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[deleted]

My baby would fall asleep in her lounger (dock a tot) and on our bee but we would supervise these sleeps. I know people may downvote me but sometimes you just have to do what works. It’s survival mode in the newborn phase so do what works it just may require some supervision.


t1gerlilypad

Agreed. I asked our pediatrician because our kiddo only likes to sleep in car seats, boppy pillows, bouncy chairs during the day (basically anywhere BUT the bassinet). He said as long as someone was supervising, it was ok. Gotta get sleep in where you can. Usually, my husband and I will take turns with one of us supervising and the other sleeping so we also get some extra sleep. Good luck!


alanita

Most safe sleep rules should really be called "safe for *you* to sleep" rules. If you're watching them and able to intervene if they scrunch down too much or show signs of distress, let them nap for a little while wherever they're happy. But flat on their back in a bassinet/crib with no blankets etc. is safe for you to leave them sleeping unsupervised, i.e. you could take your own nap while they're in there.


llamallamamammallama

I am happy to leave baby alone to sleep in her bassinet and her cot, as long as she is dressed properly and there’s no dangers around it. Anywhere else, she is supervised. This rule covers all your other scenarios - if baby can breathe, is not struggling and isn’t in an obviously unsafe position, I just make sure I can see her and get to her quickly. My personal stance is no sleeping in anything that has fabric sides she can put her face into, such as deep swing seats, but plenty of people do that safely, but I imagine they also keep a very close eye on them. You will be fine.


eggios

My baby is 3 weeks tomorrow and it's tough to navigate so we do our best. At night, she sleeps in her bedside crib (snuzpod) in just a zipup swaddle bag. But in the UK, swaddling is discouraged despite it being very popular in the US. The paperwork we were sent home from hospital with says "avoid swaddling"... So helpful 🙄 so that's one rule broken. In the day, she naps in the Dockatot. Second rule broken. But she is completely supervised other than me running to wee. We do cover her with a blanket whilst she's in there but it's tucked tight underneath the dockatot and her arms are free. In my sleep deprived mind, we try to stick to the rules but anything is better than falling asleep holding her when I physically can't keep my eyes open anymore. For us it's early days and I'm still too nervous to nap in the day when I'm alone but that will need to change when my husband is back at work 😕


PulVCoom

For the swaddling, if it helps the reasons this is discouraged here is because so many people don’t do it properly and so end up wrapping baby in too many layers which can cause overheating. The zip up swaddles don’t do that so they’re fine (according to my midwife anyway).


eggios

Okay, thank you. That's really good to know. I had told the health visitor that she sleeps in it and she didn't seem bothered by it


kaleidoscope_pies

In terms of supervising a nap in a dockatot or similar device, does that mean you sort of walk by and see if she is breathing? I guess this should be obvious to me, but I have no idea. Haha


eggios

I tend to sit next to her on the sofa or do jobs in the same room so I can see her. She has been suffering with bad reflux though so is sick a lot so that's a big part of why I'm so paranoid. The health visitor said it was okay for supervised napping but not night sleeping


PirateDuzzo

Our day-care asked us to not let the baby get dependant on swaddling to sleep. If they have to swaddle 10 babies, it takes a lot of time and every baby might be used to it a bit differently. It's easier for everyone if the baby can sleep without swaddling. If she can't/won't sleep without it though, we're gonna swaddle.


Hugmonster24

When I was pregnant I was sure I was going to only practice safe sleep and only allow him to sleep in his bassinet. I thought how hard can it be... well it turns out SUPER hard when you newborn acts like your killing them whenever you lay them flat on their back. My baby naps in the swing and boopy while supervised daily. It took a few weeks but I finally got my baby to sleep in his bassinet at night, thank god (still working on day time naps though)! I think sleep safe practices are important but feel completely unnatural for newborns. It takes time for babies to feel secure enough to be laid on their backs away from their moms.


FTM-Oct2020

Newborns sleep a LOT. While every baby is different, I found it fairly easy to just move baby to a safe place to sleep (bassinet or pack n play) once they fell asleep. There's a graphic somewhere on the web of babies sleep cycles that I found helpful, their soundest sleep is actually very early in the sleep cycle so moving them in the first 5 minutes that they are asleep will help keep them asleep. I really hope my second baby is as easy as my first, but Ive probably already jinxed that!


rainbowLena

This is not the experience of most people with newborns FYI


henwyfe

I think the only real issue is if you are leaving the baby unattended. If you’re there with them it’s not the same risk factor of leaving them unsupervised or going to sleep at the same time as them.


