When we started out with the whole co-sleeping thing, it seemed the most natural thing to do. I co-slept with both of my older children, so why wouldn't I with this new baby? Of course, not everything goes along so smoothly. My partner thought the idea of co-sleeping was a little bit weird. In his experience, babies slept in cribs and that was just the end of it. He and I had a lot of discussions about this. I guess I was a little out there for him.
For a variety of reasons, my littlest one ended up spending a lot of time sleeping in his swing. Some of it was just where he fell asleep and we didn't have the heart to move him. However, it was really pretty well sealed when we went over to cloth diapers. We didn't have enough covers to start with, so our little man would play around while in a diaper without a cover. While this largely wasn't a problem, it kind of was when he went to sleep. If we weren't waking up to check in on him, the moisture would seep through, and having a towel under him wasn't always enough. We started having him sleep in the swing a bit more often, just when there was no cover clean, and before we knew it, it was happening all the time.
It's happened once before and happened again the other day that our little boy couldn't sleep in his swing. He'd gotten a quite explosive diaper and managed to get it everywhere. The swing's seat needed to be washed, but he was too tired to do more than cry. We had no choice but to find somewhere else for him to sleep. We knew putting him on the bed was a bad idea as the room isn't yet baby safe enough for when he wakes up. Instead, we put a pillow on the bottom of a box (more like one of those Rubbermaid storage boxes) and put him down in that to sleep.
Now, I'm typically against weird things like putting babies in boxes. If a baby's going to sleep, they should have a real bed, with plenty of room to stretch out to sleep, but having little other option at the time, we went with what we had. I had to work with what was available, you know? Thankfully, the little one loved it! I think he likes sleeping in his box more than he likes sleeping in his swing! He loves his box so much that when I took him out of it to let him play in the room the other day, he tried to get back in! Now his box has become his favorite place to play, which is fine with me because I know he's safe in there until my room is finally unpacked, put away, and organized enough to be baby-safe.
Strangely, getting my baby boy to take a nap in a box had another wonderful side-effect. He's decided he wants to sleep in the bed again at night! The past two nights (since the day of the box incident) he's fallen asleep with Daddy in the bed, and stays asleep there for most of the night! I don't know how that worked out, because every other time he hasn't wanted to sleep. He's wanted to play instead. Maybe it's because he's learned to sleep laying down again, instead of propped up by the swing. Maybe it's because taking naps in the box means he doesn't nap as long and is more inspired to get up and play. Whatever it is, he's decided sleeping in the bed is a good idea again.
As for the box, I don't intend to use it for naps again if we don't have to. It was wonderful for what it was, while it lasted, but I think he needs more than that now. His box has been retired as a sleeping space and has now been taken up as a play place, something he seems quite happy with! He really does love his box!
Who would have guessed that something as simple and silly as putting a baby down for a nap in a box would make such a change in our lives? Now our little boy is back in our bed and as happy as can be! Things are just the way we like them.
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