Note: I have absolutely no affiliation with either of the companies mentioned in this post.
When I was pregnant, I dreamt of the perfect rocking chair for the nursery. You may remember that I had my heart set on a Pottery Barn glider. We eventually splurged on it.
That glider was a big mistake.
Sure, the pinstriped blue fabric looked great in our nautical-themed nursery. But the first night I sat in that thing to nurse my newborn baby, I cried. I actually cried, because after two hours of trying to get comfortable in that chair, my entire upper body was in pain because it was so freaking uncomfortable.
When my mom came to visit two weeks later, I told her how devastated I was that we had spent so much money on a chair that I dreaded using. In no time she had that chair picked up and vowed to help us get a decent rocker.
Enter: the La-Z-Boy power recliner.
I had been told to get a La-Z-Boy during pregnancy by multiple people, but I refused to listen. They are ugly. They are for grandpas.
Source
You know what else they are? COMFORTABLE!
For G’s first few months, I spent many nights in that recliner. We weren’t bedsharing in those early days (I was convinced we would kill him), so Matthew and I would take shifts when our little high-needs babe needed to be rocked and held all night.
From 9pm-12am and 3-6am (my shifts!) almost every night, I would nurse and rock G to sleep. Then I would throw a blanket over us and use the chair’s remote to recline all the way back. And then, if the stars aligned, I would catch a few z’s.
After nearly five months, our sleep arrangements have thankfully changed and we are not using it nightly the way we were in the very beginning. But this week, G has had his first cold. The other night at bedtime, he screamed his head off the second we tried to put his head down on any surface. The only position he seemed at all comfortable in was semi-upright against my chest, which didn’t bode well for sleep for the night ahead.
So for the first night in many weeks I slept in the La-Z-Boy again, and had a surprisingly decent night of sleep (if you consider sleeping with various degrees of interruption from 10pm-4am “decent”).
I know that not all babies will need mama to hold them to the degree that G has needed it thus far. Still, I can’t imagine a reclining chair not being useful to anyone with a baby. Yes, it was expensive. Yes, it’s an eyesore. But I know this chair will continue to be used long after G starts sleeping through the night (HA!).
What was/is your single favorite baby item? Did you use a rocker/glider/recliner?
{ 39 comments… read them below or add one }
I think it was the Ergo baby carrier. Eli loved to be worn, and it was great to finally find a carrier that didn’t kill my back.
I hear you on the Laz e boy. My in laws brought their AWFUL and UGLY recliner with them a month after Eli was born, because the cute one in his nursery completely sucks. I still use it now, because he takes bottles, but for breastfeeding it was nonsense.
I think the Ergo is a runner-up to the La-Z-Boy for us, too. I am only just weaning G from 100% “Ergo naps.” Did Eli nap in the carrier, too? If so, how did you wean him from it?
He would kind of nap. He was the worst. He only really started to sleep at all once we moved him into his room, into the big boy crib, and let him sleep on his face shoved in a blanket. You know, like everyone tells you not to. Of course he could sit up, roll around, etc., at that point.
Does he care for sleeping in a swing at all? Eli would sleep there for a while. But again – he really sucked with the sleeping.
Sounds just like G! No, he won’t sleep in the swing. Just the carrier is where he sleeps best, which makes nights a problem 😉
You two look so comfy in that recliner. What a great idea! I have a new to me glider that my sister in law gave me. I thought I was going to love it and I don’t. It’s OK but you know when you rock on a chair and it squeaks? Each and every time you rock you squeak squeak squeak… with each rock. Normally that doesn’t bug me, but at 3am when i’m trying to nurse baby back to sleep? SO annoying.
I’d love to hear about your current sleeping arrangements! Have I missed a post on it?
I get the squeaking thing! My mom’s rocker did that so when we went to visit her I was rocker-less!