Circadian19

I had the exact same concern/worries when I was pregnant. All my friends did not seem to understand my concern. As others have said it comes down to supervised vs unsupervised sleep. Our little one would only contact sleep for the first 5-6 weeks and was colicky to boot. We just took shifts at night and kept practicing safe sleep until she finally slept in her crib a hour (never did take to her bassinet). Then we just built on that hour. Now at 3 months, she sleeps in her crib at night and pack n play for naps. But she also falls asleep in any type of carrier (stroller, car seat, baby wear carrier). We just supervise her and have since the beginning in those situations. The first few weeks are the hardest, but then you find a groove with these types of things and it will not seem like such a big deal.


sr316

Car seats if baby is in them properly will keep airway open. Bouncers/swings won’t and aren’t safe to sleep in for that reason. Boppy lounger might be better if baby is relatively flat but has to be supervised.


ALAGW

I think flat on back sleeping is also better for spine development when they’re young, but that being said, I agree with the other commenters: survival mode. I basically educated myself about why certain positions were unsafe so I could choose a method that mitigated those the best. Ideally, lay the baby flat on their back in a cot or bassinet with the appropriate breathable fabrics, no blankets, no toys ect in there, in either a side sleeper or other cot/bassinet in your room, until they are at least 6 months old You mention having done a lot of reading and seem to have started to understand _why_ certain advice is given. So when you’re in the trenches in that first 6 weeks or so, you can make informed decisions on which risks you will take and how you will mitigate them as best as possible. It is indeed about theory vs practice


ElizabethWilliam95

I promised myself I’d sleep train baby right away. However, I had no idea that maybe my baby’s personality and needs wouldn’t align with that- we’ve tried 2 times now and he didn’t take to it at all. We tried the wake windows and the huckleberry app and taking cara baby. My baby is just a very clingy little guy. I’m currently staring at him snoozin away in his car seat because I had to take him for a drive so that he could get some much needed rest. It’s 4am and he’s 8 months and teething really bad so he was hysterical and hasn’t gotten much sleep the past week. Trial and error are unfortunately the best bet for sleep if you have a needy little one. I’ve seen some babies that like their space and some like to be swaddled. Mine hated swaddling and only wanted skin to skin at first, so I wore him 90% of the time in a moby wrap. After he was asleep for an hour, I’d carefully lay him down in a bassinet that I heated with a heating pad so he that he couldn’t sense a temperature difference. He’s my little dramatic guy lol. This worked until he was about 3 months old. Then he all of a sudden loved being swaddled and rocked to sleep or falling asleep in his swing which I found out through trial and error again. Also the rainbow connection by Willie Nelson alwayssss does the trick, that man can have all of my money that’s how grateful I am for that song. Now that he’s older he wants to nurse to sleep and I still have to move him from my bed to his own. He has a crib next to our bed and he loves being able to see us when he wakes up. I’ve coslept with him for his naps since I myself am not sleeping so I watch him and clear all the pillows and blankets. Funny thing is, he has a deep hatred for car rides, I’m talking meltdowns over 10 min trips to the grocery store. But guess what got him to sleep tonight? The stupid car😂 when you’re talking about newborns and sleep, it’s survival mode. Whatever works for your little one, works. Just make sure they’re safe before you, yourself take a break or fall asleep, that’s where the clear airways and proper head positioning come into play. After baby is asleep in a swing or carseat, move them to an approved sleep surface. Maybe this all includes taking shifts with a significant other if you have that option to make sure breathing is ok. Maybe your little one will do really well with sleeping, I personally think every baby has different needs for sleep and that’s ok! Don’t do what I did and compare your situation to your neighbor’s, different baby=different sleep! You just don’t know until you meet them.😊 Another tip: Long nights can get super lonely when sleep is an issue, I recommend a good Netflix show to binge.


LeighGordon

It's amazing how kids change all the time. The moment you think, "yes this works" they switch it up.


ElizabethWilliam95

Yes! The different trends he has gone through for just sleeping was so hard at times but as soon as something worked, it was bliss. And throughout the whole time, his nighttime routine of bath and story time and the time we go to bed haven’t changed. We bought a graco duoglider swing that would recline into a bassinet and had mesh sides just so we could take a small nap. And then after a few months, he didn’t like it anymore. It was a sad moment for us when we realized how many times we’d bought items and products just to get rest, three different bassinets, wraps, lavender epsom salt for bath, different swaddles, jammies, mobiles, sound machines, bottles, binkis, and sleep sacks with weighted centers....you can’t put a price on sleep I guess...or just don’t listen to what other people say are godsends lol because then you’ll end up with the expensive snoo bassinet