As a first time mom there were two main things that I struggled with, baby sleep & breastfeeding. But I’ve finally cracked the code on my baby’s sleep situation. Can’t say the same about “breastfeeding”, but that’s for another post.
All the products I discuss here are linked to a recent live stream that I did where I spoke about the products and showed them in real life.
When we first brought her home, she was still a sleepy newborn and I thought to myself, “this isn’t so bad.” We’d feed her, hold her, swaddle her and she’d sleep. But that only lasted a few weeks.
Since I don’t breastfeed, In order for my baby to fall asleep, I had to do a lot of rocking, bouncing and singing.. But it felt like within minutes of putting her down, she’d start moving around and wake up! Naps were very short (unless she was in the carrier) and while I absolutely loved the time with her, it was hard to get much of anything else accomplished.
There were 3 main things that not only helped us get longer naps, but helped her go down for her naps independently (no more rocking.)
Initially I was trying too hard to stick to a schedule of a certain amount of “awake” time. I was so worried that she would be overtired that I was basically forcing sleep on her even if she wasn’t necessarily tired. Instead, I feed her then do play time with her and wait until I can tell she’s tired (sleepy cues such as yawns, irritation) before putting her down for her nap. I put her down sleepy, but not asleep and I usually don’t stay with her in the room.
The second thing that was a total game changer for us was the Magic Merlin Sleepsuit. This sleepsuit definitely lived up to its name. The first time that she used it, I left the room to get a binky and by the time I returned she had fallen asleep. I 100% recommend this to everyone, especially if your baby is having sleep troubles.
Lastly, I added blackout curtains to her nursery so that it’s very dark during her naps. I keep a sound machine on and we use the most amazing sleep soother. All babies need one! On days when she is fussy going down for her nap, her “fishies” immediately soothe and calm her down. It has melodies and lights that will auto shut off after a certain period of time. At 6 months, my baby has learned to turn hers on and off. Some mornings she’ll wake up, turn it on and just lay there silently watching it. It’s the cutest thing ever. And helpful for those days that I want to get 5 more minutes of sleep.
One thing I want to add is that every day will not be the same. Some days she’ll have longer periods of awake time, the key is to wait until your baby is sleepy, but not fully asleep, before putting them down into the crib. Avoid feeding them to sleep because as they get older, it will be a habit and you may run into times where they will wake up while you’re putting them down and you need to feed them again. I don’t do cry it out. My baby rarely cries when I put her down, but in the rare instance she does, I will come back into the room and pat or rub her chest until she calms.
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