As I mentioned in a previous post, the Benji boy is a challenge when it comes to sleep. I mean, I guess he hasn’t really been given a fair shake at it. Basically from the moment he was born, Peter and I held him while he slept. It was part survival for us (held babies don’t cry as much and don’t wake up their big brother) and part survival for him (held babies don’t get stomped and “loved” on as much by their big brother). Also, this is very, very likely my last baby and I wanted to make sure I got all the snuggles I could. Because my 3-year-old often stares at me down and tells me, “Don’t look at me, mommy!” Which is kind of the total opposite of baby snuggles.
To make matters worse, he had acid reflux (still does). Which basically means he wouldn’t sleep flat on his back because a river of bile came flooding up his esophagus. TMI? Perhaps. But it’s true. So, after about six weeks of taking turns holding the baby at night, we noticed that he would take naps in this bouncy chair we had. So, one brave evening, we decided to try having him sleep in it at night. And it worked.
It REALLY worked.
It worked until it didn’t. Benji, ever the bright eyed enthusiast, decided he would start rolling the day he turned 3 months old. Which meant no more swaddling — and no more bouncy chair. That night, after the super exhausting bounce house birthday party for Elliott, we tried putting him in his crib, un-swaddled. Disaster doesn’t even cover how it went. After the first half hour, he was awake every 10 minutes unless someone was holding him. It was like we were all the way back at square one. At about 11:30 p.m., Peter and I threw in the towel. He was back in the swaddle, and back in the bouncy chair.
We all slept (sort of). Me, I mostly jumped at every tiny sound, thinking the baby had tossed himself out of the chair and onto the hardwood floors, causing irreparable damage. But, he didn’t. And I started to think he’d be in that chair, wrapped like a mummy, until he was 18. Which is dumb, of course, but try explaining that to a sleep deprived mom who’s topped off with baby hormones.
Anyway, just when I thought he’d be in the chair for life, he up and changed his mind. He decided the swaddle was a form of torture and that sleeping at a 45 degree angle was for old men in La-Z-Boys. Pretty much overnight. So, about two weeks after the first crib-at-night fiasco, we tried it again. And it worked.
Of course babies are nuts, and just as I was celebrating our tiny victory, the 4 month sleep regression hit, and he was up every 1.5 hours/2 hours. But whatever. I can at least say that the bouncy chair has become simply a place to chill, like it should be.
Oddly enough, Elliott hated this chair.
