Top Ten for Bedtime

Monday, January 11th, 2009 - Day 24

Tia has been sleeping pretty well at night. She does get up to feed around 1am and then again about 5am. I came up with my top ten things that make it for a perfect night sleep for Tia.

1) Tia's Room - Of course we started out having her sleep in our room because she had jaundice and she had her days and nights mixed up. But now that she is sleeping at night, we have put her to bed in her room for the past couple weeks.

2) Crib- Her crib is an espresso color and is beautiful with her chocolate and pink bedding.

3) Mini-Crib - Since she is so small, they say newborns have a harder time in a big crib with so much space, so we got a mini-crib from Target that is perfect. It fits inside the big Crib and is the perfect size for her.

4) Positioner - We always have the fear of SIDS on our minds, so we heard that a positioner was perfect for newborns to keep them more in place while they sleep. I had no idea what this was but a friend gave me one and it works perfect. It fits nicely inside the mini-crib and is soft. It keeps Tia from rolling.

5) Swaddler - The best thing for night/nap time is to keep Tia swaddled nice and tight. When she isn't swaddled, her hands will wake her up. If she isn't swaddled tightly enough, she finds ways to get her arms out and then she wakes herself up and can't go back to sleep. But keeping her swaddled is great. We bought what we call a 'cheater swaddler' which is something that wraps around her and has velcro to keep her snug.

6) Monitor - I love our monitors because I can listen for Tia when she wakes up or just to hear her and know that she is alright.

7) Pacifier - Ultimately we try not to put her to bed with a pacifier because if she loses it, she wakes up. OR if she has the pacifier in, she doesn't go to sleep as fast either. It looks like she is sleeping, but you can see she is doing her Maggie Simpson and sucking away on it. But sometimes a pacifier in her mouth causes her to instantly close her eyes.

8) Sound Machine - We have a great sound machine that has rain, heartbeat, ocean, lullabies and a timer, so we can put on a sound and have it automatically shut off in 15 or 30 minutes. We don't use it every time, but it is nice to keep a little bit of sound in the room so she doesn't get scared if she wakes up to dead silence.

9) Nightlight - The mini-crib came with a small nightlight that is perfect. It is bright enough that if I need to check in on her, I can see her face, but it sits on the top of the mini-crib so when Tia is laying in it, she can't see it, so it doesn't bother her. Before we had that, I would put the hall light on so I wouldn't wake her up but could somewhat see her.

10) Glider Rocker - I LOVE the glider rocker. It is awesome! I don't use it every day, but if I want to rock her a bit or if she wakes up in the middle of the night and is wide awake, I can rock her a bit to make her drowsy again. It is also perfect for breastfeeding. The ottoman also rocks so it is very comfortable. I use the boppy pillow to raise her up a bit and make it comfortable for both of us if I do breastfeed.