Fence Me In: Daybeds & Toddler Security

When we moved Ranger out of his crib, we wanted something that would offer him a similar sense of security with greater independence.

We talked about something like the Ikea Kura which would offer a sense of enclosure. When we saw the Kura in person, the slat supports didn't seem sturdy enough for our bed jumper.

While I was considering bunk beds, Amy at Mom Advice posted photos of the smartest bed transition hack. For her toddler daughter, she turned the daybed opening to face the wall.

A few weeks later I came across a daybed with a trundle at a local consignment shop. With its exposed springs and snapping metal joints, the trundle frame looked problematic with preschoolers. We stowed the trundle frame for future consideration (a solid decision I think, especially in light of the recent Maclaren stroller recall) and replaced the crib with the daybed.

With a step stool at the foot of the bed, Ranger could easily get in and out on his own. It didn't take long for him to start climbing between the bars rather than over them.

Ranger still prefers the bed in this configuration. He likes his bed and sleeps well at naptime and through the night. When he wants the bed changed, we'll move it, but until then, we'll all rest easy at night.

***Baby Toolkit is written by geek parents who love sleep. We are in no way affiliated with daybed manufacturers, and we have limited home design skills. Adrienne once enjoyed a flight with Amy Clark of Mom Advice (only to literally run away at the end when flight delays made the Cincinnati connection tenuous).

Photos: (c) Baby Toolkit, 2009, some rights reserved.

Toddlers See the Light:Teach Me Time! Clock Makes Mornings Easier

Since my shortly after midnight arrival in the world, my dad has called me a night owl. My proclivity for preferring dusk over dawn always frustrated my morning lark parents.

And now I understand. Ranger, like Jim, can be an early riser. When he was in a crib, I would hear an insistent "MOM, I'M UP!" far before I could shake the haze out of my gourd and find my way into the emerging light.

When Thingamababy reviewed a wake-up clock, it caught my imagination, however the clock he reviewed lacked numbers. Ranger loved numbers and analog clocks/watches, so it seemed a shame to choose a picture clock which removed them.

Googling, I found a reference to American Innovative's Teach Me Time! Talking Alarm Clock ($40). On top of having a learning game, audio alarm, and talking time feature, the clock can change colors to indicate waking time.

We put the clock in Ranger's room before his third birthday, so I didn't know what to expect (the recommended ages are 3 and up). As a compromise, I set the alarm for a time that was later than Ranger's rosy fingers of dawn, but earlier than my mid-morning sloth-like crawl from bed. Jim explained that he could call out as soon as the clock turned green in the morning.

The next morning he called out at a reasonable hour ("MOM, it's greeeeen!"). Even the morning's bright glow couldn't dampen my enthusiasm.

In subsequent months, by pressing the clock's talking time toe, Ranger has learned to identify the hour indicated on a clock face. He's still working on minutes, but he loves checking the time. I suspect he'll make the leap in the next year especially if we turn on the learning game. This cute gadget teaches gradually in progressive increments: hours, half hours, quarter hours, and 10 minute intervals.

The control panel is a bit intimidating, but a well-written manual clarifies everything.

If you are looking for something with fewer bells and whistles, American Innovative will soon release an Okay to Wake clock with color alarms and a Tick Talk! clock that allows you or your child to record their own wake messages ($30 each).

We received a sample Teach Me Time! clock ($40 value) from American Innovative after our request. Baby Toolkit has no affiliation with or financial interest in American Innovative. We are not professional chronographers; we're just geek parents with strong opinions (and a little extra sleep each morning).  Disclosure: We are Amazon affiliates and a small portion of purchases made through our Amazon links helps support Baby Toolkit's operating costs (thank you!).

Naptime: Laying Low in Fort Ranger

Ranger (2 yr 4mo) does not like naptime. I used to be able to cheer him by letting him help me lower his shade and singing a song, but such things hold no sway.

