Hellobee

omg… we should do a series of blog posts called “CRIBS”. Like the MTV show. Except it’s actual CRIBS.

lol @ mrs. wagon!

Nothing but one pacifier in his crib (after he spits it out) i doubt it’ll stay that way though. i like the selection of pacis you got going on there!

Nothing but baby … yet. How did you know when it was time to ditch the swaddle? I struggle with that question a lot.

LO doesn’t have anything in her crib!

@Mrs. Cat in the Cradle: When LO was able to roll from back to front on her own, we ditched to swaddle. I didn’t want her to get stuck turned over. She transitioned with no problems at all.

We also dropped the swaddle once she was rolling over even with the swaddle on, or popping one arm out and rolling from her back to face. We didn’t want her to get stuck on her face. It took a week or two to fully transition, but as soon as we walked in on her on her tummy, we started.

We have one lovey that has tags/knots/handles all around it which she also uses as a teether. It’s great because it will entertain her for a few minutes before she starts crying for us.

We have 2-3 loveys, her blankie “mimi”, and a book. We’ve been doing this for awhile… not sure when we started. But she can often entertain herself in her crib for an hour even after she wakes up in the morning or from naps.

@Mrs. Cat in the Cradle: @babynumber1: We got the okay from our pediatrician to leave him in the swaddle as long as we wanted, long after he could roll both ways. Starting around 3.5m I ditched the swaddle during naps – his 4 month sleep regression effected his naps (but not night sleep) so since he would only nap for 20 minutes with or without, I just stopped using it. At night I used it until 5.5 months. Around 4.5 months I tried putting him to bed without it and give him an hour to try to fall asleep. He didn’t fall asleep, I went in and swaddled him and put him to sleep. I tried again every two weeks until one night he just fell asleep, slept through the night and was just fine. It was like a light switch, he was totally ready. It was ideal for us because we never interrupted his awesome night-time sleep and he was truly ready when we gave it up.

It’s too funny that you mention he pulls out his pacifier and waves it around. This is something our lo has started doing at bedtime when we put it in her mouth and she’s not really sleepy yet. She will pull it out and wave it around at us. I’m not ready for toys in her crib yet, I don’t think she is either – she’s 5 months Sunday.

I’ve been thinking about this recently. We only have 2 loveys in my daughter’s crib and she’s 15 months. She was really late to start sitting up while in her crib and also to stand and cruise around in it. She used to just be content to lay there and babble. I want her crib to be a place for sleeping, but having some toys in there would definitely buy us some time in the morning so I’m wavering!

@mrs. wagon: kind of love this idea

This is a fascinating email since my LO is 5.5 months and I am paranoid about SIDs I don’t want anything in the crib. I did have to give in and get the breathable bumpers because he moves all the time and will bang up against the slats. The final straw was when I caught him with is legs between the slats and the edge of the mattress was just about even with his hips.

I would love for him to hang out in the crib a bit longer in the mornings before getting up so maybe I will add soemthing int here. But really the only things he likes to put in his mouth are his hands and fabric…his shirt sleeves, a bib, burp cloth anything he can get his hands on. So this is my fear….what do I put in that he would play with and not add to the SIDS fear?

FWIW he transitioned well from the swaddle at about 4 or 4.5 months. We loved the swaddle because it was like a switch for him and put him right to sleep.

We have the fisher price aquarium hanging on the wall and she has her lovey ‘Ellen the Elephant’. She kicks the aquarium on all the time now and watches her fishies first thing in the morning.

I’ve been wanting to do this too. He will often wake up and “play” with his hands or his feet. I’m conflicted on the types of toys to put in there though..

We do have that same discovery ring of balls toy! Also I LOVE that he “rings” for you lol

@mrs. wagon: bahaha.

@Mrs.Maven: We got the okay for a lovey at almost 4 months from our pediatrician (asked during a well-visit.) I’d ask yours since she/he will know how your baby is developmentally, but ours said that at that point, he was out of the risky period and it would be fine to have a lovey. Her quote was, “I wouldn’t put a big blanket in there, but a 12″ square lovey isn’t a problem.” We started off with the lovey during the day since he wasn’t swaddled for naps, when I could watch him on the monitor. Once he was unswaddled at night at 5.5m I left it in overnight.However, the hard rattles, etc. in the photos above don’t pose a SIDS or suffocation risk because there’s nothing to block his nose.

@Mrs. High Heels: A book! We need a book in there! Maybe that will get us longer naps too

@Coco Bee: I wrote this post for you

Do you find that he likes the discovery ball toy? M never really took to it. He tosses it around every now and then, but it never had winkle appeal.

