Every mother has her particular pieces of baby paraphernalia that she swears by that make life easier. The two items that I wouldn’t do without are the Miyo baby hammock and my sleepywrap.
There are a couple of reasons that I decided to get the hammock instead of a bassinet. I knew I wanted Baby D to sleep in our room, close enough for me to pick him up from where I sleep. (He feeds every two hours, it’s cold at night and I am not getting out of bed if I don’t have to!) We have a tiny room and there is no room for a bassinet or a cot. The hammock takes up no floor space, it’s suspended from the ceiling above our bed. It’s wonderful because I can gently bounce it and it lulls him to sleep, if he is a little unsettled I pop him in there and gently bounce it up and down and it soothes him within a few minutes. I can even lay in bed and bounce him, no pacing the halls at night like I did with my first boy. Plus, how romantic is a hammock, I love the concept.
My sleepywrap is what I use to carry him. I’ve tried lots of types of carriers and this is the only one that didn’t make my back ache. It’s just a long piece of stretchy fabric that you wrap around and tie in a knot to keep secure. Bub goes in and is all snuggled up against me I can hear him snuffling and snoring and feel him breathing. He’s so warm and I love having him close to me, I think he loves it too. Tonight he was a little unsettled, I snuggled him into the wrap and in a few minutes he calmed down. He has been sleeping beautifully for the last few hours. I managed to prepare and eat dinner, feed hi big brother, get him ready for bed, read stories and tuck him in and now I am on the computer, all with bub quiet and content and cosy in his cocoon. Magic.