However the kid is simply CRAZY about forts. So the question "Will you lay down in your fort" can evoke a enthusiastically positive response.

Meet Fort Ranger:

where a tired young rambler can settle in with his dogies (or stuffed doggies in our case) and get a little shut eye.

Pardon the photo composition and quality, I didn't want to wake the little fellow while snapping this picture.

This hack should only be used with older toddlers who will extricate themselves from blankets in case of a collapse. It shouldn't be used with kids who will pull the blankets down and tangle themselves in Gordian knots. An adult can also slip in and remove the blanket(s) once the child is sleeping.

Coincidentally, a reminder of the sweet baby naptimes past, is on Thingamababy today. AJ features a sleepsack I sewed for his highly anticipated baby boy (who you can name!).

***This is the independent, low-budget, fully-unsubstantiated opinion of the geek parents at Baby Toolkit. We're definitely not experts at this. Baby Toolkit, c 2008.

Wubbanub: A Friend in the Dark of Night

Jim and I were talking about Ranger's early months, and a piece of gear with Most Favored status came up: the wonderful Wubbanub. Not only can you substitute the word Wubbanub into the lyrics of Roger Miller's "Chug-a-lug," it also helps you get more sleep during your child's infancy.

They're the only pacifiers you'll take the time to name. And for good reason... when your pacifier-lovin' baby wakes in the middle of the night to find the pacifier inexplicably missing and/or unobtainable, they YELL LOUDLY and with great urgency. This is really inconvenient for anyone trying to sleep. After a few nights of pacifier emergencies we decided there must be a better way to live and turned to the wise old Internet.

And like a beacon in the night was the not-available-in-my-community, Wubbanub. The Wubbanub sports a silicone Soothie pacifier (exactly the one that Ranger had been introduced to in the hospital's NICU).

We bought an express-mailed little red dog who provided enough ballast to remain with the baby throughout the night. The stuffed animal offers a lot more maneuverability for the barely dexterous, so even youngest infants can maneuver the pacifier into their mouth. With the dog on night watch, we found ourselves getting a lot more sleep.

We ended up buying two more of the dogs for us (one is inevitably lost and/or needs cleaning) and about 20 others which we've given as gifts. I even convinced the local hospital to carry them in the gift shop.

Wubbanubs come in a variety of species: cats, frogs, horses, and ducks. At around $10 each they also make a cute, useful, and affordable gift.

***This is the independent, unsolicited opinion of babytoolkit.com. We have no relationship with the Wubbanub's maker (Trebco Specialty Projects, Inc.) and have received no compensation for this review.

Like a Hammock in a Gentle Breeze: Siente's International Night Songs Soothe

Long after Ranger quit waking up at night, I found myself plagued with insomnia. At night my mind kept buzzing even though I was tired- very, very tired.

Then I got a cd (Siente) in the mail from Yellow Tail Records. Vocalist Partice O'Neill and classical guitarist Hilary Fields collaborate with a host of guest artists to weave a magic web of tranquility. Seriously, I fell asleep mid-afternoon the first time I heard this album. It was so lovely but so completely atypical that I began to wonder what genius neuro-linguistic hacker designed this profoundly soothing album.

The international lullabies and night songs selected were mostly unfamiliar to me, and they are sung in their native tongues. In every track exists a subtle motion that mentally transports me to an outdoor hammock or a gently rocking boat on a postcard perfect day.

Siente is like a brief hassle-free vacation. These songs might also work with kids, but honestly I've too relaxed to notice.

Sound good? There are samples of the songs on the Siente web site.

For more information on Siente, Zrecs also has a review and an interview with the artists behind the album.

View or buy Siente at Siente's web site or Amazon.

