For the last two months or so, TJ has only settled in our arms during the day. If I put him into his cot, fast asleep, I’d be lucky to get half an hour before he woke up (and would then need to take ages to settle him back down again). A few weeks ago we switched to faster-flow bottle teats (as one is meant to at 3 months), and at the same time started dosing him with infant gaviscon. The difference in his feeding was noticeable immediately, and a week later he was sleeping better both during the day and at night (but still in my arms during the day as I didn’t want to risk messing with his improving sleep patterns by letting him wake up and get too tired to feed properly, causing him to wake early for the next feed and continue on in a vicious cycle).
So this week, feeding issues done (for now….it won’t be long before solids start), we girded our loins for Operation Let Mum Play Actively With The Other Kid At Some Point Please, Or Possibly Do Some Housework Or Whatever.
We altered the bassinet so instead of being a three-sided device attached to my side of the bed, it’s a four-sided wheeled device that can meander all around the house as needed. Because it would be needed: every time TJ was about to go to sleep, we’d put him in it and settle him inside the cot (as the sleep classes tell parents to do, teaching that if you wait until they’re asleep before moving them, they get disoriented during the light part of their sleep cycle, and wake up).
Some friends of ours had a baby that wouldn’t sleep in a cot for NINE MONTHS, day or night, so I just didn’t know how it was going to go.
It went like. . . a dream. From the very first time I put TJ in the bassinet and patted him to sleep in there, he didn’t just stay asleep longer, but he also went to sleep faster. It might all be an evil ploy to lull us into a false sense of security. . . or it might be just one of those times when a parent happens to hit on the exact right moment and the exact right method and the exact right tools all at the same time, the first time.
Here is the bassinet in permutation #2, as modelled by both our kids:
One of the kids above is genuinely asleep and one is only pretending. Can you guess which is which?
Here is a clue:
For those who are wondering, permutation #3 of the bassinet is either a kids’ seat or desk – either one with a possibility of shelves too. And yes, my epically talented (and carpentry qualified, and safety obsessed) father-in-law made it.