Hi guys! I wanted to tell you all about how I got Ollie to sleep through the night since he was 3 weeks. But fisrt, let's start from the beginning. On his 5 days old Dr's appointment, his paediatrician Dr Mishu, whom I actually love, told us he was ready to sleep through the night. That came as a shock to me. "Don't I need to wake him up to feed?", I asked. "NO!", she replied. You see, he was born what you would consider a big baby as 8.9lb and every baby loses weight in the following days (to my knowledge, specially breastfed babies), and they are meant to get back to their initial weight by the time they are 2 weeks old. Ollie had gained all his weight back by the time he was 5 days old. In short, that meant that he was eating well and was ok to sleep through the night.
She made it clear of how important it was for me to get my sleep and that made me feel really well. "He needs to adapt to your schedule, not you to his". Off we went home. I had noticed that really early on, he would sleep 3 to 4 hours straight during the night and that told me that he was a good sleeper. Theo took way longer to sleep through the night, so I believe each kid is different. But I also believe that these tips I'm about to share with you really make a difference and really help.
Be prepared...
You may not be familiar with our situation, so I'll give you a quick insight. Caleb, my husband, plays soccer professionally and because of COVID, he had to leave to Orlando to go play in quarantine, where all teams from the MLS have been concentrated in a bubble. He'd stay there for a couple of weeks. So he had to leave us when Ollie was not even 2 weeks old.
So because of that, I decided to wait until he left to start trying. That's when my friend Isabella came to stay with us. She has experience with kids and was really good helping me with this new routine.
Set up a schedule and stick to it
1. Our nighttime routine starts by 8:30pm.
2. Turn the white noise machine on
3. Turn the lights off in the room and just leave a night light on.
4. Give him a warm bath with lavender oil in it
5. Give him a massage in his belly, arms and legs with coconut oil and lavender oil
6. Give him a long feed, burp him and make sure he stays in the upward position for at least 30 min before putting him down (this will prevent him from waking up needing to burp again or even spitting up)
7. Swaddle him and put him in the Snoo
ATTENTION! HERE COMES THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP
Once you put him in bed, make sure he opens his eyes and sees you! That sounds a little crazy, I know, but what makes them sleep through the night is not simply putting them to sleep, but actually them learning how to sooth themselves back to sleep if they wake up in the middle of the night. This is the key. And honestly I feel like this is why some kids won't sleep through the night. Theo for example, wouldn't do that. I'd put him into bed very slowly because once he woke up, he'd cry and only stop crying when I pick him up and put him on the boob. He didn't use the pacifier because I was afraid of nipple confusion, so he actually used my boob as a paci and that would leave me exhausted by morning.
Don't stress
Not all babies are the same and that's ok. My hope with this post is to share my experience and hope that it can help you, but no one should feel bad if their child is simply different for any reason. The truth is, even sleepless nights are precious, those moments with a tiny baby will pass and they will grow, so even if they might seem awful at times, sometimes we just need to embrace them!
Now here's my Review on the SNOO
SNOO- Worth it or not?
When we found out we were expecting, our friends Allie and JC who had just had their baby, told us about the SNOO and they swear by it. It is very pricy for a bassinet, but they were so convincing that we decided to try, since they offer a 30 day money back guarantee so if you try it and don’t love it you can ship it back at no cost to you! The Snoo was really helpful and after using it for the last few weeks, here is my full review on our experience, pros and cons, and most importantly whether I think it’s worth the splurge.
The pros
The SNOO is a baby bassinet that is a smart sleeper. What does that mean? It basically senses when your baby starts to cry and starts rocking. The more your baby fusses the faster it rocks and then once they settle down it weans them off the motion. My first concern was "Will this thing shake him so much that will leave him nauseous?" LOL. It doesn't. It rocks him as you would, except it isn't you. It’s genius! It also has a built-in noise machine that automatically kicks in or adds more sounds when it senses the fussing. It’s like having an extra set of hands.
Another amazing thing is that it's just super safe for the baby to sleep, as we know they are meant to sleep on their back with nothing loose in the crib (that means no loose blankets, pillows, toys etc). It comes with a swaddles that you attach to the bed and the baby is secured to it, cozy inside and that also prevents him from rolling on his stomach. I noticed that ollie sometimes wants to sleep with his hands in his mouth, so the swaddle also has a way that you can unbutton the sides so the baby can have his arms free.
The cons
I'd say the only con is definitely the price. The cost of the Snoo will obviously hit everyone’s budgets differently, so if you are in a position to splurge on something for baby, it’s a no brainer! They also have an amazing new option that you can rent it.
Worth it?
Soooo... is it worth the splurge? I'd say if you can choose one thing to splurge this would be it. Or even just rent it for the first months just so you can sleep better, do it! I only use it during the night but feel like it was a game changer for sure!
Hope you enjoyed and let me know if you have any questions on my experience!
xx Yandra
