Thursday, November 3, 2011

Buying a Crib, Maybe not the best idea

The top essentials for a nursery, a changing table (although others would disagree), rocking chair or glider, crib and crib accessories. It sounds logical. In my experience as a new mom of twin girls, I must say, the crib could have waited. I would have thought that babies would just naturally sleep in a crib with out a problem, another misconception that I am learning as a new parent. Because premature babies stayed in the NICU they were accustomed to their own small space that reminded them of being in the womb. My girls did not share an incubator and were use to sleeping alone. When I bought Mya home, we did not have a crib yet so she slept in a pack n play. She was fine. We brought the crib and she was okay as well. As soon as we bought Milani home, things began to change. After their feeding, they would go to sleep. We would put them in the crib and close the door. Ten minutes later, they were back up again.

After speaking with the pediatrician, he informed me it was okay for them to sleep in a bouncer or a swing because it was close knit and reminded them of being snuggled. They were too young to self sooth themselves, which is what a crib does. The crib is a lot of space that the girls were not ready for. As they are now three months, I have slowly tried to ween them back to the crib, but they wake each other up, to the point that we had to separate them. We still have to separate them.

My suggestion would be to start with a bassinet; it is more affordable and it beats waking up every 20 minutes to console your baby and put them back to sleep. When they reach 4 to 5 months, a crib is a better deal. At three months, they sleep through out the night but if I put them in the crib, they do not sleep at all.

If you decided to purchase a crib anyway, make sure it is a soft but firm mattress. If you have twins, I would suggest to get two cribs, it is common, in my case anyway, that they will wake each other up. As they slept in their bouncer and swing, they were next to each other, but one cries louder than the other. Eventually, we had one twin sleep in our room and in the middle of the night, bring them back to the nursery. I think we forget that just because they are twins, does not mean they are alike. Even though I do not get 8 hours of sleep like I use to, the hour I do have is much needed and keeping them in a place that will not wake them up, makes that hour feel like a dream.

Some may think that placing them to sleep in a confined area will hinder their growth and development. It will not. My girls love the boppy but PLEASE do not let them sleep in it unless you are fully awake. They will wiggle their little bodies down and possible suffocate underneath the boppy. If you are fully awake, you can monitor them more carefully.

1 comments:

  1. My daughter who was a preemie has slept in a bassinet since she came home from the NICU. She is 5 and 1/2 months old and is still small enough for it. She loves it because it ia more confined. When she's in the hospital now, we have to build a barrier nest for her otherwise she ends up curled against the side of the crib. I don't know what we're going to do when she needs to sleep in her crib.e

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