iHeart the Smiths: Baby Must Haves

Andee's List of Bedtime Must Haves

Last time I did bath time must haves, this time I'm going to give you my must haves for bedtime. This is probably my most important list because bedtime has always caused me the most anxiety, especially when Hogan was a newborn. I have always had a fear of SIDS and it caused me to lose sleep thinking about Hogan breathing while he slept. When I finally got bedtime the way I wanted, I no longer worried about SIDS and I slept better than I had ever slept just knowing that my baby was safe in his own bed. My number one rule when we decided to have kids, was that they were going to sleep in their own beds. Hogan is 13 months old and has never slept in our bed. There have been a couple of times where he was teething and I might pick him up at 5:30 am and lay him in bed with me for an hour or so, but never all night. I just felt like all of us would sleep better in our own beds.

Sound Machine

I did a lot of reading while I was pregnant with Hogan. One of the things I read was that sound machines help prevent SIDS. This immediately caught my attention. White noise supposedly keeps your baby from falling into too deep of a sleep that he or she won't wake up. I bought one right away. Hogan has slept with his sound machine every night and also every nap time since the day he was born. He is 13 months old now and still sleeps with it. The one we have, the MyBaby by Homedics SoundSpa - Lullaby Relaxation Machine, has lots of different settings. It will play lullabies, rain, ocean, etc., and it also has a projector that plays little pictures on the wall or ceiling for your baby to watch. He sleeps with the rain, it's just what we decided on when he was little. Also, because whatever he listens to, we also listen to over the monitor. We've used ours every day for a year and it's still going strong. I definitely recommend this one. It's $24.99 at Target.

Rock N' Play Sleeper

I was introduced to these by a friend at work. She told me they were the best things for newborns to sleep in. They are slightly elevated, so it keeps them from lying flat on their back all night and they also rock, which every baby loves. Hogan slept in his Rock N' Play beside our bed until he was three months old, then I transitioned him to his crib and he's been there ever since. These are so easy to travel with and we did a lot of travelling when he was a baby, so it worked perfectly for us. This is very high up there on my must haves list. They are usually around $75 at Target, Rock N' Play Sleeper, but they are worth every penny, I promise!

Angelcare Monitor

THIS IS THE BIGGEST, MOST ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE ON MY LIST!!! Like I said earlier, I have the biggest fear of SIDS. When Hogan was about two weeks old, I could NOT sleep. I'd stay awake all night watching him sleep to make sure he was breathing. I'd set my alarm for the top of every hour so I could wake up and make sure he was breathing. It was awful and I was miserable. A friend of mine, Kayla, had her son two weeks before me. We texted a lot while we were pregnant and right after we had our babies. I was telling her about it one night and she told me to try the Angel Care Monitor because it alerts you if your baby stops breathing. It was too good to be true, I thought. I ordered one that night. When you read the reviews on the monitor, you will see a lot of people say that it gives you false alarms or that the alarm goes off when the baby is breathing. Here's my experience with this: The alarm never goes off if the baby is breathing. I think lots of times, the baby may be in a position that the sensor pad can't feel the movement, so it sets the alarm off. The older Hogan gets, the easier it is for him to get in the corner of his crib and that's when the alarm goes off. When he's in the corner and the sensor pad is in the middle of his crib, it can't feel him breathe, so the alarm will go off. I sometimes have to get up in the middle of the night and move him back to the middle of his crib, but it's not a big deal for me. Let me say, I would much rather have the false alarms than to have nothing at all protecting my baby. There are several different sensor levels you can choose from. I think we have ours set on the medium level and it works great. When he was small, I had it on the highest level because I wanted to be sure it alerted me. We bought our Angelcare Monitor at Target for around $90. We paid about $75 for our regular monitor we had before we bought this one. For a few extra bucks, why not go with this one? As long as you install your monitor correctly, you shouldn't have to worry about many false alarms.

Bedding

There are so many people that will tell you "don't do this" or "don't do that." When I give advice, I try not to do that. I like to just give my experience with certain things. You can decide for yourself whether you're going to do it or not. Advice is just that, advice. Take it or leave it, you are the mom and you are ultimately the one that has to decide what is best for your baby.