WIN A COPY IN OUR SIENTE GIVEAWAY:

Yellow Tail Records was kind enough to offer a copy of Siente for one lucky reader. If you want to enter the giveaway, email babytoolkitcontests[at]gmail[dot]com by midnight CST October 22, 2007. Use the subject SIENTE. If you want to keep my inbox interesting you can tell me your favorite location (real or imagionary) for a nap? Nitty-gritty contest details: We'll use a integer generator to select a winner (random.org). We are not liable for packages lost or damaged in the mail. Although we can't always provide international mailing, we can for this contest (YAY!).

*This review is the independent opinion of babytoolkit.blogspot.com. We've received a sample album from Siente, but have no relationship (beyond being grateful listeners) with Yellow Tail Records or any of the artists involved in Siente.*

Snug Little Bugs: Swaddling & Sleep Sacks

When Ranger was a wee newborn we swaddled him for sleep. Initially I couldn't get the hang of it, the blankets just melted off him in the first few minutes. Jim was a natural though, so (being naturally competitive) I kept trying. I found the book Babygami extremely helpful (as well as being beautiful and funny).

Although we had a specialty swaddling blanket, I found it much easier to use a slightly stretchy cotton waffle blanket in the Babygami snug wrap. The specialty straightjacket-style swaddling blanket was hard to adjust for a newborn's small size. When Ranger was big enough to fit the custom swaddler, we were all quite comfortable with blanket swaddling.

Our hands-down favorite blanket for swaddling is the Gerber Thermal receiving blanket. We bought about a dozen of them in various colors (new expecting parents, trust us, bad things happen to blankets faster than you can launder them). They're useful long after the baby outgrows swaddling. We still have everyday uses for them with 2 year-old Ranger.

After swaddling ended (babies get too active to be contained), we moved on to ultra-cozy sleep sacks. Sleep sacks tend to be fleece and run around $20. We weren't going to buy a dozen of these because of cost, bulk, and a very limited period of use. We ended up with around six of them because generous grandparents found them extremely clever. We'd usually put these over a jammies, a onesie, or a baby gown.

Through craftster.org I recently found a good tutorial at Jan Andrea for making sleep sacks. This was really fortuitous as the end user of the girly baby booties I made was recently revealed by ultrasound to be male and I've been looking for a new gift project.

So, meet the Super Sleep Sack. It's for the offspring of an ace graphic designer/illustrator (I won't link because his sitemeter will reveal this page but you can see his blog at jacobelijahwalker.blogspot.com) and an incredibly talented portrait artist/printmaker. I had extra fabric, so I made some no-scratch mitts to spice up the newborn days.

Baby Toolkit is the independent opinion of Adrienne and Jim Jones. We have received no compensation of any kind from anyone affiliated with BabyGami, Gerber, any of the sleep sack companies, Jan Andrea, or Craftster.org. 2007, some rights reserved.

More Peapods For Me, Please: The Peapod Plus Travel Bed Offers Great New Features

UPDATE: 12/11/2012: The PeaPod and PeaPod Plus have been recalled after an infant's tragic entrapment and suffocation death. Recall kits with replacement mattresses are being offered by manufacturer KidCo. We haven't used the PeaPod with non-mobile infants, and we don't recommend it for that developmental stage. We also feel the PeaPod should only be used as instructed (make sure to zip the mattress in its own pocket) with any age group.

4/8/12 Update: A heartbreaking report of infant asphyxiation in a PeaPod has come to our attention. We DO NOT recommend the PeaPod as a crib substitute for an immobile or marginally mobile infant. We still like and use ours as a travel bed for toddlers and preschoolers, but only in the manufacturer recommended configuration. Our own partially-mobile baby (who until very recently only army-crawled) sleeps in a Pack N Play when we travel.

This is not the first post I've written about KidCo's PeaPod travel bed (left, blue-green). We bought our first PeaPod for traveling when Ranger outgrew the Pack N Play's bassinet. We found ourselves accidentally waking him when we tried to lower him to the Pack N Play's floor, so we had to find a better option. The PeaPod has served us well in the year+ that we have used it. We consider it essential travel gear.