@Mrs. Stroller: hehe yay!! I feel so special
Not really, he has started to show a little interest into it within the last week – but there are several other toys he prefers. I never bought the winkle but kinda wish I did now His favorite toys aren’t even toys! He likes the small tea-size colander, whisk, drum stick, his shoes, the potato masher and the calculator. He is such a kook!! haha

@Mrs. Stroller: @Mrs.Maven: I talked to my dr about having an A&A blanket (the 44×44″ size) in his crib at 6 months and she said it was fine. It’s a light blanket and even doubled up on my face I can easily breathe through it. It provides a little warmth and comfort. He’s been sleeping with it for 2.5 months with no problems.

@Coco Bee: Ours suggested that we could use that too, but we went with the lovey because I received 3 of the same one as a gift and needed to use them sometime!

@mrs. wagon: we could totally do that for one of our group blog posts!!!!

olive only has her lovey which is a burp cloth, but lately we’ve been putting a stuffed doll in there with her. one day when she wouldn’t nap, we tossed the doll in there. she played with it for 10 minutes before falling asleep!

@Mrs. Bee: let’s require each blogger to take a pic of the baby in front of the crib with sunglasses on, arm outstretched, saying “welcome to my crib.”

@mrs. wagon: I’m really curious how many of us have the same crib. Ever since my crib post I’ve been seeing the one we bought (based on several people recommending it in the comments) everywhere!

we have a lovey, the fisher price aquarium, and the fisher price kick & play piano. DS is still too young (4 mos) to get himself over to the piano, but the aquarium keeps him very entertained in the morning and at nap time!

@Mrs. Bee: @mrs. wagon: haha I love that idea!!

@Mrs. Stroller: the crib we bought was actually on your crib roundup post but a different color

Liam moves so much that I’d worry the toys would wake him up. Sometimes he is sleepinmg scrunched in the corner or up against one side… I wonder if the toys would help the infrequent middle of the night wakeups that he sometimes has or if they would encourage more. Maybe I’ll try one small toy tonight.

@mrs. tictactoe: Maddox prefers to sleep on top of all his toys or smushed in a corner with toys jammed in his head

No toys for us. I put a lovey in there last month and LO SCREAMED! She wants her thumb and only her thumb.

@artbee: That’s funny, baby girl knows what she wants already!

we have the same set up with the breathable bumper on only one side of the crib!

@Mrsbells: I put it there so I wouldn’t have to move the whole crib to find dropped pacis. Saves our floors from getting scratched because at 2am I wasn’t concerned with dragging the crib out of the way in my desperation of find a paci!

We just have a small blanket that she doesn’t really use, a stuffed animal and her lovey. Lately, when she wakes up, she’s been removing her sleep sack on her own. So I guess that is her crib activity.

@mrs. wagon: HAHAHAH LOVE IT!

@mrs. wagon: That is freaking brilliant!!

My poor boy has nothing in his crib every, I must have missed a mommy memo!

@Mrs. Stroller: okay I am totally in love with toys in the crib!!! We started yesterday and he played for 20 minutes before nap time, then went right to sleep! Last night he played for another 20 minutes before bed and went right to sleep. This morning he played for 45 mins before calling to us! It was so cute and awesome to get an extra half hour of sleep!! I am loving it and so is he!

This actually is a question regarding a comment you made about swaddling! When do you know your baby is ready to ditch the swaddle? My son is 12 weeks tomorrow and he is strong enough to get his hands out of his swaddle at night. Sometimes when I swaddle him, he thrashes around. I keep at it though and he will generally calm down. He still startles himself awake sometimes and I feel like he doesn’t settle down as easily when his arms are waving around at night. Maybe it’s just time for a better swaddle? I’m using the Summer Infant SwaddleMe but he’s going to outgrow it soon.

Joan – we swaddled until 5.5 months. I stopped swaddling for naps around 3.5 months when he started going through the 4 month sleep regression and wasn’t napping for more than 20 minutes with or without a swaddle. He was a super star at breaking out of the swaddle until we started doing “the double swaddle.” Google that phrase, including the “the” and watch the YouTube video to learn how to do it. I could swaddle him now at 13m and he wouldn’t be able to get out.

At 4.5 months I started to test to see if he was ready to be done with the swaddle at night. I would try to put him to bed without it doing our usual routine and he wouldn’t fall asleep. After about an hour of letting him try to figure out how to fall asleep on his own, I’d go up and swaddle him. I’d try again two weeks later. At 5.5 months he fell asleep just fine without it and we never had any problem at all. Three days later I watched him find a paci and put it back in his mouth too, I had been playing paci fairy at night when it fell out when he was swaddled (maybe once or twice a night.)

He rolled all over during the day, but didn’t roll in his cradle.