These are a few of my favorite things: sleep edition

Occasionally I will be writing posts discussing favorite items I’ve come across over the months, be it baby or parenting related (or alcohol related, which technically falls under parenting in my book because duh. Mama’s gotta survive). anything I list is all my unbiased opinion based off of things or products I can personally vouch for and feel like sharing with the class. Because we’re all just here trying to get through the day without strangling our significant others or handing our child to the next stranger that walks by. It takes a village y’all. Without further ado, I give you my favorite things to help with sleep.

When it comes to parenthood, I would venture to say that the number one priority on all of our minds when it comes to children – especially babies – is sleep! Before you’re even a parent you have veterans telling you “enjoy it while you can!” or “you’ll never sleep again!” and I’ve gotta tell you, they’re completely right. Just kidding (sort of). When Sam came we knew that we’d be dealing with sleep deprivation for a little while, but I figured there had to be things we could do to increase our chances of not being up so often in the middle of the night. I consulted with my friends that were already parents, read books and articles on it, and landed on a couple items that have made a world of difference in our lives. Now I will preface this by saying all babies are different, what worked for us might not work for you, yada yada, but if I’m close with you and you’re expecting? You better believe you’re getting one of these as a gift because I absolutely believe in spreading the wealth/sleep!

The first item that I love and will tell you to run out and buy at least one of (two is probably better though, especially if you have baby that loves blowing up diapers…) is the Halo sleep sack. Seriously guys, go now and get one. Babies love to be all swaddled up and cozy like they were in the womb, it’s basically science. Sam happened to be a ninja who always managed to break out of swaddling blankets, but the Halo sleep sack acted like a baby straight jacket that kept his little arms nice and tight by his side. Not to mention the most important little detail which is the fact that as soon as we started putting him in it at night, he started sleeping longer stretches! This is the one that we had which is perfect for those colder nights, but Halo also makes them in cotton so you’re covered all year round 😉

Then comes the time that your baby figures out how to roll from back to belly (or they outgrew their Halo and you don’t want to spend money on the next size up when you know they’ll be rolling over in the very near future), and you’re all “now what do we do?!” The Merlin sleepsuit, that’s what you do. I first stumbled across this amazing, magical contraption from a couple of ladies on my birth month board. A couple of them were raving about how well their babies were sleeping in them so I looked them up online. They’re a little spendy which initially made me apprehensive, but after reading even more positive reviews on them I decided what the heck, why not give it a go. The first time we put Sam in it we got a good laugh because it looked SO ridiculous, but it WORKED. I’ll never forget the look on Nick’s (my husband) face when he came running into the bathroom exclaiming “Sam was crying so I put him in that suit and laid him on our bed and HE FELL ASLEEP!” He’s been sleeping in it every night since then, and even most naps, and I can definitely say that it’s helped him sleep better. We call it his space suit, he looks pretty friggin adorable in it. You can find it here!

And there you have it! A few of my favorite things when it comes to getting your baby to sleep. I hope that if you decide to try one of the things I listed, that you enjoy them just as much as we have.