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Monday, October 08, 2007

Wiggle Worm

The first night Rachel slept in her own room, I had trouble falling asleep. It was hard for me not to be able to hear her gentle breathing right beside me. I did fall asleep eventually though and neither of us woke up during the night.

The next night we made the leap from the bassinet to the crib. She slept all through the night again, although I didn't quite make it. She started making fussy noises at around 3 am but never got very upset, so I ignored her and we both went back to sleep. Then she woke up howling just before 7 am. When I went in to get her she was perfectly perpendicular to how we'd laid her down the night before. I was wondering how she had managed this mathematical wonder until I noticed that her legs were dangling between the bars of the crib. She was stuck right up to her thighs.

On Saturday night I was awakened at 4 am. I heard thunk-a-thunk-a-thunk, pause, thunk-a-thunk-a-thunk, scream, thunk-a-thunk-a-thunk, scream, gasp, scream, gasp, scream, gasp, scream, thunk-a, gasp, thunk-a, scream, thunk, gasp....

Obviously she wasn't going to comfort herself on this one, so I got up to check on her. She was once again completely perpendicular to how we had laid her down, but this time she was on her side and both of her legs were stuck between one of the sets of bars. She was doing this wild bucking bronco move and I was afraid she was going to snap both of her legs in two, so I took her out and brought her in bed with us to feed her. We both fell asleep quickly and didn't wake up until it was time for Conference.

Last night I was extra careful about tucking her in. She can only roll one way, so I put her head on the opposite side of the bed so that she would roll toward the wall instead of to the outside of her crib, hoping that this way she wouldn't be able to get her feet through the bars. I got out the big quilt that Karen made for her and tucked it way under the mattress, hoping that Rachel wouldn't be able to kick it off.

Luckily she slept through the night, but when I went to check on her this morning, I saw that my tucking-in job had been futile. She was completely free of her quilt and huddled up in one corner of the crib. Her legs were freezing--we had put her in a nightgown since all of her footed pyjamas were in the dirty clothes basket. She only had one sock on; the other was wedged between the wall and the crib somehow. At least she had gotten her leg free.

Doesn't the crib make her look small?
We looked at bumpers last night on eBay and found one that we both liked, that was relatively cheap. She is such a little wiggle worm that we need something to keep her inside the crib.

It's hard to know what to do as a parent though. Nowadays they are encouraging parents to have absolutely nothing inside the crib: no blankets, no pillow, no toys, no bumpers. Basically just nothing. What you're supposed to do is put the baby in a "wearable" blanket so that they can't accidentally smother themselves with it.

You're not supposed to use bumpers because the latest "trend" of thought is that breathing recycled air can increase the risk of SIDS. Apparently bumpers can reduce the amount of air flow to your baby, or something like that.

Since Rachel likes to sleep with her hands covering her face anyway, as you can see in the picture, I'm not sure if I should be more worried about a crib bumper or the fact that she enjoys covering her mouth and nose with her hands.

Besides, they're now thinking that SIDS may have something to do with genetics. Who knows what they'll come up with next? Sometimes I think they just want to see what they can make parents do. First it was stomach to sleep. Then back. Then sides. Now we're on back to sleep again. Pretty soon they'll be asking us to have our kids sleep standing up.

For now, I think I'll just get that crib bumper and see if it helps keeps all of my baby's limbs in the crib allowing both of us a good night's sleep.

11 comments:

  1. Karen had the same foot problems in her crib. Then we started swaddling her really tight before she went to sleep. I know you're not really supposed to do it, but it worked for a couple of months. Even now Karen has a hard time staying in one spot to sleep. Sometimes we check on her and she's facing the wrong way with her toes under her pillow. It's cute, but can be annoying.

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  2. Ezra used to sleep the same way...on his back, on his belly, it didn't matter...his legs were always sticking out the side of the crib. A few times he woke up mad because he wanted to turn but most nights he slept just fine and as far as can tell there were no ill affects.

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  3. You always hear about the major things you're not supposed to do in order to prevent SIDS, but you're right - what if your baby does other things that puts her at risk and so you have to commit a SIDS "no-no?" I took care of a baby this summer whose mom puts her on her stomach - they have a fancy mattress pad that monitors her breathing. They did that because the baby wouldn't sleep on her back after everything they tried. The mattress pad wouldn't work for Rachel, though, because she would probaby roll right off of the little area that it covers.

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  4. Hmmm, well... :) Why a crib? Why not a play pen? She'd be less likely to get her legs caught in anything as there are no bars to get them caught in. Sounds like she moves around enough and rolls around enough that she'll keep herself pretty well taken care of. Or, well, here's an idea, if you haven't already got the bumpers... my mum used to secure bunk beds and things like that by wrapping a big blanket actually around the bars and creating a sort of hammock that kids couldn't fall through, if that makes sense. She did it by tucking things under the mattress and through the bedframe. Kinda like creating your own bumper but it doesn't cost so much. ??

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  5. We have a crib because Andrew's parents gave it to us. :) We don't have a playpen, but the bumper was only $4...so it really wasn't that big of a hit.

    Weaving a blanket through the bars though really isn't a bad idea...hmm....

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  6. I say, let your baby sleep the way she wants to sleep, afterall, they have also contributed SIDS to immunization shots... did you know that outside of third world countries North America has the highest rate of SIDS? We also start immunization at two months. I didn't immunize until Deklan was one, and Piper was ten months, due to we had a child visit us with whopping cough, or it would have been even later than that. Europe doesn't start immunization until their kids are 2 and a half and have the lowest rate of SIDS in the world... is it genetics, drugs, or blankets? Who knows, if they did, there would be a cure for it by now!

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  7. There are all kinds of things like that, where one expert says another, while others say even other things. Baby food is another thing that is different in different countries. Bumpers will probably work for awhile. But, Maya would just stik her legs and arms under the bumpers. She started to life them up cause she couldn't see anything. I guess it will depend on how many places the bumper actually ties to the crib and where.

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  8. Dude, just get the bumper. All those hoops they make you jump through...

    We have the same mattress monitor someone mentioned, and our next kid is getting put to sleep on their tummy because it is so much comfier that way!

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  9. I love that baby quilt!! It's so cool!

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  10. I have raised 5 kids thru the "scary" SID stages. I think that if it is genetics, with the amount of kids in our family you're pretty safe.

    I remember the fears of the first and second child....just wait until you have your fourth and fifth!!! You'll just be glad they sleep.

    All my kids slept with me untill they were able to crawl away, except the twins. They slept with me untill they were about 4 months old....then I shared a bedroom with them until they were about 1.

    You'll worry untill she can move herself around good, and then she'll start trying to climb out of the crib.....

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  11. Nancy, Robby did the same thing once he started to roll around too! Now when I go in there he's just all over the place! We never did get a bumper but he only got stuck a few times and seems to do ok.... except just this morning he was on his tummy and his arm was stuck.... oh well! Hope the bumper is helping!

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