My MUST HAVES for a Newborn!

With the impending arrival of a new little bundle of joy, I've been frantically scrambling to accumlate all the accoutrement necessary for survival. 

O.k, ok., all you really need for a baby is some clothes, a boob, a carseat, and a safe place for them to sleep.  But, I've found along the way that there are a few other items that certainly make life with a newborn a wee bit more bearable. 

Fisher-Price Cradle Swing WITH an A/C Adapter


There are many swings out there on the market, but the one swing that all my mommy friends have reported success with is the Fisher-Price Cradle Swing.  There are a variety of "styles" to choose from.  It can swing both side-to-side (a unique feature particular to this swing, which both of my boys preferred) or front-to-back.  This was the perfect solution for my nap-resistant babies, and the ONLY way I got any sleep when they were going through periods of day and night confusion!  This is one item I honestly do not think I could have lived without!

Back when my boys were itty bitty, they didn't make them with A/C adapters to plug into the wall outlet.  So, we burned through endless batteries.  I donated our old swing and found one for Isla on Craigs List (for $45 - **patting myself on the back**) that DOES plug in!  This new feature is a must!


Dr. Browns Wide-Neck Bottles

I have a love-hate relationship with these bottles.  YES - they do have a gazillion pieces that have to be washed and sanitized.  BUT - I have not found a bottle that vents better than this baby does!  A bottle (if you use bottles at all) with a good venting system is a God-send if your baby is the least bit colicky or has any degree of reflux!  Its worth the extra effort to wash and assemble all the parts.  Trust me.  These bottles are BPA-free as well.
 
I also like the Born Free Wide Neck Bottles, Twin Pack, 9-Ounce, but they are considerably more expensive and have just as many parts.  They are another good option. 




Medela Microwave Sterlizer Bags

Talk about a time-saver!!!  These sterilizer bags are a time-saving way to sterilize bottle and pump parts!  While you don't really need to sterilize all the bottle parts after three months of age, I always continued to sterilize the nipple anyway. 

I also use these bags after pumping at work to sterilize my pump parts.  They fold up compactly and fit easily into my pump bag.  Each bag can be used up to 20 times and takes only 3 minutes to use! 







White Noise Machine

When Carter was a baby, I had this problem where I would put him down for a nap, and he'd be awake again minutes later.  I was ready to gouge my eyes out when I stumbled upon a miracle cure for this problem - white noise.  One day, I just happened to be blow drying my hair near where he was "napping" and discovered that he actually was staying asleep.  As soon as I finished, he woke right up.  So I turned the hair dryer back on and wah lah! he slept soundly the entire time it was on - way longer than he ever slept without it! 

Let me tell you - I burned through two hair dryers and tripped countless numbers of electrical breakers before a kind mommy friend pointed out to me that they actually make devices that replicate this sound for you!  What a life (and energy bill) saver!!!!  Both of my boys sleep amazing well with white noise, and still use it to this day!  This is one thing I recommend to all first-time moms way in advance.  A total MUST HAVE.

A Ring Sling
Babies like to be held.  A lot.   As in, all the time.  I didn't discover the miraculousness of sling-wearing until Bennett was born.  I purchased one in advance of his birth on the advice of experienced mommy friends who said its great for nursing #2 while still attending to the needs of #1.  It turned out to be even MORE useful for me with Bennett because not only did I have to carry around a baby, I had to tote around a heavy apnea monitor and oxygen tank as well. 

The benefits to baby of baby-wearing are numerous - just Google it.  But the benefit to mom of keeping your newborn close, safe, and happy while running around the house, cooking dinner, roaming the store, etc. is something no study can document! 

I should caution you, however, that recently there have been warnings about suffocation risk with the use of slings.  For that reason, I recommend wearing the baby upright (as shown in the picture above), in a "froggy" position - this position is totally safe.  This also happened to be Bennett's favorite position as well!


There you have it - my MUST HAVES for a newborn!  Mommies - what are YOURS???

Mr. Not-So-Sleepy Pants

From these pictures, you would think that Carter was a great sleeper, right?

Wrong!

He used to be a fabulous sleeper. Than, when I was in the hospital on bed rest (yes, over 20 months ago...), he started sleeping with Ace in our bed. No big deal. Poor kid was away from his momma!

