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Friday, June 10, 2011

The Naked Crib

*Using pics from Instagram today-- one of my favorite free apps for the iPhone.

These two kids are the apples of my eyes. I'd do just about anything for them. My goal as their mommy is to keep them safe and healthy, make sure they're educated and clean (most of the time), love them so much I want to burst, and hopefully one day, when they're adults, become their friend.
Right now, my sweet girl is putting some stickers in her sticker book (I found a Sandy Lion one-- the good kind-- on eBay and we put it in her Easter basket). She is so my daughter. I remember trading stickers with friends during indoor recess when the weather was too nasty to go outside. I remember the store at the mall that used to have rolls of stickers and you could buy them by the sheet for about 10 cents. I loved stickers as a kid and so does my sweet girl.
Right now, my winter wonder man is napping in his crib. He's still our roommate at night as his sleep patterns don't quite line up with his sister's. But we think they'll be happy roommates by the end of summer, if not by next month. He naps in his crib though. And we're trying to teach him to self-soothe and not swaddle him as much, especially now that he's rolling over (yup, both ways, did them both on our 11 day trip to the northeast corner of our state).
The other day he gave me quite a scare and put the whole "keeping safe" rule of mothering to the test. I put him down for a nap, but swaddled him because he was inconsolable any other way. He. Was. Tired. I went to check on him about an hour later because he's normally a cat-napper (three to four 30-45 minute naps/day as opposed to two 90-120 minute naps a day). Despite being swaddled, he had wiggled himself over to the edge of the mattress and had his face turned right in toward the crib bumper. I had a mini-panic attack seeing his face smushed up against the bumper like that. I moved him quickly and quietly away (thankfully he was breathing just fine). I couldn't take the bumper off while he was sleeping, so I let him sleep (he slept for another hour!). But I was peeking in on him every few minutes-- he didn't move or wiggle anywhere else, thankfully.

I didn't buy a video monitor with Cate. I was afraid it would make me paranoid. I wake up to every little noise on the monitor as it is. I'm not going to buy one now either. Instead, I removed his adorable crib bumper, and we now have a very naked crib. Once he's older and I don't feel like he's in danger of getting himself up against the bumper, I'll put it back on. It's not like he's moving to a big kid bed any time soon. For now, I'd rather a plain looking crib with a safe baby in it than a cute looking crib that's empty.

~Melody :-)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Smart mama! We have a video monitor because I was so OCD when N was first born so we always kept an eye on her to see if she was smushed up against her bumper. Thankfully, she never has been! We've kept it on there and will keep it there until she's in a bed because she's so wild in her sleep. :)

The kids are adorable! Amazing how fast they grow, isn't it? *sigh*

Three Men and a Mommy said...

I've been terrified of SIDS ever since we had Trey...the nurses really scared us with their night time checks in the hospital - so we've never put in the bumper. I think that fear will always be there now and it just a part of being a mommy.

Carly said...

Great post. I've been debating this alot. We have this really cute bedding set that we registered for, and were given. After we found out that we are not supposed to use the bumper or quilt due to the risk of SIDS. Dylan wants to return it, but it is just so cute! I know totally not worth the risk. A friends baby died a few months ago from SIDS, so that has made me much more aware that it is real, and not just something silly that doctors say. I will probably return it in the end, but the crib does look 'naked' with only a sheet.