Struggling with little one's sleep? Schedule your free chat to learn about Nested Mama's holistic approach to family sleep. Let's face it - there are no shortage of "miracle" items targeting you, the sleepless parent, with the promise of more sleep for you and your little ones. As ironic as it may sound coming from someone whose business centers on supporting families as they deal with the tricky stages and transitions of infant and toddler sleep, I am always VERY leery of anything that suggests it can help little ones sleep longer. Why is that? Well, any quick look into the scientific literature on infant sleep tells us that waking at night in search of parental reassurance - whether for food or a snuggle - is normal. That said, as I often share with clients, just knowing it is normal doesn't automatically make it easy to navigate on your own. Enter the lovey - a strategy parents often turn to as they seek to make transitions from one means of nighttime soothing to another. Sometimes, presenting a child with a lovey results in interest that grows to attachment and the child finds comfort with the lovey. Sometimes, you give your kid a lovey and they decide that some other household object - a dump truck, a scrap of fabric, or something else - fits the role of beloved comfort object much better. While we cannot always predict what object our little ones will deem "perfect" and worthy of lovey status, we can be thoughtful and intentional in the objects we offer and facilitate their introduction with care. I found myself pondering this as we considered Christmas gifts for our then 3 month old. As baby #4, our littlest has no shortage of hand-me-down blankets and plushies and other typical lovey choices. At this young age, I was looking for a lovey that could be used primarily as a source of comfort while in the car seat. I wanted something soft, sweet, and washable. ***Please note both of these photos were of fully supervised sleep surrounded by attentive caregivers.*** So why Lulla? At this age, my primary objective was to get a sense of familiarity with an object that could offer comfort while we traveled in the car. Not only is Lulla cute and cuddly, the doll also offers a soothing pairing of heartbeat and breathing sounds. Designed to help NICU babies who are separated from caregivers yet need the soothing sense of presence, Lulla offers an approximation (note, not replacement for) the reassurance of a caregiver's heart and breathing. Because spit up and, well, life require all things be washable, I love how easily the outer stuffier portion removes for cleaning. No stress there! If I'm honest, I find a lot of the musical variety lovies more grating than soothing, so the simple white noise offered by Lulla is a welcome alternative. We know that adding anything to baby's sleep surface is not recommend, and Lulla acknowledges this, providing means to attach to the outside of a crib and thus still provide white noise during sleep. For us, Lulla became a tool to make car travel easier on everyone. And, when little one is ready grab a lovey and snuggle it to bed, he'll have a friend he's known a long time in Lulla! ***Nested Mama is a participant in the GoAffPro Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to the partner site*** What does this mean? When you purchase a Lulla Doll through a link on this blog, I earn a small commission. These small commissions are so helpful in keeping the Nested Mama blog up and running, and I only become an affiliate of products and services I feel strongly about and utilize with my own family. Struggling with little one's sleep? Schedule your free chat to learn about Nested Mama's holistic approach to family sleep.
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AuthorJohanna received a Ph.D. in English in 2014. Now a postpartum doula and educator of childbirth, breastfeeding, and infant sleep, she blogs about pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and parenting. Archives
February 2021
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