Baby Tips - Sleep - Playdays and Runways

Last month I became an Aunty for the very first time, its so exciting. Baby A is absolutely gorgeous and I knew as soon as I saw my little nephew I would become all broody and want another baby. I love babies and I would have lots if I could but for now I am going to concentrate on being the best Aunty ever. When you hold a new baby you can never remember your own being 'that small'. Little J looked huge compared to Baby A and it made me smile because it really wasn't that long ago that he was just a baby. I started thinking back to the first few days we brought little J home. He was such a good baby and was never any trouble at all really. He was such a routined baby right from the start, he loved his sleep. Thinking back I know that made the first few months so much easier than we could ever of hoped for. When we had big J almost 13 years ago now we didn't really have a clue what we were doing. He had no routine really and because we were working, trying to save for a house we used to try and squeeze in as much time as possible so we didn't miss out seeing him. Looking back now it was a tough time with very little sleep but we did okay and he did grow out of it eventually. I think being a parent for the second time you do learn from your mistakes and we made sure with little J that we were well prepared. Here are a few things we used. Although he was a perfect little sleeper I'm sure these helped get him in to a routine and have full nights sleep .
Poddle Pod

I stumbled across the Poddle Pod whilst on Facebook a few years ago. I had no idea what one was but it looked interesting. The idea of the pod is somewhere to put your baby down for a nap. Sounds good but it really is more than that. The Poddle Pod design makes your baby feel like they are being cuddled. We used to put ours in the moses basket and then the cot and little J would sleep soundly all night. He was safe and snug and he loved it.

During the day I would put it on the sofa so when little J was napping or just resting I could do the housework or other little jobs. Its so secure and there was no chance of him rolling off.

Once he outgrew the paddle pod we upgraded to a toddle pod. This was great for tummy time and also naps. Ewan the Dream Sheep

Again this was just something we stumbled upon. Little J had this in his cot since he was born and it would definitely help soothe him to sleep. Ewan plays a heartbeat sound whilst glowing pink. Its so calming and peaceful. It also plays sounds that the baby would have heard inside the womb. I would love listening to this each night. It was so relaxing and got me off to sleep too. Taggy

Little J has had his Winnie The Pooh taggy since he was a few weeks old. We give it to him at bedtime and he just associates taggy with going to sleep. In the above photo taggy is on holiday with us and looks clean and new. Unfortunately taggy doesn't look like that anymore. He is discoloured and chewed but little J still loves him the same as he did back then.

He will cuddle taggy to sleep each night and it comforts him and soothes him to know he is close by.

As well as the above we always made sure that during night time feeds we kept the lights low and we didn't interact much with little J. We would change his nappy and feed then straight back into the cot or moses basket. This is really hard because you just wanna have lots of kisses and cuddles but it really did work. Looking back now I think all of these helped him become the perfect little sleeper that he still is today.

Do you have any sleep tips?