When we reviewed the PeaPod last December, I noticed the new, bigger PeaPod Plus (right, red) had been released. It became apparent last month that over 3 foot tall Ranger might soon emerge permanently distorted by his beloved bed. I found a PeaPod Plus for around $70 online. The retailer removed it from its original box and sent it in a smaller box with the large folded original box enclosed. This economy of packaging really didn't impress me, so I won't recommend the retailer.

The PeaPod Plus' folded size in its travel bed isn't much larger in thickness than the original PeaPod. Its diameter is quite a bit larger than the original. Each PeaPod is easily packed in other luggage and could easily be carry-on. During air travel I wouldn't check either PeaPod in only the light nylon travel bag. They would seem too susceptible to damage.

The elastic strap (which keeps the PeaPod folded) is sewn to the PeaPod Plus. The original PeaPod's strap is separate, so it is much easier to lose.

In terms of raw space, the PeaPod Plus is a great upgrade compared to the original PeaPod. I could fit (albeit uncomfortably) in the PeaPod Plus. It stands a lot taller than the original and has a much larger floor. I photographed the inflatable mattress inserts (they zip into the PeaPod floors) to offer some perspective on the size increase.

The PeaPod Plus' windows and door have shades! This is a great improvement on the original PeaPod. When we had to share a room with toddler Ranger, we couldn't turn on the computer or television without seeing little eyes peering out the mesh windows. We finally decided that covering his PeaPod birdcage-style was our best option. The window and door shades make it a lot easier to get him to sleep.

The original PeaPod's roof opens back farther than the Plus' roof. The original's larger roof opening makes it easier to place a sleeping infant. Both PeaPod versions have large mesh windows so it is easy to observe a sleeping infant without opening the door.

The Plus has a sleeping bag style, double layer, double zipper closure blanket. The original PeaPod contains a single layer floor liner/blanket. It's far less versatile, but it was more than adequate for those first months of life. Even with the Plus, we find ourselves using only one layer of the sleeping bag liner at night.

We still recommend replacing the included hand pump with a foot bellows pump (available for under $5 anyway inflatable pool floats are sold). The hand pump's motion is ripe for adolescent boy humor and it can cause a repetitive strain that is ripe for even more adolescent boy humor.

The carry bag is big enough that we can easily fit in a favorite stuffed toy, a bedtime book, pajamas, and a couple blankets.

If you're considering buying a PeaPod and can't decide between the original or the Plus, we'd recommend getting Plus and only using one half of the sleeping bag. The only drawback to the PeaPod Plus is that it lacks the extra-large opening of the original PeaPod. The Plus' window features and extra space will serve well with a growing child.

This review is the independent opinion of babytoolkit.blogspot.com. Baby Toolkit has no relationship with and has not received any compensation from KidCo or its affiliates.

Rest In Peas: The Peapod Travel Bed

UPDATE: 12/11/2012: The PeaPod and PeaPod Plus have been recalled after a tragic entrapment and suffocation death. Recall kits with replacement mattresses are being offered by manufacturer KidCo. We haven't used the PeaPod with non-mobile infants, and we don't recommend it for that developmental stage. We also feel the PeaPod should only be used as instructed (make sure to zip the mattress in its own pocket) with any age group.

We like to travel and started going on the road with BabyGeek in his first months of life. Initially we took along his travel Pack N' Play because he normally slept in the bassinet in our room at home. Between the stroller and the bulky Pack N' Play there wasn't much room left in our Honda Accord wagon for family luggage or passengers. We ended up borrowing a mini-van for extended trips.Once BabyGeek adjusted to a crib in a private room at home and neared the bassinet's upper weight limit, the Pack N' Play would no longer suffice. If we used the bassinet attachment, the whole playyard would sway whenever he moved, and if we tried to use it without the bassinet, he would often wake when we leaned down to set him on the floor.

One night at his Aunt Julie's house he was upset from the Pack N' Play's movement and Jim ended up staying up much of the night with him so he wouldn't wake our hostess who had to work the next day. That LONG night convinced me that better options must be available.

