u/rose__woodsii

Anyone else putting their baby down in their bed (where we cosleep) and rolling away? This works well for us to an extent, but then I am beholden to the monitor because although our mattress is on floor slats, it’s still 12 inches and he is 7 months. He will hurt himself trying to crawl off of it. He’s very still in his sleep and it’s never happened because I’m always watching, but I’m really wondering if I should change to putting him down on his own floor bed. Our house is weird though so I’d have to do some figuring on where to put it. Also I figure he’s going to be able to safely leave the bed soon enough, like it’s just a temporary phase…anyway just wondering like are you, too, glued to your monitor? If he had his own floor bed in a safe space he could chill for a minute while I finish in the bathroom, for example…lol.

I always try to keep in mind that sleep pressure and circadian rhythm are what determine sleep, as well as comfort—teething pain, temperature, noise, light, etc. This is, of course, also how it works for adults.

My baby is 7 months old and he was awake last night. He’s generally a good sleeper, in part because breastsleeping works well for us. A great night is just one 4am dream feed and then up for the day at 6am. Lately, he’s been squirmy earlier in the evening and I’ve been having my partner get up to turn the temperature down and that seems to help a little.

Last night he was squirming a lot between 12-2am if I remember correctly, and he was awake babbling and rolling around and grabbing my face from like 3:30-4:30a. And then slowly waking up from 5:30-6:15a.

His bed time is usually around 8:00-8:30p.

So. Just sharing some of the things I’m doing today in the hopes that he sleeps well tonight. I’m a sahm.

-Turning the red light down. We use a Hatch light on a schedule to turn red at 9 (change the schedule depending on sundown) and I’ve noticed it’s felt too bright and he’s looking at it a lot. I want to keep it on though to check his position.

-Get dinner on the table earlier. Idk, last night I got dinner on late and he ate right before bed.

-Lots of outside time, and early outside time. We went for a walk outside first thing this morning, and I’ll try to get outside a lot with him today to be sure his circadian rhythm is healthy. We always get outside but we need more!

-Sensory stimulation, which means doing a lot of things out of the house. He has been hit-or-miss in the car lately, so I’ve been avoiding hauling him in and out of the car seat for more than 1-2 outings, but I think getting out and doing things is a big factor in how he sleeps. Fortunately today we have some interaction with other babies planned.

-Make it cold before bed. If it’s too cold he will wake up, but it’s easier to remedy than too hot. Plus if it’s cold he sleeps closer to me and that is soothing for him, vs. if it’s too hot he rolls away from me but then gets fussy.

-And of course, naps. I’m not a tracker, but his naps are generally the same each day. Sometimes the little car naps throw them off though, and honestly I’m not sure what to do about that. I think I’ll just make sure he doesn’t nap too late into the afternoon. His naps are usually 1-1.5 hours, occasionally 2 (and occasionally 30 mins which is a no-go and I walk him around in the carrier rather than deal with a cranky baby). He takes a morning nap and afternoon nap, sometimes an evening catnap depending on his wake window. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern that determines his night sleep tbh.

That’s all I can think of for now. Could also just be a developmental leap and there’s little I can do. If you have any ideas or something I’m missing I’m all ears. But also I hope this can offer ideas for helping troubleshoot your own baby’s sleep. There tends to be a lot of focus solely on nap times/wake windows which makes sense but I think these other factors can influence sleep as well.

It’s been amazing watching him almost hands-and-knees crawling and getting himself into sitting, and loving the meals I make for him, and finding ways to play with objects, and watching him discover the world.

And also…he just turned 7 months and is suddenly screaming in the car seat again, haaaating diaper changes for the first time, is sometimes not taking long enough naps and waking up super cranky, and keeping us up in the night when he used to just dream feed (breastsleep).

I’m a sahm and don’t have much community nearby during the day. I know this would all be easier to deal with if I wasn’t so alone in it. I lost it in the car earlier today when he started screaming/crying again after I’d already pulled over once to nurse and coregulate and get him re-settled. I reeaally feel like my challenge in parenting is being ok with my child expressing uncomfortable feelings and some days I worry I just don’t have what it takes.

Writing it out, I know these are phases and that there are solutions that help. Don’t drive too close to when he needs a nap. Keep working on floor diaper changes and keeping him engaged in the process. Wear him in the carrier to let him sleep more. Troubleshoot the nighttime waking. This will all change.

