The Daily Fuss

And the Little One Said ...

I may have mentioned once or ten times that Leighton comes into our bed at two AM like clockwork.

It was exciting when she was brand-spankin' new and still super duper fun when she was an eight month-old peanut who got cozy and slept rather still on a pillow.

I still love sleeping next to her - even when I get walloped in the face by a stray arm or klunked in the bridge of the nose with a dramatic head-to-pillow fah-whoomp or suffer the tickle-pain of her screwdriver toes in my rib cage throughout my slumber. I do.

However, when I excitedly discuss my family's sleeping arrangement with others (not in our family) they respond with a "Whoooooooooah. No. No. No. NO! NO! You want to nip this in the bud."

The crux of the argument seems to be that the inevitable result of the family bed setup is that my hair will soon fall out, I'll be fired from my job and my marriage will crumble.

Puh-leeze.

I made a vow to parent unapologetically and NOT JUDGE other parents. Why can't everyone play nice and follow along? And why do other parents have such strong opinions on how much sleep I get and whether my kid sleeps in our bed?

The Freeman co-sleeping, family bed situation evolved from traveling the shortest distance between two points. I breastfed for ten months and Leighton has always slept better in our bed. Ergo, I did not have to get up and tend to her fussing in the other room throughout the course of an evening. Shortest distance.

And, she sleeps like a teeny, purring log. Granted, she helps us form a human "H".  But, she sleeps.

Admittedly, I am not jumping up and down about the fact that she's waking earlier and earlier. And so, I'd like to nip that in the proverbial bud. Not because I don't enjoy the family bed, but because this kid needs to learn to self-soothe and I am on board with that.

I do suspect that if Lei becomes an expert in the art of solo slumber ... we will miss her head klunks and screwdriver toes all night long. At this moment, I am not ready to confine her to her crib. Ask me again in a few hours, and I will most-likely have a different answer.

Family bed, yes or no? Why or why not? Please share your fuss with us.

Get Cozy

Some kids can sleep on any surface. Unfortunately, Leighton is not one of those kids. She's decidedly a kid who's sleep would be disrupted by a teeny pea seated beneath twenty mattresses and twenty eider-down beds.

Nearly four months ago, I wrote about the "special" way I would put Leighton to bed and how I was impressed and a little bit sad that someone else had mastered the "special" way too. Read Sleepy Sweet Relief. I've also recently discussed the fact that Leighton is not the most consistent sleeper. Read Cry It Out.

The only predictable part of our special sleepy time routine includes her clutching her lovie while I tell her to "get cozy". At some point, after I've run through the list of all things cozy, she will roll over on her side and go to sleep. Or try to sleep anyway.

However, as Leighton has recently explained to me, it is far easier to get cozy when ensconced in maximum comfort. When she was rather fresh from the oven and didn't move much during the night, she slept piled upon several layers of fleece blankets, topped with an Aden and Anais blanket as a gauzy sweat barrier. We joked that Leighton liked her bed to feel heavenly. And so it was.

Since the enormous pile of blankets is more hazardous than comforting to an almost eight month-old who likes to flip around in her sleep, we've removed the Princess and the Pea style super mattress situation from her crib. The new and now unimproved sleep surface is less than ideal for my little princess. COZY IS DEAD is the impression I get from Leighton's revamped sleepy time routine, which brilliantly includes tossing, turning, crying and squawking.

Lei's been sick; She's basically had a cold since starting Kids' Work. And, because a stuffy nose accompanies each bout of the plague without exception, sleep has become a state in which she drifts in and out between nose blows. So, I figure that her bedtime battles have at least something to do with the feeling that her sinuses are caught in a vice. I get sick every time she does and that's how my sinuses feel, so I project, empathize and rationalize.

Cozy has taken on a new meaning of late. Last night, Lei and I camped on the floor in her room atop a doubled-up down comforter with down pillows beneath my head and her entire body. Lei covered up with her magenta Little Giraffe blanket, lovie in hand, and I snuggled up in quilts my mom had made. At one point, we moved the arrangement to bed with daddy and Lue. Between the fluffy linens and Tylenol, we slept like champs all night long.

