We were about three months in as brand new parents, and baby Griffin flat out refused to sleep. Unless he was laying on top of Adam or myself, or riding around in the car, there was no sleep happening in the Hopkins Household.
We were tired, cranky and struggling. I was angry at everyone and everything. Sleep is not a luxury for me, it is a necessity. Unless I get seven to eight hours every night I am a shell of myself, and honestly a much worse version.
It was 10pm and we were preparing ourselves for another night without sleep when I finally lost it. “We need to do something about this,” I all but shouted at Adam. Thankfully he didn’t act like I was a crazy brat, or ignore my plea, but instead he acted. That act saved me, and probably saved our marriage.
A little while later he came home with a magic sleep machine that solved some of our problems. Notice how I said some of our problems? I feel like life as a new parent means getting thrown a million different problems and finding some half-brained solution that works, until it doesn’t. Then you start over again. Wash, rinse, repeat.
So what was the magic sleep machine that saved some of our sanity, you ask? It was the Bright Starts Baby Bouncer with a vibrating infant seat. It took almost no time at all for Griffin to fall asleep once he was placed into the bouncer, and then be immediately transferred into his crib.
I finally had a machine that would help me get some much needed deep sleep. You know, deep sleep, the kind I had long forgotten about.
The really important sleep that had instead been replaced by the lightest sleep possible. The “barely falling asleep” sleep where you wake up in a panic because the baby is laying on top of you, or next to you, and you are deathly afraid they would be smothered.
Not only was sleep back on the table, but my hands were free again! I was able to do the laundry that had been piling up for days. And cook dinner, so I could start eating healthy again and lose some of the weight I had put on during pregnancy. (Which in my case was a whopping sixty pounds!)
To all the new parents out there that are looking for a solution to their crying baby problems, the bouncer is it! Now my kids were babies ages ago, or that is what nine years feels like, so I now see there are a million different versions of the amazing bouncer.
There is the pricey BabyBjorn bouncer with amazing reviews regarding comfort that touts four positions but has no vibrations, the Ingenuity Keep Cozy bouncer that also has great reviews and offers three modes plus soothing vibrations, and the Baby Delight Alpine Deluxe bouncer that is best reviewed for ease of transport.
In my humble opinion, the Bright Starts did just fine as the most inexpensive option. Heck, better than fine. It did wonders for the Hopkins Household!
But to each their own. Why not add the BabyBjorn to your registry, if someone is going to gift it to you. I promise you won’t regret having a magic sleep machine that stops some of the crying in your household. Both yours and the baby’s.