Bumper Pad

When I was expecting Hogan, I was asked several times if I was going to use a bumper pad. I hadn't put much thought into it at that point, so I would just say that I hadn't decided. I researched it a little bit and everything I came across said that bumper pads were no longer considered safe due to the risk of SIDS. Having my fear of SIDS, I immediately ruled out a bumper pad. Well, at three months, when I put Hogan in his crib full-time, it worked out great. He wasn't rolling over or moving much in his sleep at that time. At four months, when he started rolling over, it was a different story. He would scream and I'd go check on him and either his arm or his leg had gotten caught in between the slats of his crib. After this happened three times in a matter of days, I was afraid he was going to end up breaking a limb trying to free himself. I went to the store that day and bought a bumper pad. Since I wanted one that day, I couldn't be picky, so I ended up with this stars themed one in the picture. I didn't care what it looked like, as long as it protected my baby. Once I got the bumper pad, he never got stuck in his crib again. If you're unsure about using one or not, I'd just say that you can try it without one like I did and if you decide you need one, buy it.

Waterproof Crib Pad

This is the mattress pad we have. It's the Circo Absorbent Crib Pad from Target. It is $9.99. Hogan is a year old and we have washed and dried ours countless times and it's still like brand new. We have a baby that has slept 12-13 hours every night since he was 2 months old, so there's nothing you can do about leaking diapers when they sleep that long, it's inevitable. So, these are a must. I would recommend buying two. We only have one and there are lots of times I'm waiting on his to get out of the dryer so I can make his bed for nap time. I'm sure there are several different versions of these, this is just the one we got and it has worked great for us. You'll definitely want to protect his mattress from pee so it doesn't smell like that!

Crib Sheets

We did not buy baby bedding because I did not want a bumper pad or a crib blanket, so we just bought a bed skirt and crib sheets from Target and Buy Buy Baby. We have three crib sheets and we rotate them out. The Chevron Crib Sheet is $9.99 at Target and has held up great with all of the wash cycles it has been through. Like the mattress pad, I recommend having more than one crib sheet. It's just convenient.

Blankets

Again, due to my fear of SIDS, I did not put a blanket in the crib with Hogan until he was almost six months old. I would just make sure to dress him in warm pajamas and socks. My sister always said I was a cruel mama because of that, but I just couldn't help it. At six months, I finally started letting him sleep with a blanket. He always wanted the blanket right in his face, like in the picture above. For the first couple of months, I would only let him sleep with crocheted blankets that had holes in them. I felt like if he had the blanket in his face, at least he could breathe through the holes. That was just my logic to make myself feel better. I would suggest swaddlers or swaddling with a receiving blanket if you are like I am about blankets in the crib.

Swaddlers

Being a first time mom, I had never swaddled a baby before. I came across these swaddlers at TJ Maxx a few days before I had Hogan. I bought this one, the brand is Blankets & Beyond. It's minky dot and so soft. It was only $12.99! It has velcro on the insides that keeps it attached and together, it's super easy. Hogan LOVED his and would sleep in it all night. Sometimes, when he would get fussy, we would put him in it and it would immediately calm him down. These are a must for me and they are also safer than a regular blanket thrown on top of your baby. I got this one over a year ago, but my sister just had a baby and I bought her a purple one very similar to this one at TJ Maxx, so I know they still have them. There are several different versions of these. I know Target has lots of different types of swaddlers. This is the only one I've tried, but I'm sure some of the other ones are just as great. They just may not be as nice to your pocket book as this one is!

Consistency

Consistency pays off. In the beginning, it may seem like it's not working, but it will eventually take hold. We always had a night-time routine when Hogan was a baby. We would feed him, then bathe him, change his diaper, and then we'd all go in our room and play on our bed for about ten minutes. After playtime, we'd lay him in his bed and he would go to sleep on his own. We always put him in bed awake so that he would learn to fall asleep on his own. He's never had trouble putting himself to sleep and he sleeps in the dark with no TV, just his sound machine. Now that he's older and has a mouthful of teeth, our routine has changed a bit, but it's still consistent. He has a cup of milk, playtime, diaper change, we all go in the bathroom and brush his teeth together, then we all lay him down in his bed together and he puts himself to sleep. {I say we ALL, because Bogey does the night-time routine with us.} We were blessed with a baby that sleeps well and I am hoping that Watson will take after his big brother.