put them in the short way, then it’s a little bit easier for them to get over to one side and to kind of, you know, move up against the rails to feel that pressure on their body.
Just one last comment on this transition. I don’t typically have parents do any sort of sleep training with children and bassinets. I pretty much always have them move them into either a crib or a pack and play for any sort of sleep training. And that’s because when you’re putting your child in awake and helping them learn how to fall asleep on their own, you want them to be able to use their body to move in and out of different positions. And that’s a huge piece of being able to regulate themselves. And so I will generally recommend that they move out of that smaller space and into a bigger space before sleep training happens. But again, they could be sleeping in that bassinet one night and move to the crib on night one of sleep training. And that generally isn’t a huge adjustment for most children.
Hope you enjoyed today’s episode of the Sleepy Qs podcast. Please send in your questions so we can answer them for you here on one of our episodes. And thanks for joining in.
