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My son has slept with me most his life, due to a C-section on my part and a bad belly on his, which made him wheeze from acid reflux. I felt better touching his belly to know he was OK.

Now I can't even set him in his crib without him going nuts. He won't even take naps there. It has a serious effect on my and his father's sleeping, because he tosses and turns. I've tried binkies (pacifiers), blankets, singing, putting him in after he's asleep, waiting, telling him I'm here I'll be right back, etc.

What can I do to help with the crib transition?

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  • possible duplicate of Help With Sleep Training
    – Joe
    Mar 6, 2015 at 18:24
  • Hi @user13906 and welcome to the site. I've linked you to a question that's largely asking the same thing and has some great answers. Let us know if you have more specific issues that need to be addressed separately.
    – Joe
    Mar 6, 2015 at 18:25
  • Already tried all theyre suggestions!
    – user13906
    Mar 6, 2015 at 19:31
  • Our 3 year old still sleeps in our bed. It's cosy, but we're hoping she'll move to her own bed one day.
    – Dave Clarke
    Mar 6, 2015 at 21:01
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    Have you considered a converted crib (one side is off, with a guard rail) - you need it very low to the ground (opposed to toddler or kiddie bed). Our oldest did not want to go to bed without us, we slowly transitioned him by laying halfway on his bed with him, then sitting next to him... it took a while.
    – Ida
    Mar 9, 2015 at 22:29

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Based on this statement,

I can't even set him in his crib without him going nuts.

It sounds like your 1-year-old has a negative association with his crib, so sleep training tips aren't going to help much yet, since they rely on setting the stage for a calm and restful place to sleep which won't happen if he's already "going nuts".

We had a similar problem with our 1-year-old, when she would even be brought to her room, she would start to cry out of desperation that she would be left alone to fall asleep there.

We started a simple habit of taking her to her room to play on a regular basis. I'd suggest you do the same with your son: when you're having a particularly happy play time together in the living room or wherever, and when it's nowhere near bedtime/naptime, relocate it (including you and the toys) to his room. Then after a few times of that, move him and his toy to his crib to play. After a while, he will hopefully lose the negative association with the crib and then you can start with the sleep training tips that others have commented about - especially having a consistent going to sleep ritual, in which he ends up in his crib sleepy but awake.

We've done this with our daughter once she got over the negative association with her crib, and although it wasn't an easy process, now we do pj's, tooth brushing, a story, her cuddle kitty toy, and then into her crib, kiss goodnight and turn out the lights. All told, it takes 15 min and results (most nights) in no crying. We followed the advice of Ferber which is widely misinterpreted as being an all-in "cry it out" solution (Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems: New, Revised, and Expanded Edition)

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