Product Review - Arm's Reach CoSleeper The Mini

I bought my Arm's Reach CoSleeper The Mini out of sheer frustration. 

                             Arm's Reach CoSleeper - The Mini

I had received the Burlington Baby Bassinet as a baby shower gift. I used that bassinet when my daughter was born and she only liked it the first month. After that we had to haul her play yard up the stairs every night. Eventually I had to sleep in her room on the floor while she slept in her crib. Whenever I would be in my room getting ready I would place her in the Burlington bassinet and that thing was a piece of junk. I hated putting her in it, it was totally unsafe, but I didn't know what else to do. I saw the ad for the cosleeper in my Mothering magazine so I decided to go to Babies R Us and buy it. Oh how I love this cosleeper. I really wish I had this from the beginning. It would have made the first four months of her life so much easier. I am finally able to sleep in my own bed with my daughter sleeping right next to me. It's great peace of mind and I can get much better rest. Since the side comes down I have easy access to her without having to get out of bed. Their is a safety cord that is attached to the cosleeper that you put under your mattress. That way I know the cosleeper won't tip over or move while I sleep. Since it is the mini version it isn't as big as our play yard so I have more space to get around my bedroom. The weight limit on this cosleeper is 30lbs so it can fit a child for up to one year or more. My daughter is 7 and a half months and she still fits great in it. You can also convert it to a play yard when you don't need the cosleeper. It packs up very easily and only takes up the size of a small long box. It costs around $150 which is a little pricey but it's well worth the money. The only drawback is the mattress it comes with. It's not really a mattress so much as a board with foam. You have to buy an additional mattress if you want it to be comfortable. Overall I highly recommend this product.

Starting Your Baby On A Schedule

At my daughter's four month checkup my pediatrician recommended that I start her on a schedule. She said that at four months a baby is ready for a schedule. I was eager to start, a schedule would make it easier for me to plan my day. I wasn't sure where to start but I decided that the best thing to do would be to observe her for a couple of days and see if she had her own routine. I initially thought my daughter didn't have any routine but after watching her I realized I was very wrong.

This is the schedule I came up with based on my observation.
7am - Wake up and Feeding
7:30am to 9am  - Playtime
9am to 9:30am - Nap
9:30am - Feeding
9:30am to 11:30am - Playtime
11:30am - Feeding
12pm to 1pm - Playtime
1pm to 2pm - Nap
2pm - Feeding
2:30pm - 5pm - Playtime
5pm to 5:30pm - Feeding followed by Nap (Only Naps sometimes)
5:30pm to 6:30pm - Playtime
6:30pm - Bath (Start bedtime routine)
7pm - Feeding followed by Bedtime

Some important notes that I wanted to mention. First you need to be flexible with your schedule. Their are days when she wakes up later and this affects her morning routine. Obviously I feed her as often as she needs to be fed. I just put the main feeding times down in my schedule. Their are some days when she needs more naps a day or they last longer. I usually place her down for her nap when she shows me signs of sleepiness. She will get very cranky and start rubbing her eyes. It is important to set a bedtime routine and to follow it every night. After a week of following this bedtime routine my daughter falls asleep at 7pm every night without any problems. It is important that your child has playtime where they entertain themselves, such as a mobile or play pen with toys, as well as playtime with you. Sometimes I run errands during her playtime hours. I have noticed that since I put my daughter on a schedule she has been happier.

Do Infants have Nightmares?

My daughter has never been a good sleeper. She would take very short naps, around 30 mins, during the day and she would get up 3 to 4 times a night for feedings. Then at around 3 months she began to sleep at night for 8 hours before waking up for a feeding. I was so happy I really thought she would start sleeping through the night. Then when she turned 4 months she began getting up throughout the night screaming. It was as if she was having nightmares. She would be fast asleep and then out of no where she would start screaming. I would go running to her crib and she would still be asleep but screaming loudly. I thought to myself is she having a bad dream? Which lead me to question do infants have nightmares? This kept happening night after night and I just didn't know what to do. I would pick her up every time and rock her back to sleep but it didn't stop the bad dreams. It would happen so many times throughout the night. I really felt helpless. I wanted to make her nightmares go away but I just didn't know what to do. I discussed this issue at my support group and it seems that some of the other children around her age were also having the same problem. One of the other mother's called them night terrors. I did some research online and I found a very useful article on night terrors. It seems that night terrors occur when the central nervous sytem is still maturing. They said its best to not wake the child up and that the child has no memory of the night terror. The article stated that night terrors would likely disappear on their own as the nervous system matures. I think this article is pretty accurate because her night terrors just stopped all of a sudden. She is back to her old sleeping habits and I am very happy to be getting sleep again.