A small step for baby, but a giant leap for mum...

Guess who slept in her own bedroom last night! Yup, it was Avi. I too, spent the night in my own bedroom (with the husband and the dogs of course), but I didn't get much sleep. Spent most of the night checking the video monitor. Anxious? Me? Not at all...

So, at five months and one week of age, my little one begins her first big step towards "independence". (Yes, I realize that she'll rely on me and my husband completely for many months yet, and in some way, shape, or form for years to come, but sleeping in her own room is such a big step!) I know that it is recommended that babies sleep in your room for at least the first six months, if not longer, but I feel that her bassinet may no longer be the safest place for her...

The bassinet is kind of traditional in my family. It's a large basket, a little higher at one end than the other, and is probably a good 60 years old. My grandparents received when they purchased a car back in the 1960's. The wife of the man selling the car noticed that my grandmother was pregnant, and added the bassinet as part of the deal. (She and her husband had used it for their children, but were done with it now, and wanted it to go to good use). My grandfather built a stand for it, and voila, instant baby bed. I don't believe that my mother slept in it; I think it was my aunt, her younger sister, that was the then baby-to-be, but my grandmother held onto it for when her own daughters had babies. So, when I came along (I'm the first born grandchild), my mother sewed a liner/cover for it, and it became my bed. Then, a few years later, my brother's. My aunt never had any children, so the bassinet went back to grandma, but when they moved from their farm a few years back she gave it to my mother, for any future grand babies. 

So, of course I wanted my baby to sleep in it too. But the mattress that came with the basket had long since fallen apart, and would likely have fallen short of today's safety standards. However, it's basically a custom size, so what to do to keep baby safest? In the end, we got the closest size bassinet mattress we could find, and trimmed it down. Most bassinet mattresses, at least that we found, are a piece of fairly hard foam with a waterproof covering on them. It was easy enough to trim down the foam,but the covering gave it extra rigidity, and it is my understanding that the hardness of the mattress is what prevents the baby from smothering if they should end up face down. So, to keep what was left of the cover in place, we duct taped it. And it has worked quite well so far. The mattress sits inside an old pillowcase, with a receiving blanket stretched over top and tucked around the sides, and everything stays neatly in place. At least, it has been. But, baby is getting bigger, and stronger, and has now decided she wants to roll to her side or her belly to sleep, instead of staying on her back where I put her. The modifications to the mattress, coupled with the fact that the basket is not fixed to the stand, and could, in theory, fall off with her added movements, has made me decide its time for her to sleep in her crib.

So, after her last feeding, we went to her bedroom and read her story in the rocking chair (which had belonged to my husband's mother), and then put her in her crib to sleep. She cried a little longer than usual, and needed a little more soothing, but fell asleep in a relatively short time, and stayed that way until it was time for more food (she is still getting up once or twice at night to eat). Once she had finished her formula, she went back to her crib, and promptly fell back asleep, both times we got up. In the morning when she woke up, she lay in her crib, waving her arms and kicking her feet and just generally being her merry little self until I went down and got her. And I know what she was doing because I was watching on the video monitor. Actually, I was watching it for a good portion of the night, and consequently didn't sleep very well.

Hopefully my anxiety calms down a little more tonight, and I can get some better sleep. I think my little one will manage just fine.

Best wishes