Real Talk: Sleeptime Essentials for Baby

Last week, I talked about feeding baby - now it's time for every parent's favorite thing: SLEEPTIME! And again, these are things I think are essentials - my opinion - I'm not saying I'm absolutely 100% right because each baby is different. You will find a few links to Amazon and some to Target. Most of my stuff that is not linked was purchased at Target - in person. Target is my fave :)

Sleeping also has some lovely choices: crib or co-sleep. Which do you choose? Just like with feeding, we did a combination of the two. Not necessarily by choice. I always napped with Matthew in bed just the two of us. With Cami, she slept on me for the first 6 weeks and refused to sleep anywhere else. Talk about exhausting! For the most part after that, the kids slept in the Pack 'n Play or the crib.

So sleeptime essentials (in my opinion):

• Pack 'n Play - Not only are these portable (if you visit family or are traveling otherwise), I feel it is a necessity for the first few weeks/months. We have it set up in the room and that is where Mason will sleep until he graduates to the crib. I'm sure I'll move it to wherever I spend a lot of time and let him nap in it later on. I did not get the one with all the bells and whistles - like the actual bassinet and changing station, etc. Mine came with a little dangling toy thing and a diaper holder. From what I've heard, the ones with all the crap are exhausting to put together and not worth it.
• Playyard "mattress" protector and sheets - These are new to me and I was very excited to see them. I always layered our playyard with blankets in case of diaper leaks (back 7 years ago). I bought 1 "mattress" protector and 2 sheets.
• Crib w/mattress, mattress protector, 2 pairs of sheets, and blanket - I searched far and wide for a cute crib set and really couldn't find anything affordable that I really liked. I was at Target one day and found the cutest blanket that looks like a cord sweater on one side and is fleece-y on the other (pictured above). Then I just bought sheets that also match Matthew's since the boys share a room. Much cheaper than a crib set - just as happy! The crib in the pictures is very similar to the one I got. I actually found mine online on Babies 'R Us - I literally spent my whole pregnancy waiting for a good deal to show up and I finally got one - it came with a free crib mattress!
• Swaddle blankets - nowadays they have some heavier duty swaddles. I'm curious to see if I have another Houdini on my hands and if so, I'm gonna opt for one of these swaddle straps aka "The Baby Straight Jacket". It's rough when you have a baby that loves being swaddled and won't sleep any other way, but busts out of it in 2 seconds flat.
• Boppy pillow - this made my feeding essentials list, but also makes my sleeptime list. After the horrendousness of 6 weeks of Cami sleeping ON me, we finally found out she liked to be swaddled and sleep in the Boppy. It was a miracle. It's not what it's recommended for, but both babies napped in it quite a bit and it made me feel a lot safer when we co-slept for naps. Once they were old enough to roll over, we didn't use the Boppy for sleeping.

Items that make my maybe/maybe not list:

• Binkies/pacifiers - this little item can be quite the controversy. However, I had two that took binkies at sleeptime only. If Mason takes one, he takes one, and I will hope he follows suit with his siblings and isn't one of the kids who really attaches to it. Matthew liked Nuks and Cami liked the Playtex ones that are really bulbous and have a round plastic piece - I can't find them on Target or Amazon, so they must not even make them anymore.
• Receiving blankets - these made my iffy list because they are nice to have and you can use them for swaddling, but they are small and so once baby outgrows them, they are kind of unnecessary. We switch to waffle blankets and longer/larger blankets.

And what I feel are completely unnecessary items:

• Mobile - we had one with Matthew that was a baby shower gift...used it a handful of times and realized it was way more hassle than anything and made no difference with him falling asleep.
• Baby monitors - we have always had smaller houses or houses where our bedrooms were very close, so our monitors went unused after a very short amount of time. Plus any little crackle on it made me wake up and think baby was awake. If your baby wakes up, you will hear it. I think that baby monitors create more of a sense of paranoia for a parent. However, I think it greatly depends on how far from your baby you will be. Obviously if your room is on a lower level clear across the house from your child's room on an upper level, you may want to get a monitor.
• Crib sets - like I said above, I couldn't find a very affordable cute one. Plus I didn't need pillow shams, curtains, bumper pad, etc., so it seemed like a waste of money to get one. It's also recommended to reduce the risk of SIDS to not have thick blankets and bumper pads and all sorts of things in the crib.
• White noise/music machines - I feel like these just set yourself up for failure because you get baby dependent on something you plan to take away. Plus if batteries die or it breaks, you're in for some bad nights.

Sleeptime essentials - check! What are your favorite sleeptime baby items? What are things you found to be a lifesaver for the sleepless nights? What items were more trouble than they were worth?