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Back to the Crib
Transitioning from a Co-sleeping Environment Back to the Crib or Bed
By Lisa A. Goldstein
Once you've decided that this is the right time to move your child, go forward with confidence, Pantley says. This doesn't mean you have to rush the process; just have your eye on the goal. "All family-bed children eventually move on to independent sleep, and it's perfectly acceptable for you to choose the time for this to happen," she says.
Not only do you get to choose the time, but you get to choose the method. "The most important thing to know is there is no pre-established way to do this," says Dr. James McKenna, director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. McKenna has been studying co-sleeping for more than 30 years. "Each baby will be extraordinarily different," he says. "The parent, depending on how important the change is, must be very patient and consistent and not waiver in the choice to re-locate the baby permanently to sleep in the crib. The process requires parental knowledge of the child or infant involved (temperament, needs) and how strongly the parents want a change in their arrangement."
Usually, Dr. McKenna says, the parents come up with transitional patterns unique to their household and/or child – providing a transitional object, toy or something to distract the child. If the child is a little older, for example, some parents go to the child's new twin bed and lie down there with the child. Once the child falls asleep in her bed, the parent leaves. As for infants in a crib, Dr. McKenna admits it's very difficult to re-locae an infant once this infant has been sleeping with the parents, but putting the crib next to the bed with the parent holding the baby's hand will help settle some infants during this transition.
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