We love our Baby Einstein Sea Dreams Lullaby Soother. It’s a crib “light/music maker” that has helped us get our daughter to sleep many nights. It plays about 10 different lullaby songs while little fish and sea scapes “float” by. It will play music for about 30 minutes slowly reducing the volume and dimming the light. What I’ve loved most about it, other than the fact that it plays for so long which is a good thing for a sleep fighting baby, but it has a remote control. I have mine hung on my rocking chair. I’ll turn it on and when I’m just about ready to put my daughter in her crib I’ll turn it off and on again to reset it so it will play for another 30 minutes. It’s just nice to not have to get up to turn it on again. You do have to push the button on the main body the first time so the remote will work but that’s the only catch. I really recommend it! It’s bright enough to see the baby in the crib if you need to and it’s also bright enough to grab their attention and keep it. And it’s Baby Einstein so it’s at least plays things like Bach and Beethoven instead of the more traditional lullabies.

Love your site by the way! It’s a nice break to my daily grind to visit your site. Your brand of humor just tickles my funny bone!

Smiles!

Um I am not a parent however I do babysit quite often and I have found that the sleep sheep works really well! You can choose the sound..I to love the waves… and also the volume and then the length at how long it will stay on. It velcros right to the side of the crib and runs on batteries so you can take it anywhere!
http://babybungalow.com/clbluslsh.html

Good luck and congratulations!

thanks great, suggestions. Mike. will email you I’ll take your swing. .
Beth, the monitor had about ten channels. it was white. maybe yours would work. who knows if Junior will be as picky. Viv was.
The ipod thing is clever!
and I was a religious swaddler. Even though Mark was better at it.
Cass, which monitor has different angles?

Also we used the miracle blanket to swaddle, although you didn’t mention that, WOW IT SAVED OUR LIVES. We swaddled then put the little larva in the cosleeper and voila, everybody asleep together.

For monitors, everyone suggested the Sony Babycall to me (27 channels). It has worked great. We stopped using it regularly after she turned 2, but still pull it out on occasion when dining outdoors after she’s been put to bed. With the large number of channels, there are plenty of options in case you ever start getting interference from something. And the range is pretty good.

We had a fairly standard-issue Fisher Price swing that I’d be happy to let you have (we’re in the process of giving all that stuff away this month!). It’s blue with circus animals and the seat can pivot to swing front-back or left-right. We had also had the “posh” version of their swing, and found the standard-issue one far better for comfort and reliability.

Finally for sound machine: We use an old iPod with a compact set of iPod speakers (that keeps the iPod recharged). We downloaded an album from iTunes called “Sleeping Baby” and found the track that we like (we used “womb” for the first few weeks as a transition, then moved to “restaurant ambiance”, then ultimately to “running water”). Set the iPod for “repeat single track” and it’ll go all night. And, if you get small enough portable speakers, they’re easy to take with you when you travel so the comforting sounds of the home bedroom are still there.

If you don’t have the Moby Wrap I would totally recommend it. I just said totally. Sweet mother of moses I need more coffee. I loved the Moby – it allowed for two handed activities like holding the remote and a martini at the same time. just kidding (not really) and it was really supportive unlike those slings which were made by chiropractors looking to spur up business and it’s fabric so you don’t feel like you’re in a spinal brace like you do with the bjorn.

End of excessively long comment.