momgineering

They say 'necessity is the mother of invention.' If by necessity they mean a squirming 4 month old baby with acid reflux who keeps sliding down the hill of her elevated mattress, I'd say this is true. If by mother they mean...well, any mother, then I'd say this is true too. 


We've been forced to get pretty creative with the sleeping arrangements now that Caroline is getting bigger. We are, I'm happy to announce, SWADDLE-FREE in this household!! This is a monumental achievement, one that didn't come without a lot of fretting and crying and hand-holding. (Ok Caroline had a bit of adjusting to do too.) It took a few nights for her to get used to her newfound freedom but thankfully she adapted reasonably well. However, we quickly discovered that sleeping swaddle-free in the nap nanny was a recipe for disaster. She kept squirming and slumping her way down to the bottom of the hill. One morning I awoke to her sad little cries and turned on the monitor to see her head hanging off the side upside down at the bottom of the nap nanny. Definitely not a Dr.Spock-approved sleeping arrangement. So we decided it was time to transition to sleeping in her crib.


Due to her acid reflux, her pediatrician and pediatric GI recommended that she sleep in an elevated position. This worked perfectly when we were using the baby papasan chair and then the nap nanny, but posed a bit of a challenge when sleeping in the crib. I remember asking the pediatrician how we should elevate her crib. He said use books, blankets, whatever works under her mattress to achieve a slight incline. What I SHOULD have asked him was how he proposed that we get her to STAY in that position. Her first night in the crib with the elevated mattress, I was awoken with sad muffled screeches as she slid down the hill of her mattress and slumped into an uncomfortable heap, arms dangling through the slats of the crib. NOTE TO SELF: a baby in motion will stay in motion. We needed to find some way to keep her at the top of the hill.


Enter Amazon, purveyor of all things entirely unnecessary in the world of parenting. A quick search yielded dozens of products promising 'a safe and restful night's sleep for you and your baby.' No sweeter words have ever been uttered to a sleep-deprived parent. SOLD. I shelled out $100 for what amounted to a hefty heap of velcro that 'secured' the infant to the bed.


But the more I thought about it (and the more the husband hyperventilated about how we are 'hemorraging money' right now), I decided surely we could come up with something better. I got a college edumacation. The hubs was a mechanic in the airforce. Give us some duct tape, an elastic band, a Boppy, and a few fluffy towels and we're in business.


Step One: insert copious amount of unused baby blankets into a level heap at one end of her crib. (Alas, even though the babe was born in February we've had no need to bundle her. It's been about 102 degrees here since March.)

Step Two: Roll up a fluffy towel, secure with an elastic band, and wedge in between the Boppy. Place on top of mattress.

Step Three: Put on mattress fitted sheet and shove into crib, attempting to keep some small resemblance of an incline position with the heaped-up blankets.

Step Four: insert baby. Observe baby's happiness at the snug embrace of the comfy arrangements.

So far, knock on wood, it seems to be working. She hasn't been found slumped over at the bottom of the hill yet. Looks like I might be able to return the Amazon contraption after all. The hubs will be so delighted. Until he sees next month's credit card bill....

P.S. A little lagniappe. When she's not sleeping this is what she likes to do. (Video taken back during the swaddle-and-nap-nanny days. Sigh. Farewell swaddle....)