Bella Luna Sleep Consulting
5 Must Have Sleep Gifts for Your Baby Registry
Written by: Christine Brown, Certified Child Sleep Consultant at Bella Luna Sleep Consulting
True or False…5 months pregnant with twins, walking into Buy Buy Baby with my handsome husband, going through the process to start our baby registry and getting so overwhelmed in the first aisle that I started crying so we had to leave?! TRUE!
Many parents are in similar situations and now that I’m an experienced Mom and certified child sleep consultant, I want to share with you some tried and true baby sleep products to add to your baby registry. These products have worked for my family and my clients, to help make the newborn and infant stage easier to survive and thrive.
If you aren’t expecting, these make beautiful baby gifts. (for you too!) Mom and Dad will both thank you endlessly when they help their babies to sleep longer and more soundly!
Dr. Harvey Karp’s Happiest Baby on the Block DVD
This is one product I can’t recommend enough. Dr. Karp has mastered the art of soothing a crying baby and shares his secrets to help us learn to be our own baby whisperer.
Room Darkening Solution
In the early weeks, your baby will be able to sleep just about anywhere, but once they start to give you the social smile around 6-8 weeks, babies become more social. Once this happens, your baby will begin to fight sleep to socialize. This means that you'll want to start putting your baby down to sleep in consistent space this is optimized for sleep. One of the keys to optimizing their sleeping space is to add a full blackout solution, like Blackout EZ window covers.
A dark sleep environment helps to cue our baby that dark means sleepy time and light is for being awake. An added bonus is that when your child sleeps in a dark room, it can help with less early wakeups! And who doesn’t love sleeping in even a little later?
White Noise
A sound machine that play continuous white noise is an absolute must have. It feels really strange for babies to sleep in silence because they are used to the consistent loud, shushing noise they heard in utero. My favorite white noise solutions are the Marpac Dohm and the Marpac Hushh. If you do a lot of traveling, the Hushh may be the best option for you because it is portable and has an internal battery if power goes out.
You may want two sound machines, especially if you have animals or older children! A second unit the hallway outside of their room provides an awesome secondary sound barrier.
Sleep Sacks
Once your baby breaks out of the swaddle, no longer likes being swaddled or they begin rolling, it’s time to start thinking about sleep sacks.
Due to baby’s startle (moro) reflex, younger babies wake themselves up if their arms are completely free during sleep periods. Another reason I love sleep sacks is because babies really love the coziness. Sleep sacks help keep them warm and feeling safe, like they felt in the womb.
For younger babies that aren’t yet rolling, I recommend the Swaddle Up. This sleep sack keeps babies arms in a natural upward position, with gentle all-over pressure, while still allowing access to their hands, which is key for learning to self soothe.
Once babies start rolling back and forth and they are ready to choose their sleep position, I recommend the Zipadee-Zip. This sleep sack provides the coziness of a womb-like environment, but also gives baby full range of movement to roll over and wiggle around safely and freely.
Once babies have outgrown the startle reflex, in between 3-6 months, and you still want them to have the coziness of a sleep sack, I recommend the Bitta Kidda sleep sack. The reason that I love this product is that it has two super soft built in lovies. Lovies provide comfort and self-soothing to babies, but aren’t recommended in a crib until 1 year to help reduce the risk of suffocation. Because these lovies are sown into the sleep sack, they are safe, always in reach and can’t fall out of the crib.
Gift certificate for a Newborn Sleep Consultation
Have you noticed that no one really talks about newborn sleep or really much about sleep at all in all the birth preparedness classes?
A gift certificate for a Newborn Sleep Consultation is priceless. Meeting with a certified sleep consultant while expecting or during the newborn phase, will help teach you what to realistically expect during the newborn sleep period and beyond.
During this session, you are provided insight into milestones, creating the optimal sleep environment, sleep regressions and schedules. You’ll also gain tips to help your baby develop the skills they need to be able to sleep independently once they are ready. I wish I would have received this at my baby shower and many of my clients say the same thing after meeting with me!
I really hope that these baby sleep products make it on to your baby registry and help your child to sleep!
I’m really looking forward to meeting you at the NH Mama & Baby Expo on June 25th! Swing by my booth and join my Healthy Sleep Habits workshop! I’ll be raffling off a free one-hour sleep consultation with me!
For additional recommendations or to setup your Newborn Sleep Consultation, visit www.bellalunasleep.com.
To check out my other favorite products, visit www.bellalunasleep.com/shop.
Also, for customer reviews and to stay up to date on the latest and greatest for baby sleep, follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
Many of the products above are Amazon associate links, which means that I will receive a small percentage for referring you to purchase these products. That’s being said, they are all tested and highly recommended by me!
ABOUT CHRISTINE BROWN
Hi! I’m Christine, founder of Bella Luna Sleep Consulting and a Certified Child Sleep Consultant. I am also “Mommy” to twin toddler boys, Ryan and Nicholas; a doggy mommy to a Boxer, Max, and a Boston Terrier, Pickles; and a wife to a great guy named Jeff, who is also passionate about healthy sleep!
