Long Sleeve Sleep Sacks

Babies are not supposed to sleep with blankets or toys in their cribs. For young babies, these objects can pose a suffocation threat (poo poo poo), and for older babies, they can give the baby a leg-up to help him/her climb out of the crib. Therefore, what do you do with baby on a cold winter’s night, or even in the summer, when a pair of regular pajamas isn’t enough to keep baby warm? We’ve mentioned the Grobag Baby Sleeping Bags here on this site, and that’s a great option if it’s really warm in the nursery or if your baby is wearing really warm pajamas underneath, among other layers. But it’s not really a replacement for a warm blanket. The following sleep sacks, or “wearable blankets,” are cozy, long-sleeved baby sleeping bags that, with a pair of pajamas underneath, will keep your baby warm (and sleeping better) without using a blanket. The sleeveless ones really just don’t make so much sense to me. 1. Just One Year (Joy) SleepBags – Midweight fabric. 2. Summer Infant Slumbersack – Lightweight microfleece. 3. Safe Dreams Wearable Blanket, by HALO – Fleece. (This one comes in an X-Large size (18-24 months), which is

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In Search for a Safe Play Yard

I don’t like the idea of placing baby in a Pack ‘n Play for play time; the area is so small and confining and so sleep-like, that it just doesn’t seem very nice. Let’s face it — playpens are sooo last century. With our first child, I didn’t really see the point of a play yard; everything on the floor or on the bottom shelves of bookcases were age-appropriate and safe. But Baby #2 lives in a big kid’s world now. The floor is littered with Legos, markers, rocks and leaves, and teeny tiny pieces of paper (oh, how Hila loves cutting!). An exersaucer is one idea, but for a very active 6-month-old, it gets old after a few minutes. This is a baby who likes to explore every inch of the floor. And that’s another point — baby’s put in a Pack ‘n Play for play time don’t get that very important developmental floor time. You can’t learn to crawl in a padded crib. You don’t get the experience of exploration when you’re surrounded by four walls in a small space. The following “play yards” or “playards”) enable you to put your baby (or even toddler) down on the

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The Summer Infant Day and Night Dual Scanning Video Monitor

The Summer Infant Day and Night Dual Scanning Video Monitor is one of those things you don’t know you need until you have it. It also comes as a single video monitor. Here is a run down of how the product works: You plug the camera in baby’s room (ideally positioned over the crib) and plug the receiver in wherever you want (ours is in our room). They also make hand held models. Voila! You can hear AND see your baby! And here is where it gets even better: if you have baby #2 and your first child is still in need of monitoring (or if you want to be able to watch two different rooms for whatever reason) you can buy the dual scanning model. It can be used with each camera individually, or you can set each camera on a different channel and have the receiver scan between them. It switches between cameras every 8 seconds. You can turn off the video to just use the sound (for instance, if the light annoys you while you sleep), and then push the video button if you hear something so you can see what’s going on. Likewise, you can turn

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