When I came home from the hospital, I gave him a few nights, then started the process of moving him back to his bed. In essence, I bribed him. I bought him a few much-coveted pieces to his Imaginext Jungle (by the way, jungle is out and Bakugan is now in), by rewarding him every few nights if he stayed in his bed. And it worked for a good while!

Then, somehow, I don't know exactly how, he made his way back into our bed. I rarely even wake up anymore when he comes in!

But that isn't even the full of it. Nope. The kid now has the hardest time actually going to sleep! It does not matter what time I put him down at night - 8:00, 8:30, 9:00, 9;30 - he will not fall asleep prior to 10:00 p.m. He's been known to still be awake at midnight on occasion!

That is problematic when you consider that he has to wake up by 7:00 a.m. (ideally). At his age, a child should be getting 9 to 13 hours of cumulative sleep. He rarely ever naps during the day anymore, so his 9 hours at night just don't cut it. So, to compensate, to the detriment of my own schedule, I usually let him sleep in. The kid will sleep until 9 a.m. some days if I let him! Since I aim to arrive at work by 9 a.m., and preschool starts at 9 a.m., that obviously does not work as a matter of course.

So, what to do? I've tried putting white noise in his room, music, a nightlight, no light, no books, books, threats, conjoling, bribery. I tell him "you only grow while you sleep, so if you want to be as big as your Uncle Mike [the tallest member of our family], you better go to sleep fast!!!" Nada.

I don't so much mind if he is in our bed every once in a while. I realize he is growing up all too fast, and I rather enjoy cuddling with him some nights (when his toes aren't up my nose...). But the kid does need more sleep. I just don't know how to get him to achieve it!

Advice????

Sleeping your life away

So sorry I've abandoned you my friends! Last week was hectic - to put it diplomatically. Work consumed an inordinate amount of my time and then Bennett's birthday party plans sucked up whatever droplets were left behind. He had a WONDERFUL first birthday party on Saturday, and then we enjoyed a more relaxed and quiet family day on Sunday for Mother's Day. I will try not to take such a long hiatus from my mental spewing in the future.

Today's topic? Sleep.

Yeah, yeah, we know we're supposed to clock 8 hours of sleep a night. A whopping 1/3 of our lives spent in sweet slumber. But who really does??? I love sleep, but I have a real hard time giving up 33.333333% of my day in a totally unproductive state.

Today, MSN posted an article giving away a free guilt trip to all who skimp on the shut eye - 5 Sleep Myths Busted. I've heard it all before, but the following passage was rather compelling:

True, Napoleon slept four to five hours a night, and Thomas Edison got by on four. But world domination and the lightbulb might have been mere warm-ups had these guys slept more. Sleep scientists estimate that only 10 percent of adults are hardwired to need appreciably less (or more) sleep than the recommended seven to eight hours. And by cheating on sleep, you're limping through life with the cranial equivalent of a torn calf muscle. Scarier still, people who are sleep-deprived often don't even know they've turned into zombies. After dividing 48 volunteers into four sleep regimens—eight, six, four and zero hours a night (a.k.a. torture)—University of Pennsylvania researchers found that the six-hours-a-night group fared as poorly on measures of alertness and memory after two weeks as the no-sleep crew did after 24 hours. But participants in the six-hour group didn't feel very sleepy even when they were performing at their worst. Accumulating a sleep deficit also leads to "microsleeps" while you're awake. "Your brain becomes unstable and will go 'off-line' for half a second," Dinges says. The more sleep-deprived you are, the more frequent and longer the lapses.

Well, that explains a LOT! I'm brain dead because I don't sleep enough!

This article was more focused on middle-aged men skimping on sleep to get ahead in their careers, but I think that this is an important topic for moms to think about too. I think its particularly easy for moms to sacrifice time in the sack. Nighttime is probably the only quiet time we get all day; the only time we can actually use the restroom with the door closed and without someone clawing at the door whining mommy, mommy, mommmmyyyy!!!! I don't know about you, but I often don't really get started on my work until 9:30 or later. Once I get on a roll, its easy to keep going. Plus, moms kind of get used to not sleeping. After months of sleep deprivation, 5-6 hours of sleep seems like a luxury!

Short of saying "screw it" to mounds of work every night, 7 hours of sleep is simply not feasible for me. On a good night, I can eek out 6 hours of sleep a night, and that seems good to me! But then again, maybe if I got more sleep, my brain would function better, I'd be more efficient, and that would free up the extra time for me to sleep! Ok, I'll try it. Off to bed - goodnight!!!