When it comes to sleep, all babies are different.
Jack did not sleep. His first eighteen months or so were full of bleary-eyed parents. We would spend hours bouncing him. Sneaking around as to not wake him up. Adjusting his reflux medicine to see if it would help.
We were exhausted. He just had trouble staying asleep and not screaming. I have a lot of memories of nights where we were awake all night on the verge of a breakdown.
Oliver? The total opposite. We used to have to wake him up in the night to feed him. He’s almost nine months old, takes 2-3 naps each day, and sleeps until 9:30 or 10 in the morning. He wakes up a few times in the night, but he falls right back to sleep.
I actually feel rested when I wake up.
So if there’s one thing I can understand, it’s the world of infant sleep. And just how different every baby is.
While I believe that most babies will sleep through the night when they are ready, I think there are some products you can buy that will help everyone sleep better. Here are five that I use and loved.
Owlet
Okay, you guys might start thinking I’m a little crazy because I mention Owlet all the time…but if you have heard our story, you probably understand. I’d buy this product over just about anything else when it comes to baby products. And for us? It totally lies in the “essential” category. We’ll sing its praises all day long, and it definitely tops our list of items we just can’t live without. Knowing that Oliver has breathing issues, it makes me feel better knowing he is being monitored, so it really does help me get more sleep.
For most, it probably won’t be as life changing, but really, it’s going to help you get more sleep. And that is kind of life changing, right? It’s going to give you peace of mind when you bring your precious baby home. And it’s just an incredible product that I think everyone should know about. Here are more details about it in my first post about Owlet.
We tried a lot of different swaddles, pajamas, etc. to help our boys sleep. Some of them worked better than others. But for us, the Woombie was a total game changer. I love it because it eliminated the use of blankets, it uses light weight material, and it keeps baby nice and snug – like in the womb. Out of all the sleepwear we’ve put Oliver in, it’s the item he has slept best in.
Oliver has never liked having his arms restricted – even right after he was born, he whipped his little arms out of his swaddle. So we prefer the convertible Woombie, which has buttons that you can unsnap if your baby wants to keep their arms out in the open.
I also love the double zippers, which make it SUPER easy to
I wrote an entire post dedicated to this silly little product, but it definitely deserves a spot in this post. We LOVE the Wubbanub. Both of our boys loved there’s. Even though Jack finally gave up his pacifier last year, he still talks about how much he loved it.
First off, it stays in your baby’s mouth better. Jack especially seemed to have issues keeping it in his mouth after he fell asleep (and he would always wake up!) I would lay with my hand in his pack-and-play keeping his pacifier in.
Often, his pacifier would bounce out of his bed, never to be found again. I would then have to search around in the night for a pacifier, which is hard enough to do when it’s not 3 AM! I think it was my sister who originally told us about the Wubbanub, and even though it looks funny, I’ll never go back to regular pacifiers again – especially at night. They don’t bounce away, and they seem to stay in better. Plus, your baby can have somthing to cuddle with!
I swear by white noise. It was one of the only things that helped Jack fall asleep and stay asleep. Up until just a few months ago, he would always have it running while he slept.
We got the Marpac Dohm when he was a little over a year, and I really feel that’s when he started making some improvement in his sleep. We had tried other white noise machines without much luck. I don’t know what it is about this one, but it works, and it works well.
We did have luck with a free white noise on our phone’s as well. Jack loved having the airplane noise or the rain running. We often used this during naps or when we weren’t home with success.
While Oliver used to fall asleep anywhere (there were two occasions even in the middle of Chili’s, sitting straight up on my lap), he’s gotten to a point where he gets distracted really easily. The past few months have been a bit crazy, and we haven’t been able to always be home all day long to give him his 2-3 regular naps. He gets overly tired, which is no fun for anyone involved.
I finally decided to get an Ergo Carrier, and it was the best decision. I’ve tried different carriers with Oliver, and he wasn’t a huge fan of any of them. However, he LOVES the Ergo. I like it because the little hood gives him support when he falls asleep, he sits in it comfortably, and it doesn’t hurt my back! It’s not confusing to put on either.
Obviously, you can’t sleep when your baby is in it, but, at least for us, it helps me put Oliver to sleep when I can’t just sit down and rock him or lay next to him. He slept so well in it when we went to Disneyland, which was awesome.
This is awesome! I think we’ll probably invest in an Owlet whenever we have another baby. They sound so amazing!!
You will not regret it!
Would love to win! After losing my daughter to sids three years ago peace of mind for my baby is what I need. Thank you for making a product with moms in mind.
Good luck! I am so sorry to hear about your daughter.
Can this $25 be applied to that refurbished ones ?
I just talked with Owlet, and unfortunately it cannot at this time.