Wednesday, April 25, 2012

New sleeping arrangement

Since the beginning of January Cameron has been sleeping in her rock n' play every night, which is basically a bassinet that is on an incline. She had a little bit of a reflux/spit up issue and having her sleep on an incline seemed to help. Plus it was nice because we could rock her to sleep in it. My plan was to let her sleep in it until I had a reason not to anymore, and one night a week or two ago I woke up to that reason. She had rolled completely onto her belly in the rock n' play. Her arm was stuck underneath her and her head was cocked all the way back with her face kind of smothered into the side of the rock n' play. I fell just short of having a heart attack as it looked like she could barely breathe. It was clear at that moment that if she is going to be rolling on her belly during her sleep she needs to be on a flat surface. Enter pack n' play. There is no way Cameron is going into her own nursery quite yet, I'm simply too neurotic and I still need her right next to me so instead of sleeping next to me in her rock n' play, she will be sleeping next to me in her pack n' play for the foreseeable future. Now, as far as the rolling goes, with belly sleepers being at a higher risk for SIDS I was not looking forward to this day but it's just something I'm going to have to deal with. I would much prefer Cam not sleep on her belly but if she's going to roll on her belly then I really can't stop her unless I quit sleeping myself. Luckily she's not a total pro at rolling onto her belly yet but no matter what I do this is what I wake up to:





So for now Cameron is a certified side sleeper. I am dreading the day when she becomes completely skilled at rolling over and I wake up every day to her on her belly. And if she's anything like her mother, she will be a belly sleeper for sure.

But with the switch to the pack n' play I was able to start using her angelcare monitor! The angelcare is a movement sensor pad that you place underneath the mattress pad and it can sense every breath she takes. If it were to stop sensing any movements/breaths for a full 20 seconds an alarm would sound alerting me that she is not breathing. I'm so used to her being on an apnea monitor so this is not a new thing whatsoever but something that I need for peace of mind, I can't imagine her not sleeping on a monitor since she has yet to sleep a night in her life without one. For the record, she was also on a breathing monitor in her rock n' play, it was just a different kind since the angelcare has to go under a flat mattress pad. The one I put her on after her hospital monitor was discontinued was called a snuza, which is a little egg shaped thing that clipps onto the front of her diaper and could sense any breaths on her belly. Now that she's on a flat mattress though I have the ability to use the angelcare which I'm excited about. I couldn't wait to not have to clip this little monitor onto her diaper. It didn't really bother her but she must be more comfortable without it. The one she came home from the hospital on was even worse, it was a big strap that went all the way around her abdomen so that one I was really excited to get rid of and the snuza was definitely an upgrade! But this angelcare monitor will last for a long time. When I do finally switch her to her crib in her own room she will definitely still be on her angelcare. I'm really not sure when I'll be able to let her go monitor free and while some people may find my paranoia to be excessive, I bet if they had to watch their baby stop breathing long enough to turn blue in the face countless times in the NICU I think they would be willing to reconsider.

She's doing great with the switch. In fact, I don't even think she realizes that there was even a change. And other than all the technical stuff sleep is still going really well! Cam is a great sleeper and goes down at about 8:30, gets up to eat twice and then is up for the day at about 9:30. Lately she has been giving us a little bit of trouble when she goes to bed but not for too long and it's just her being cranky from a long day. Overall, everyone is getting more than enough sleep!! That makes me and Josh VERY happy parents!

*** I wrote this post a couple of days ago but hadn't gotten around to posting it yet. This morning however, I woke up to Cameron completely on her belly at around 5 in the morning, not stuck on her arm or anything, she had completely rolled. I got up to feed her and put her back to sleep, when I woke back up again at around 8:30, she was still on her back so I thought maybe it was just a fluke. Later in the day I put her on her playmat and took a quick shower, when I got out she had rolled again completely onto her belly. So we may have a belly sleeper already after all. ***

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