Sleep, babies and beds

Wrote this over a year ago and thought  I'd let it see the sunshine or your computer screen :) 

Let's talk about sleeping and babies. 

Whether or not your baby sleeps at night or cues all night long like ours is (I hope it's a phase) at some point during a 24 hour day they sleep, and where and on what they sleep is our topic. 

My dream bed for our baby was a suspended bed  (think basket ish) that sways gently when the baby stirs, and in so doing rocks the baby back to sleep. Given our sketchy ceiling situation and budget the swaying bed was not an option. 

First couple of nights at home Jesse slept in a beautiful wood cradle next to our bed (it was borrowed from a friend... check out her awesome blog). Side note my husband and I are both so territorial that sharing the bed with another (even someone as small as a baby) wasn't an option. Jesse hated how much space was in the cradle, after being tucked in the womb. 

So we went with option #3 a monkey. A rocking, collapsible, basinet with a monkey design on it. Jesse loved his monkey. It held him snug so he didn't startle awake during the night.   

Isn't he cute!!

We had a two room apartment in those first few months. If we were using the main room Jesse would fall asleep in our bedroom, and we would move Jesse to the main room when we got sleepy. When we were packing up our apartment and having to use both rooms Jesse slept in the bathroom. Apartment dwelling can be a squeeze but with some creativity and rethinking the norm it is very doable.

(note: my friend was discouraged by her midwife from using a monkey. The midwife said babies tend to "over sleep" and miss feedings. Jesse ate a lot when he nursed so we weren't worried... but now you know what I know) 

Next the stroller. We showed up in Israel, we left Jesse's out grown monkey in the States and decided to tackle jet leg and a new bed at the same time. Jet leg ended up being such a nightmare (I mean nightmare) that we caved on teaching Jesse to sleep in the pack 'n' play. Instead we discovered he could sleep in his jogging stroller. It reclined back, it rolls (similar to a rocking monkey), we could buckle him in, and best of all he slept in it. (craziest idea we ever had)

Now he has out grown sleeping in the jogging stroller (he moves to much for something with only three sides), so with baited breath we reintroduced the pack 'n' play.  This is night 4 and so far it's been okay. Sometimes when we check on him we realize he's practicing crawling or what seems to be him inspecting the walls of his pack. 

With all this change a couple things have stayed the same. We have used the same noise machine since the beginning. Also he has had the same fuzzy head mat since the monkey (it use to be the monkey's face). The fuzz has traveled with us to each "bed".  This way when he lays his weary head down each night it's on the same fuzzy feel, no matter where he himself may be. 

Moral of the story, find what works for you and your baby. Don't be afraid to think outside the box (or crib ;)

Ooh boy :) Since writing this we have tried to get him to sleep on many airplane flights and have transitioned from a pack 'n' play to a big boy bed. Which has it's own set of challenges. Hope you hear my heart that things don't need to look perfect. Your baby needs to be safe and fall asleep, everything else is extra. 

Thank the Lord for the flight attendant who had also taken baby massage classes.