But is 7 months/these milestones just a difficult age for anyone else?

We have a trip coming up. Baby will be 8 months and we’re flying. We’ve traveled before and kinda winged it that time with the sleep arrangement, but this time I’d like to have a better plan. He’s already very mobile at 6.5 months so I don’t want to risk him rolling from the bed.

Anyone have experience with the zonli mattress? Or have a similar but better recommendation? It’s just me and baby on this trip so the 4” twin size is fine. I’m gravitating towards a roll-up floor mattress vs. a travel crib with a side zip (like the newton compact travel crib) because we have a spot in our house where we could use it folded up as a floor sofa.

The outer is cotton. I see that it has foam inside which isn’t my favorite, but we’re not really planning to sleep on it regularly, just sit on it. Also I don’t think we’ll need the tatami mat just for travel, and at home we can make some wood slats so it’s a pretty affordable option, comparatively.

Anyone have the newton side zip crib and love it? My baby has basically never been contained (it would be…kind of nice if he was and I didn’t have to be glued to the monitor lol). It’s ultimately a hunk of plastic so not my ideal purchase, but I could look for one secondhand.

TIA.

We are fortunate to already have so many books at home for my 6 month old, either gifted or mine from childhood.

Of course this is not urgent since he’s so young—just something I’m thinking on—but I’m debating whether I should ultimately store the fantastical books away and provide only realistic books for him.

I really see the value in not introducing fantasy until children are old enough to make the distinction. I think the plus side to some of the more fantastical books out there are that the illustrations might be amazing, or they might have a great message, or they are classics that he won’t be interested in once he’s old enough to understand that they’re fantasy. But…looking at my own experience, I can see how the more fantastical books that I loved shaped for me the idea that, for instance, toys have feelings (The Velveteen Rabbit, Corduroy, Old Bear)—I still can’t get rid of anything with a face lol. Plus I think the world is so magical and beautiful on its own, and that’s kind of a guiding philosophy for me.

With so many beautiful books out there, I’m leaning towards curating a selection of mostly realistic stories, with the caveat that he can choose whatever he wants from the library. If he strongly gravitates towards fantastical stories, I’d rather follow his lead and just talk about what’s real and not real.

I’d be very curious to hear if anyone else has done this, or has any thoughts or experience. Also there’s the problem of what counts as realistic and where did you draw that line?

Eventually babe will get 3 meals/day but right now we’re only doing 1-2. Breakfast first thing in the morning so I can watch for an allergic reaction, and then in the afternoon if I have a chance I’ll give him a little something to try.

I would love for babe to feel included at dinner, but he understandably doesn’t love it because he’s not eating. Also he’s cranky in the evenings so it’s not a good time to try solids/be in the high chair anyway. Teether toys are no solace. I want the high chair to be associated with positive experiences.

My ideas are:
a suction plate (which I otherwise don’t plan on using but might get for this kind of thing) with a little water he can splash his hands in. Will probably be more interested in gnawing in the sides but that’s ok.

Food teether like a mango pit. But not sure if that’s too much food per day (he just turned 6 mos)

Mesh teether thing with breastmilk frozen in it. I just remembered I have some but we’ve never tried them. This may be the obvious answer 🤪 he’d probably like this.

Could also just go back to taking turns eating and holding the baby. I’d rather keep my afternoon meal vs. moving his second meal to dinner time.

What do you do during this stage?

We really like the Woolino gowns for nighttime. They don’t ride up in his sleep, make the occasional MOTN diaper change easy, I don’t worry about him overheating, and importantly, they fit over his bulky overnight diaper and Disana cover, PLUS help protect from leaks because they are wool! We got a spare (both second hand!) for when one is hang drying so they’re the only thing he sleeps in!

They only come in 0-6 months and babe is going to grow out of his soonish. Does anyone have a rec for wool that will fit over a big cloth diaper? He usually doesn’t need a MOTN change anymore so I’m less worried about that. Woolino has footie pajamas up to 6-9 months but I avoid footies because my baby is pretty long so he grows out quickly.

He also has a Woolino sleep sack but I really only use that for naps to go over his regular clothes. Right now we bedshare so the sleep sack is too warm.

Would a merino base layer work well over a cloth diaper and wool cover? What do your babes sleep in?