I haven’t written anything about sleep because it is still so erratic. G is a terrible sleeper even at 5 months, which I don’t think is the norm, so I’m not sure how relatable it would be anyway. He is basically up every 1-3 hours, so we play musical chairs all night to see where he seems most comfortable. Recently we’ve started bringing him into bed with us after his first sleep, and that gets us all more rest. Do you have any good sleep tips?!
This sounds like Sophia, we only got any sleep the first year by bringing her in to bed with us after her first nighttime wake up. Breastfeeding saved me, if I hadn’t been able to sick a boob in her mouth and go back to sleep I don’t know what I would have done. Around 8 months we were down to 2 nighttime wake ups and after a year could usually get away with only one. And then, one night around 17 months she started sleeping through the night 7-7. I don’t know what changed but I think she just needed to do things on her own schedule. I do think being super strict about nap and bed times helped.
Thank you for sharing this! I will hold out for 8 months then…two wake-ups a night would be great! And I agree, I cant’t imaging dealing with all the wake-ups and having to do a bottle. So much work!
At the moment with Ella I am using a sleep sack which she seems to love and I know she stays warm at night (plus safe as there won’t be a blanket pulled over her head). She never liked the swaddle like some babies do. Her last feed is around 11 when I go to bed, and then she wakes up at 3 for a feed and then around 5 – at which point I bring her in bed with me to feed and we sleep until about 7 or so.
Sophie gets up EARLY.. like 5 and always wants to come in with us (this is a habit we hope she will break soon), but it’s a good way to squeeze a couple more hours of sleep out of her. You can imagine how crowded the bed gets sometimes. But, I don’t mind.. it’s not forever.
I can remember when I went back to work when Sophie was 6 months and I was complaining to a coworker about the lack of sleep I was getting. She said to me about her own experience “once I just accepted that this was the way it was going to be for a while with my own baby then it was a lot easier to deal with.” I can’t even tell you how true that was. (sorry for the long reply!).
That’s a great way to look at it. I’ve accepted recently that G will probably not sleep more than a couple hours at a time for a while. For whatever reason, he’s just not ready to yet. I do everything I can to help him get there (routine, etc), but I can’t MAKE him sleep.
We just transitioned from the swaddle to the sleep sack. I love it. I kind of wish they made them in adult sizes 🙂
My can’t live without baby item was the Moby wrap! My daughter would only nap in it for months!
Same with G napping in the Ergo carrier! When did she stop napping in it? How did you know she was ready?
Probably around 4 months? Everything from that time is such a blur haha. Pretty much when she was too big to sleep in it comfortably. Now that she’ll only sleep if she’s in her own bed I miss those snugly naps.
Good to know 🙂 Thanks Abby.
I also LOVE the moby wrap. Ella is sound asleep in it as I type this! For those days where she just wants to be held it is perfect. Within minutes she is sleeping.
I never could get the hang of the Moby wrap! I found it so frustrating! But yes, thank goodness for baby wearing!
i dont have a recliner or glider, but i do have a soft swivel rocking chair kind of thing (it was a hand me down from my parents). hopefully itll work (because we really dont have the $$ to spend) but i guess only time will tell…
I think it definitely just depends on the baby. Our little guy loved to be rocked and needed to be held A LOT…a lot more than other babies I’ve been around. So for us it was worth the money, but I think you’re wise to wait and see!
Hi Lara,
Has G started solids? Or, people say putting oatmeal/rice cereal in a bottle might help as well for night sleeping. Benji has just turned 4 and I’m considering doing the above as a test myself.
You are super mama for doing all you can to help the baby sleep better.
Hi Linda, I have actually been told that it is a myth that solids will help…at least for us, because he is clearly not waking out of hunger. I’d try it anyway just to see but I really want to wait until at least 6 months before introducing them.
Thanks for the kind words 🙂 Hope your little one is well! He’s so cute!
The solids didn’t help either for Sophie! A lot of people told me that too but I held firm that I was not going to start until at least 6 months.
I just wanted to let you know that I have a high needs baby too and it gets better! My little one is 9 months now, and things are so much easier. You are doing a great job mama!
