Transitioning to sleeping in cribs

Our girls are 2 months old and they are currently sleeping in swings at night. We would like to get them sleeping in cribs by the time they are 4 months old which is when I go back to work. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get them used to sleeping in cribs at this age? I have a feeling it will be horrible... our bigger twin is a fairly good sleeper (though last night was an exception) and a few nights slept 5-6 hrs at a stretch, but she is not used to sleeping on her back on flat surfaces. Our other twin is smaller and wakes more frequently, so we will probably keep her in a swing in our room for a few more weeks.

Thanks in advance!

 

I hope I don't freak you out, but I will share my story. My boys slept in their swings for five months. We tried everything : sound and light machines, white noise, elevating the head of the mattress, loveys...everything. Nothing worked, they hated their cribs and cried every time they were in them. At our wit's end, we finally decided to let them cry it out. It sucked, but it worked! We started with nighttime and it took them about a week to go down without crying. Then we started putting them in their cribs for naps. The whole process took a few weeks.
Other moms will probably have more encouraging stories and better tips than I do! I will say, though that once the boys were sleeping in their cribs, they slept so much better! As a result, I slept better, too.
Good luck!

 

I would do the opposite of lilybay and start with naps first. That way you feel less pressure to get them to sleep and get to enjoy some more good nights yourself before you have to deal with them at night in an unhappy situation. Hopefully they will be more used to it from mastering the nap times in the crib first. Also, I'm just gonna put it out there...maybe during they day try putting them down on their bellies? You can stay right next to them and read a magazine or whatever if it makes you nervous, and they will still get used to their crib. A lot of babies are just plain uncomfortable on their backs and combine that with the new environmetn of their crib... Once they get used to being in the crib and sleeping in it in general, it might be easier to get them to go down on their backs.

 

Yeah, I have been wondering if they would be more comfortable on their stomachs. That's a good idea to try naps in cribs before nighttime sleeping. We did try Adira briefly in the crib last night, but she lasted all of 5 minutes before fussing. Also, even though we have been swaddling them in their swings, my husband thought she would be happier unswaddled in the crib. Does anyone have experience on swaddling vs not swaddling in cribs?

Another question: the past couple of nights Adira (the bigger twin who has been starting to sleep longer stretches) has been really fussy at the "normal" bedtime and hasn't gone down for good until after midnight. Normal bedtime is around 10pm though we are trying to move it back gradually. Lilah does well with this schedule, but I think Adira needs to go down for her night sleep earlier. She took a decent nap starting around 8pm yesterday and so I think once she woke up from that it was just too much for her to go down again so soon for the night. Any thoughts on this strategy? Thanks

 

We transitioned from Rock'n PLay sleepers to their cribs at 3 months and we stopped swaddling at the same time because we could tell that they were moving a lot more and really wanted out of both (well, one boy more so than the other one, who didn't like being flat at first). We put them in pajamas with footies so that they felt covered up and they still had their wubbanub pacifiers. We continued to give them their pacifier whenever they would fuss and we did this for both naps and bedtime. However, if one was super fussy, we had him sleep in the Pack N PLay in our room instead (this happened more at nap time) Closer to 4 mos, they found their thumbs and we didn't have to put their pacifiers back in their mouths anymore!!! Freedom. They just turned 6 months and one of them has been sleeping on his tummy for about a month and the other one just started recently.
After transitioning to the cribs, our more active boy moved around so much and stuck his legs through the slats a few times, so we did end up getting those breathable bumpers.
We did have to put the fussy one in the swing a few times when he would refuse to go to sleep in his crib or if he would wake up and it was obviously too soon for the nap to be over. He's always been our fussier one and I figured it wouldn't hurt him to let him use the swing sometimes, but I would always put him in his crib first and over time he used the swing less and less.

 

My guess is she was tired and could have gone down at 8 for the night. Maybe next time, when she is ready to take a nap that early, do all the bedtime stuff first, and when she wakes up again, don't stimulate her at all, just feed her and put her back to sleep. Meaning keep the lights as dim as possible, avoid loud or too much talking, don't get her going with lots of smiles and eye contact. Just pick up, feed, put back to sleep.

 

If you have been swaddling them in their swings I would definitely continue to swaddle in their cribs, you want it to be as familiar as possible. To that end it may be worth moving the swings into their room to start with so that they are getting used to sleeping in there.
Also what do you mean by fussing? I would totally let them fuss (not properly cry) in the cribs a little bit as they may settle down anyway. What I would try doing is putting them in the cribs swaddled, if they fuss try standing next to them and either gently rubbing/patting/resting your hand on their tummy or stroking the side of their face while shushing them. That should keep them calm enough to fall asleep.
I think starting with naps is a good plan.

 

So the actual getting-in-the-crib has turned out pretty well for our bigger twin. We started putting her there for naps and now she sleeps all night in it. Her bedtime is still variable - it was 8pm for a while, but last night she kept waking up until about 11:30 and then slept until 6 (a very long stretch for her). We also just moved our other twin from the swing in our bedroom to the pack-n-play in the nursery. She had a good night last night, so hopefully sleeping flat on her back helps her sleep longer.

They were on completely different schedules last night, though, and I was totally exhausted today. They are 11 weeks this week and still doing only an average of 4-5 hrs at the longest stretch at a time. I can feel the weeks of sleep deprivation piling up... but thanks to everyone in this forum I keep telling myself it will get better