Big night.

[rivka]

Big, historic thing happening tonight: Alex's first night in her own room.

We spent the weekend putting the nursery together - assembling the crib and the glider we hadn't intended to buy (but it was so cheap! And it matched the crib!), cleaning, sorting the miscellaneous baby things that have been stored in her room for the past several months, arranging furniture. Unlike the kinds of nurseries people seem to put together while they're pregnant, there is a notable absence of a matched theme. For example, there's a nice shaggy Central American animal-themed wall hanging, and there's also a poster of the lights of nighttime earth, as seen from satellites.



And there's a, um, a crib for Alex to sleep in.

I'm having a hard time with this. For a lot of reasons, including the increasingly poor quality of my own sleep, I'm ready to stop co-sleeping. Alex has already done fine being put into our bed in the evening and sleeping there alone for several hours until I come to bed. I've transferred her co-sleeper into the crib so she'll have a familiar sleep context, and I've put her down wrapped in the sling, which smells like me. I'm going to sleep in her room for the first few nights to help smooth the transition, so "first nights in a crib" aren't also "first nights it takes Mama a little longer to get to me when I cry." (Her room has a futon couch, so it's not as penitential a plan as it might sound.)

But I'm still feeling pretty edgy.

(I just went upstairs to check on her. She was fast asleep, and fine.)

Here's the coolest thing about Alex's room: she's got a nightlight that projects images of stars, moons, and ringed planets on the ceiling and walls. (Updated to add: It's from children's Ikea.) Here's how it looks with the lights off:



Alex will be fine. I can still take good care of her when she sleeps in a crib.

I just want to be a good mother, and changes in mothering practice make me nervous.

Comments

[minnaleigh.livejournal.com]

She will be fine and happy and you can take good care of her when she sleeps in a crib. You getting better sleep is good for all of you!

Also, I really kind of want one of those lights!

[redbird]

Seconded, including about the night light.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I think it was $19 at Ikea.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

mamas who get better sleep are better mamas. i read it somewhere.

also, mamas should share where they got that totally cool nightlight because i want one!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

It's from Ikea. From the children's section, not the lighting section. I think it cost $19.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

dude!

this (http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10101&storeId=12&productId=53027&langId=-1&parentCats=10106*13756) should be it. slightly more expensive online, but totally cool.

p.s. only a really really good mom would sleep on a futon in the baby's room.

[platypus]

I'm 31 and I totally want one of those nightlights.

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Exciting times! For both of you. I'll be thinking of you tonight.

-J

[juno.livejournal.com]

Aw. Well, it sounds like ou're doing a great job. It's so tough when children change and grow so fast that it's hard to figure out when to do what and when to do it. But it probably will be easier now that it would be when she's older.

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

I just want to be a good mother, and changes in mothering practice make me nervous.

Hey, if you're that worried about being a good mother, you probably are one already. It's the parents who don't give a shit whose kids turn out rotten.

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

If you're well-rested, you'll be a better mother.

Or so they tell me.

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

I agree totally. And there's an Ikea not ten miles down the highway....

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

I like those ideas about easing the transition by moving the co-sleeper, wrapping her in the sling, and being right there the first nights. I don't think I've read about other people doing those things, either.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

You're an absolutely wonderful mother. Alex will be fine.

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

Matt and I were so happy with only co-sleeping after the last feeding of the night. I may be selfish, but I can only avoid rolling over so many people at a time without serious sleep disruptions.

I think she'll be fine.

[bibliotrope.livejournal.com]

She's a big girl to have her own bed and her own room!

Nice big crib, all for Alex. And a very cool night light!

And more sleep for Mama, too.

Lots of goodness all around!

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Oh, how exciting!

Big night!

[ailbhe]

I'm stealing your ideas for ifwhen we get Linnea's room cleared out. I am pretty much ready for her to be in her own room - I am sure we'll all sleep better - but I'm still nervous of it.

Have now read your later entry also... I really must try to read the no-cry sleep solution now that I've had enough sleep and I can read whole sentences at a time.

My mother tried "crying it out" with me when I was about Linnea's stage. It didn't work. I climbed out of the cot and opened the door. Repeatedly. But I also know some babies who *have* to cry or yell for ten minutes before they can sleep, as a sort of tension release. WAHHHHstop snore happy smiling face. It's bizarre. (It took total parental exhaustion to figure it out, in one case, as the mother refused to let her baby cry - as I would - and it wasn't until the mother was too tired to respond that they worked it out. She ran up in a panic when the noise stopped and the baby was burbling away happily in its sleep).

Re: Big night!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I really must try to read the no-cry sleep solution now that I've had enough sleep and I can read whole sentences at a time.

I loved that book. I love the way you can pick and choose the solutions that work best for your family, and put them together into a coherent plan by filling out the little worksheets. We're using a NCSS plan right now.

But I also know some babies who *have* to cry or yell for ten minutes before they can sleep, as a sort of tension release. WAHHHHstop snore happy smiling face. It's bizarre.

Alex often cries on her way to sleep in the sling. I just rock her and assure her that yes, she really wants to be asleep and it will make her feel much better. Then she's out. I'd let her lie in the crib and do that couple minutes of crying, but I'd want to be there with my reassuring hand on her chest.

[lizardling.livejournal.com]

That looks like a wonderful bedroom for Alex. Good luck with getting her to sleep on her own -- it'll all come out in the end. :)

[baratron.livejournal.com]

You have access to Ikea? Ah. That makes me less anxious to need to buy you the squirrel stuff they have in baby Ikea in the UK. Not least of all because it would all be on the wrong voltage :)