I first saw KidCo's PeaPod on a recommended products list in one of those help-bankrupt-mommy magazines ubiquitous to obstetrician's offices. It looked interesting despite its close proximity to overpriced infant hair care products and floofy $40 onesies. Of course, I couldn't remember the name, so after a number of google queries I found the PeaPod at a number of major online retailers. There weren't any at bricks and mortar locations in my region, so I bought one from Target.com because they had the best price with some email coupons. Target.com no longer carries the PeaPod, but I can currently find them locally at Burlington Coat Factory. It was around $50 before discounts.

The PeaPod is an ingenious little bed reminiscent of a pop-up dome tent that folds down to a miniscule size (visit the Kidco site for photos of the easy folding process- sorry their javascripts won't let me link directly to the illustrations). The air mattress keeps the baby off the floor. The internal pad for the baby is much like a sleepy bag with silky and flannel panels sandwiching thick batting. We didn't worry about suffocation or drafts. BabyGeek was allowed to play in the bed at home with the door unzipped and he really liked being inside.

When we finally zipped him in the PeaPod he was nonplussed and settled down easily for the night. Our first trip went so well that he slept quite peacefully in a separate room at Aunt Julie's. The PeaPod has been a travel essential ever since and helps us all sleep easier at hotels and the homes of friends and family.

BabyGeek is a tall boy (97th percentile for his age group) and shows no signs of crowding the pod at 15 months. There is enough room in the travel bag with the folded tent for a foot pump, so we quickly replaced the ergonomically unfriendly hand-pump with a cheapo bellows foot pump. The mattress inflates SO quickly with little effort. The foot pump is definitely worth the added expense (about $8 unless you score one on end of summer clearance).

The PeaPod fits so easily into our little station wagon that on one trip we didn't notice that it hadn't been packed and left it at home. We realized our mistake and after futilely searching Indianapolis for a PeaPod, we resorted to find a zipping pop-up anything for the baby to sleep in. We settled on a pop up sun dome with a zipper door instead. It cost $20 less than a PeaPod and lacked the mattress and sleeping pad. We folded a blanket under the tent and congratulated ourselves for thrift and inventiveness. It was awful. The floor of the dome, designed for sand or wet grass rather than interiors had a hideous "new tarp" plastic smell. It seemed that a smaller infant with less mobility might have a suffocation risk if they ended up face down in the tent. BabyGeek got cold during the night and managed to flip over the whole tent and slept on the door. The floor of the tent, because of its rigidity had not traveled well folded and was already cracking along the creases. We returned the sun dome on day two of our trip because it was such a miserable failure.

We no longer have problems remembering to pack the PeaPod. I learned today that the PeaPod is now also available in RED and that KidCo has made a second version for toddlers and little kids called PeaPod Plus. This is definitely going on our Christmas list.

UPDATE: 6/11/07 Check out our review of the PeaPod Plus.

Music to Teethe By

I didn't plan on writing today, but baby geek is so unhappy with his molars coming in that I'm resorting to music therapy to get him napping.

This CD was given to us by our very thoughtful obstetrician on the occasion of baby geek's birth. She offered a few titles to choose from and the sweet cover art on this CD drew me in. I didn't know what I would be getting musically, but the case would make a lovely coaster on the coffee table if nothing else. (This was early days when I still believed I could keep coasters on my coffee table that wouldn't immediately become baby toys.)

Reassuring (gentle, but strong) female vocals present traditional lullabies with Celtic instrumentation and interpretation. It's very peaceful for baby and bystanders. It's baby Valium with a touch of Prozac for beleaguered caretakers.

As he's gotten older and better at fighting sleep, the CD has lost some of its somnolent powers, but it usually calms him down immensely.

This is a great gift album for parents of newborns.

Eden's Bridge's "Celtic Lullabies" at Amazon.