Thank you so much! That’s good to know 🙂 I just read this this morning and bookmarked it…thought I’d share with you! The Ten Best Things About a High Needs Baby: http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1254015/the-10-best-things-about-a-high-needs-baby
Hi Lara – I think you’re doing fantastic – and for what it’s worth, my boy is 19 months and still sleeps with us sometimes – and I’m still breastfeeding him at night before bed. I swore I’d never be that mom, but he loves his time with me so much and just loves being with us. I figure there is going to be plenty of time for him to not want us around, that both my husband and I have decided we’re just not going to stress about it, and do what gets all of us the best sleep and the happiest time together.
Thank you so much, Rebekah! I was so shocked at first that I fought it for a long time, and now I’m just going with the flow and doing what he needs. I’ve accepted that I probably won’t be sleeping soundly for a very long time 😉 And I kinda love having him in our bed. I sleep better because I know he is safe, and I know I won’t have to get out of bed every hour!
It’s funny how comfort becomes soooo important once you have kids and are deprived of quite a few essential things, one of them being sleep….
Hope Baby G is better! The kid had his first cold when he was 2.5 months old, and he could barely breathe. It was so scary… I remember rocking him in our glider (not sure what brand it is, but it’s pretty ugly but very comfy.)
I know I’ve said this before, but the “sleep thing” will get a LOT better, and those sleepless nights will be (almost) a distant memory pretty soon…
Hugs to all of you!
2.5 months is so tiny to have a cold! He is better although his nose is still a faucet. But last night I at least got to sleep completely flat 😉
Oh, how I smiled when I saw that photo and read your posting! We had the very same Laz-y-Boy recliner in New York (even moved it to Delaware with us), only it was the double (2 attached seats with independent controls, but manual), same colour and everything. It was awesome for nursing, cuddling, then playing and napping, everything. It held on for at least 10 years of kids flopping and dropping on it, fighting over it, slamming it into position and jumping out of it. Just throw a pretty and cuddly blanket over it and it won’t look like your Grandpa’s eyesore chair any more. It’s comfy, reliable, and you both get to sleep! What’s not to like?? 🙂
So nice to hear from you, Gail! I’m glad you approve 🙂
Laughing because I’m totally reading this post while sitting in our ugly LaZBoy, but man do I love this chair! 🙂
Heabie, I should have listened to you and the others from the start. I always have to learn the hard way!
I’ve so been there. Several baby items I refused to buy the first time around are now some of my favorites. Black out curtains, tons of white noise, better swaddling blankets, etc. Lessons learned! 🙂
Ugh poor little G! Sick babies are the worst, they are so confused about what’s happening to them and it always makes me feel helpless. Lyric got her first cold at 11 weeks. I was so scared. But it (and all subsequent) colds went away after 24-36 hours bc of breastfeeding. Now that she’s weaned, it takes much longer. We repurposed this large, overstuffed recliner from our living room into the nursery. It was perfect but a remote to control the recline would’ve been great! I usually had a baby on my arm & couldn’t reach the lever. Slept in a crooked little ball several times!!
11 weeks is to tiny so get sick! How scary! Matt and I both had it over New Year’s and I thought because of breastfeeding that he wouldn’t get it, but I guess I was wrong 🙁 Hopefully the worst is over now.
we, too, invested in the la-z-boy rock and recliner (just not the powered one, which might have been nice) in our third trimester and i think i’d have to say it was also our #1 must have. to this day, it is the only place i am 100% comfortable nursing my kid
Right?! I would have to say the same!
Me too!
life with high need babies is SO TOUGH and all about survival mode. I am curious because I just stumbled on this post and sorry if you have already answered this but did you try bed-sharing? And if so, what was the result? thanks!
Hi Julie, We did do bedsharing on and off, and then pretty consistently (after the first wakeup of the night) for about a month. I really wanted to make it work but ultimately it didn’t help us. G still woke with the same frequency (or more!), and it was hard for us to get any sleep because he is such a wiggler. I think bedsharing is a great option to try, though!
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