How Much Would You Pay to Sleep?
By Glinda
As my due date approaches, so does my baby shower. We decided to have only one since this is my second child, even though to be honest, after seven years, some of the Munchkin’s stuff did not hold up all that well. Seems a hot, dusty garage combined with a husband who carelessly wrapped or flat-out failed to wrap things properly made for some fairly unusable items.
So I’ve been looking through baby product reviews and such, and ran across something called the Nap Nanny. This product purports to assist the sleep of infants by virtue of being angled and soft and whatnot, an improvement upon the wedge. It supposedly works especially well for infants who have colic, reflux, gas, and other ailments that keep everyone up at night.
Now, if it does indeed work as well as it says it does, and as well as the testimonials on the website claim, I would have bought this in a heartbeat for the colicky Munchkin, who was up all night long letting the neighborhood know that he was not a happy camper. For the first six months of his life, my husband and I were walking zombies, barely able to function due to lack of sleep. But sadly, it was not around seven years ago, and my mind has blessedly blurred many of the memories of that horrible time, which is probably why I’m OK with having another baby.
The Nap Nanny comes with a fairly steep price tag of $129.00, and it is unclear exactly how long it is usable. It is also considered bedding, and thus nonreturnable.
Would you take a chance and pay that much money, and be out of luck if it didn’t work?
Or is a good night’s sleep pretty much priceless?
October 8th, 2009 at 9:08 am
I would buy it at Target, where they let you return stuff just because you don’t like it.
October 8th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Alas, Target and Costco (where you can also return pretty much anything) do not carry them.
October 8th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
“Only” one baby shower? How many did you have the last time? I didn’t realize people even had showers after the first baby.
October 8th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Well, different people wanted to throw me showers from work and such.
And yes, people do have showers after the first baby, especially if it has been almost ten years since the last one, and it’s a different sex.
It’s more about socializing and having fun than getting gifts, at least for me.
October 8th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
I harbor deep suspicions of anything that claims to make a baby sleep. Some babies sleep. Some babies don’t. I really doubt overpriced funky foam will turn a non-sleeper into a sleeper. Plus you could create that shape out of rolled blankets (and then covered with another secure blanket, of course).
October 8th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
The fabric is nice and my twins both still love their blankies that are made from that kind of material. However, other than that, I have to say that the shape isn’t too different than an infant car seat and those did not help my colicky boys sleep. In fact the only thing that helped them was bouncing on a yoga ball. And not gentle bouncing might I add.
October 9th, 2009 at 1:15 am
That is way overpriced! I guess there is a sucker born every second.
As far as baby showers go I have had one for each of my three kids. I did not ask for any of them and it was actually a bit embarrassing since I hate being the center of attention, but I was gracious about it and sent out thank you notes after. I figure if you are not actively seeking a shower and you have wonderful friends that want to celebrate the baby with you then why not have more than one.
October 9th, 2009 at 1:35 am
I think the rule is that if your first baby was colicky, the next one won’t be.
I totally made that up, and yet it makes sense to me.
Seriously, I would spend the money on something more useful and worthwhile. I agree with Marvel–some babies sleep, some don’t. Moreover, the second time around is much easier. I think if I had appreciated the first time that some babies like to be held close often, and like co-sleeping, and just want to feel secure, our early weeks would have gone more smoothly. Put the $129 toward baby’s college fund. 🙂
October 9th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
I do remember our doctor saying something to the effect that it’s pretty rare to have two colicky babies.
Boy, am I hoping that is true.
The Munchkinette needs to be able to go anywhere and sleep like an angel anywhere we take her.
What do you think my chances are? 😉
October 9th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
P.S. Swaddling can make a HUGE difference in how babies sleep–they do like to be tightly wrapped to feel secure. So if you can’t get the full-swaddle the nursery nurses can with a regular blanket, one of those velcro secure-swaddlers might be worthwhile. But I would wait until after the baby is home to assess the need.
Also all newborns reflux to some extent. Both of ours were better off in a car seat for the first 2-4 weeks of life sleeping at night. But that didn’t require additional capital investment!
October 9th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
For many babies, swaddling does indeed work.
The Munchkin, however, hated it because he was breech, and thus was never in the classic “fetal” position. He was more like when a diver dives off a diving board and touches their fingers to their toes, what they called a “pike” position.
So, instant screamfest whenever we tried to swaddle, which we quickly gave up on.
This one so far is not in the classic fetal position either, although she might eventually get there.
October 9th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Glinda I’m glad to know that my princess is not the only baby who hated being swaddled. She started unwrapping the blankets at three hours old.
October 9th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Okay, so not all babies like being swaddled.
simonecat: I knew someone whose daughter was extremely colicky as an infant–the only thing that would calm her down was strapping her into a carseat, and then putting the carseat on top of the washing machine or dryer. (I don’t remember which.) Some combination of noise and vibration was soothing. But I can’t imaging sitting up at night beside a running washing machine trying to make sure the car seat didn’t bounce off!
October 14th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
If your baby does like being swaddled, I recommend the Miracle Blanket. It doesn’t have Velcro, it has a pouch for the baby’s feet and legs and then the rest is shaped so that it’s easy to wrap your baby into the perfect tight baby burrito. My daughter loved being swaddled, and we only stopped when she was able to flip herself over.
October 14th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
My baby also loves being swaddled, and we’ve been using the Kiddopotamus swaddler. It works great. I just now have to convince my mother that swaddling isn’t cruel (she’s appalled that he can’t move his arms, even though I’ve told her that’s the entire point, and that swaddling is resoundingly supported by many pediatric studies.)