A lot of products are marketed toward sleep deprived mamas because we are willing to pay anything to get our babies to sleep. Here are the ones that are actually worth it.
Some moms swear by this “moon suit,” others hate it, but either way, babies look hilarious in this. This is designed to lessen the startle reflex. It’s really thick which is not great for promoting the optimal sleep conditions (e.g., being cool) AND there is often a difficult transition out of it.
This is like an automated version of Dr. Harvey Karp’s “5 S’s.” When a baby wakes up in the middle of the night, it rocks and shushes the baby, but for almost $1200 it better also clean the baby’s bottles! You’re tired, yeah, but that’s pretty outrageous for something you only use for 3-4 months. Also, it could make the crib transition harder for babies.
This foldable soothing mat vibrates and mimics the womb and can help with a fussy or colicky baby, but just make sure they don’t become dependent. Or overstimulated.
Swaddles & Sacks
They’ve invented so many things so you don’t even have to learn to swaddle anymore!
We’ve had a lot of success with the Halo Velcro swaddles in the earliest weeks, like when babies are 1-5 weeks old.
When you’re standing there in the middle of the night with your hand on your baby’s chest and you think “someone needs to invent this product and then they do?” That’s this right here! Literally a swaddle (a sleep sack) with a weighted bag of beans in it. This is not a bad idea for a real fussy newborn, but we prefer their swaddles over the sleep sacks.
Sound Machines
To be honest, it’s a little creepy, but if it’s the witching hour and your baby’s colicky, this guy doesn’t sound so bad. The point of having a sound machine is to keep the white noise on the whole sleep period to get your little one to stay in a deeper longer sleep. The Baby Shusher only stays on for 15-30 minutes and then shuts off.
Doesn’t break, lasts longer than other sound machines. Relaxing. A lot of adults sleep with it too. Has a real fan inside but doesn’t blast cold air. Constant white noise. Two settings so it doesn’t get too loud, but you still want to keep it at least five feet away from baby’s head. It’s one of the only white noise machines that only uses pure white noise and no other rhythmic sounds, like ocean waves, heartbeat, or lullaby music; this one is purely white noise only. It doesn’t shut off after a certain amount of time but stays on all night long which helps babies get into and stay in the deeper sleep cycle stages longer. … The best kind of sleep.
To quiet closing doors that could wake baby up. Simple, genius. Developed by two moms who are sisters.
Hope these help you and your baby get some Zzzzs!
