Pacifiers that close when they’re dropped and other crazy baby stuff you might actually want
I haven’t had an infant in years so it’s easy to forget that the world of baby stuff keeps on expanding. While looking up something or other on Amazon the other night I stumbled upon the Keep it Kleen Pacifier — aka the pacifier that closes up when it’s dropped.
I read all the major books on baby sleep — here is what I learned
I went on amazon and bought all the top books on baby sleep and development. I read through them all, as well as several blogs and sleep websites. I gathered lots of advice.
We’re still co-sleeping at 6… with no end in sight
Fifteen years ago when I became a parent for the first time, I wasn’t familiar with the term Attachment Parenting or co-sleeping. I did know that my son was my world, and never having him far from me made sense. Also, let’s be honest — as a single mama who was wiped out most of the time, letting my baby come into my bed where we both slept peacefully seemed like a no-brainer.
Where can I get a mini toddler bed?
We are now looking for non-traditional options for toddler beds. We have a traditional-sized toddler bed for the four-year-old, but are now in the market for a toddler bed for the almost two-year-old. He is only two feet tall, and we have a really small space, so getting a five foot long toddler bed just is not practical.
We turned a bedroom into a crib for a formerly co-sleeping baby
We co-slept until my daughter was eight months old. It was an amazing experience for me, but she started teething at eight months. As the primary breadwinner of the family, and also the lightest sleeper, my husband felt it would be best to transition her to her own room, so that I could get at least a little sleep before embarking on what is typically a 13 hour day. But I hated putting her in a tiny crib (to be fair, she is big for her size)… so we decided to turn her room into a crib.
Shift work: Learning to love our offbeat schedules
My fiancé is a police officer. The biggest hurdle this job presents to us as a couple is the schedule. He works afternoon shift and his “weekend” is Wednesday and Thursday. I work a regular daytime Monday through Friday job. After a few years of living together we’ve worked out a happy situation and even found positives in the shift work shuffle.
Our child’s medical condition led us to unexpectedly become Attachment Parents
I went in to parenthood prepared. I had a decent amount of baby experience and figured I was as ready as someone can be to have your life up-ended by a tiny human. My husband and I discussed cloth diapering (we wanted to try it), sleeping arrangements (pack-n-play and crib only) and birth plans (unmedicated hospital birth with a doula). I knew that all of our plans needed some degree of flexibility as we figured out what worked best for us. Then our fuss-a-saurus, E, was born.
My partner and I stopped sharing a bed after having kids: why I love sleeping alone
Honestly, bed-sharing with my snoring, hard-to-wake husband might inspire more resentment between us, more sleep-deprived fantasies of pillow smothering. I don’t think sharing a bed would save a failing marriage, nor do I think separate beds would destroy a good one. But what do I know? I’ve only been married for 9 years.