If Leighton is lying next to me on a pillow, she closes her eyes and drifts off within minutes. I don't even need to sing her to sleep or wait for her to fart around in her crib for an hour before tiring enough to be rocked to sleep. GENIUS. Plus, once she's asleep, I can take her to her own bed. Which still allows for mommy and daddy time. A small price to pay in my humble opinion for a sleeping beeb.

It's a hard habit to break. And truthfully, I don't know that I really want to.

I'm sure someone out there has a comment for me on the family bed sleeping arrangement or on how irresponsible I am to let Lei sleep with the down of ten thousand geese. Let 'er rip and share your fuss with us!

What the Fuss? Swaddling

We knew very little about swaddling before Leighton. She roomed in with us at the hospital, and we never sent her to the nursery. Occasionally, a nurse would come in and wrap her up in what looked like a flannel Ace bandage. There was my pride and joy - a sleeping cremini mushroom with a scrunched little face.

Leighton, by design, is not a particularly colicky baby. In fact, I imagine that Dr. Weissbluth  (of Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child fame) would say she is four parts easy baby and one part fuss. Still, for her first eight weeks on this planet, her "flail reflex" kept her from sleeping peacefully without intervention. (It still disrupts her on occasion).  Early on, a friend gave us a video called The Happiest Baby on the Block that illustrates how to wrap your kid like a burrito and then shush, shimmy and swing the little peanut to sleep. It looks easy enough, but the whole deal doesn't work without a proper swaddling blanket.

Child experts frighten new parents out of their minds about SIDS - and I'm not saying it isn't a legitimate concern - I'm simply eluding to the fact that my fear of SIDS escalated to a fear of blankets in general. We had cozy cotton blankets from Gymboree and Tea Collection and a thousand of those fleecy blankets that you get for "congrats on your new baby" type gifts. These were all too thick and scary and sweaty for me. Plus, none of these, regardless of quality, could hold a swaddle. The inexpensive flannel rectangles would work if they were actually big enough to wrap around my baby. Bummer.

In the video, Dr. Karp made it look so simple. I was inspired to test his methodology. I perused countless websites and couldn't seem to find thin, soft blankets large enough to swaddle Leighton. During my pregnancy, I had squirreled away a huge list of links for products - nuggets that interested me. I went back to that well, remembering that there was a blanket website that had caught my eye initially because it looked fancy and took a hit on "organic".

I purchased Pink/White and Pink/Brown 4-packs of Muslin Swaddling Blankets for $44.00 each from Aden and Anais. Problem solved. 

They are big (47 inch square), soft and breathable. They work like a charm for swaddling. She could snooze blissfully for five or six hours in her little muslin cocoon. BRILLIANT!

Since we stopped wrapping Leighton up at night, we have used them as crib sheet savers, burp cloths, pacifier holder-inners, sun shades ... you name it. Spitty on it - throw it in the hamper. Pee on it - throw it in the hamper. And, you just toss another one in it's place. Honestly, these are a few of my favorite things.

Leighton nutches on Soothies and has trouble keeping them in as she dozes off. I was accustomed to running over and plugging it back in every few minutes. Now, I wad up one of these blankets and prop the Soothie in. She can breathe right through the blanket if it moves, so I don't worry about smothering her either.

Aden and Anais blankets get softer and more wonderful as you use them. I don't think any parent should be without a stash of these fab finds. In fact, we have eight and I would like four more because Leighton is becoming quite a little drooler.

One recommendation I have is to choose either pastel designs or just plain white. The more design on the blanket, the stiffer it will be to start out. And, much of the joy is derived from the sheer softness. When I put Leighton down for a nap or for bed, she always has one of these swaddlers in her grip. "Get cozy" I tell her as tickle her face with a corner and tuck her in.

Our standard shower gift for first time parents (Yes - we have a "standard gift" that our freinds have come to expect) is a four pack of Aden and Anais blankets, The Happiest Baby on the Block and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. We have yet to disappoint - especially with the blankets.

This product review conforms to the Fuss Formula. 

Thoroughly tested and gleefully approved by Miss Leighton Elizabeth.