Hellobee Boards

How old is she?

Take this with a grain of salt since my LO never once liked the swing, but I think I wouldn't want to introduce something that I knew I would have to wean from, if she is doing well sleeping in her crib. I guess I feel like she sounds like she will drop the night feeding on her own, but you will have to work to take away the swing of she gets used to it.

I would also worry slightly a it the SIDS risk but I know lots of mamas let their babies sleep in the swing.

Do they share a room? Could you get a louder sound machine so the baby could fuss for a few minutes without waking her brother? Our LOs will eventually share a room but I envision the baby being in our room for a while first.

@Mrs. Lion: ah I see. Yeah the white noise machine is a must for us. We live in a small condo so you can hear everything. Maybe you can put it up on a shelf? I know what you mean about the morning though- that's the hardest time to get them back to sleep or keep them asleep. Says the mom up since 5:30 with my almost two year old.

@Mrs. Lion: I'm confused too, honestly! I think the swing and car seat might be at slightly more or an incline?

Also, by 4 months your LO probably has some neck control and those things are probably less of a concern than they were when she was teeny tiny.

We had C in the rnp for the first few months. I was more worried about it making her head flat than the airway. Maybe I chose the wrong thing to worry about but both were fine.

@Mrs. Lion: I think with some items the concern was a large part straps. Parents not buckeling them or adjusting them properly and kids getting tangled. Or even shifting during the night in a weird position. A car seat has a steeper incline too so that's not supposed to be great for long periods.

We used the swing at night the first few months. We always started out in the crib but if LO had a hard time going back down, to the swing! We moved to crib alone at 4 months when he learned to roll over because he could soothe himself back to sleep (strong startle reflex ). No issues.

We had a lot of sleep and reflux issues between 3 and 6 months and he sometimes slept in the swing as a last resort.

No. At 4 mo I wouldn't have trusted DD alone in a swing, period. Baby girl was super wiggly and would for sure have found a way to roll herself into a bad position. It sounds profoundly dangerous IMO.

I did it with DS out of desperation :s but take it with a grain of salt because I let him sleep in the car seat a few times too! He was such a terrible sleeper I tried everything ... But I did worry about SIDS and would occasionally freak myself out.
fwiw, he had no trouble moving to the crib later on ... And he did eventually sleep through the night after 1 year!

The thing that would worry me would be weaning from the swing

Not worth the risk for me personally. I'm also not a fan of the Rock n play for overnight sleep either. Their sleep is constantly changing, theres no guarantee it will work in the long term anyways. But, to me, if she's waking up that means she still needs something - whether it be food or comfort.

i would worry about the increased chance of flat head (since it's overnight instead of just naps) and then weaning from the swing. but you know, you gotta do what works for you and your family (although i don't know anything about the SIDS risk, sounds like you are looking into that).

You should check out the troublesome tots website. She has a series on using the swing at night and how to wean off of it.

@Mrs. Lion: bumping this old thread bc I'm curious what you ended up doing? I'm having similar issues with my 10 week old and also considering moving the swing to the nursery and using it for night sleep after reading troublesome tots!

Heck yes. When LO2 was that age, he wouldn't sleep in ANYTHING besides the swing for about 2 weeks. We kept him in it for all naps and overnight during that time. I didn't have any concerns about it.

@buttermilk: we used a Merlin suit to transfer from RNP to crib and it really helped!