Sleep is an obsession for many new parents, and it's like shooting fish in a barrel to understand why: You're not getting nearly enough, and notwithstanding you have to recollect about it all the time as you schedule naps and hope that (just this once) you lot all slumber through the night.

And since babies change so much in the first year, it seems similar equally soon equally you've got naps and nights nailed downward, your infant outgrows her bassinet — and suddenly information technology'south fourth dimension to think about those sleeping arrangements all over again.

The transition from a bassinet to a crib may seem daunting, but don't lose any slumber over it. Here are the answers to parents' nigh frequently asked questions nearly making the switch.

How long should my baby sleep in a bassinet and what age should I move her to a crib?

Many newborns start their sleeping lives in a bassinet or other bedside sleeper in their parents' room. This is convenient since you tin comfort and feed your baby in the middle of the nighttime without shuffling down the hall in the dark. Plus, information technology follows the American University of Pediatrics' advice that babies sleep in the aforementioned room as their parents — but not in the same bed — for the first half-dozen months and maybe up to a year.

If yous're wondering at what historic period a baby stops sleeping in a bassinet, there isn't a difficult-and-fast rule. It depends on a combination of your item bassinet'south weight limit and your child'south development (more than on that below).

Not a bassinet fan? Newborns tin certainly sleep in a regular crib from day i. No thing what baby bed you choose in those early on weeks and months, just be certain that it meets the latest crib safety guidelines from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Where Should Babe Sleep?

How tin I tell it'due south time to movement my baby out of her bassinet and into a crib?

When your baby moves to a crib depends on several different factors. Here are some questions to inquire yourself that can help you lot determine when to make the switch:

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How big is your babe?

Bassinets and other bedside sleepers are great for newborns, only they unremarkably come with weight limits. Some are as low as 10 pounds (which might simply get you lot through the first month), though most can hold a 20-pound baby.

Check the instruction manual or the manufacturer's website to detect the weight limit for yours. If you can't discover the weight limit, err on the side of caution and move your little one to a crib when she hits 15 pounds.

Does she look cramped?

Fifty-fifty if your baby hasn't reached the weight limit of her bassinet, information technology might be getting just a picayune too cozy. Take a look the next time yous put her down. Does she seem cramped?

If her head or feet are bumping into the sides or ends of the bassinet, or she'southward waking upwardly very often (or very all of a sudden), it might be time to give her a piffling more space.

Tin can your baby scroll over or sit up in her bassinet?

Hit new milestones is heady, but the more your infant can do, the riskier information technology is to sleep in a bed made for infants. As with cribs, lowering the mattress before a baby tin sit is a smart prophylactic move, and then apply the same principle to bassinets. In fact, bassinets are often shallower than cribs, then a babe who'due south rolling or about to sit upward could flip herself out.

How practise I transition my baby from sleeping in a bassinet to a crib?

Some babies likely won't care much about the switch — they will happily sleep wherever y'all put them. Just if yous're worried the modify volition cause your little one to have trouble sleeping, hither are few ideas to help with the transition to a crib:

  • Make the switch in stages. Permit her nap in the crib during the day for a couple of weeks until she gets used to it. So complete the transition and so she'southward sleeping in her crib all the fourth dimension.

  • Create a bedtime routine.If you haven't already established some night rituals (bath, book, snuggles, sleep), now's the fourth dimension. All babies thrive on a solid bedtime routine, so every bit you repeat these activities each eve, they'll start to point to her that her crib — and sleep — await.

  • Same room, different bed. Transitioning your babe to a crib might be easier if it involves one switch at a fourth dimension, and then consider moving her crib into your room for a few nights. Then once she becomes adapted to sleeping in a bigger space, yous tin move information technology back to its proper location.

  • Sleep in baby's room. Some other fashion to ease your baby into the idea of sleeping in her own space is to go with her. No, we're non suggesting you hop into the crib (that'due south dangerous for everyone and it would likely break), but if there's a bed or a couch y'all can sleep on or if you accept an air mattress, spend a few nights bunking with baby.

  • Linger for a while.Don't only drop and dash — give your baby a chance to settle downward and get comfortable while you're still in the room. One tactic to try is the chair method of sleep training. Have a seat or sit on the floor next to the crib as she starts to doze, and and so move a picayune farther away the next night — and the night after that — until you're out the door and she'southward happy on her own.

  • Add some condolement. Until your infant is 12 to 18 months quondam, y'all're not supposed to put things (like blimp animals or pillows and blankets) into the crib, merely yous can brand the room more than comfortable past dimming the lights and turning on some white noise.

Don't allow the thought of transitioning your infant from your room to her own crib proceed you upwardly at night. Information technology may take some fourth dimension to adjust, but ultimately this alter should be good for the entire family. Your infant learns to slumber in her ain space — and you can reclaim your room again.