Spencer Alice is a wonderful sleeper! Every night she goes down around 6:30pm, and stays asleep until about 6-7am. When she wakes up she happily babbles to herself and plays around in her cot by herself until we come in to get her. Her day naps are consistent, and deep. She loves her sleep space!

As a newborn, she was always in her Snoo (which was one of the best baby investments we made – I’ll share more about that in another post about Spencer’s sleep journey). When we moved to Karratha from Perth after her arrival Spen was 6 weeks old and from then on we had her sleeping in her own room. We could see her from our bed as her room was across the hall, and we also had a monitor where we could watch her from above. The Snoo has her gently swaddled and connected to the Snoo, so we knew she’d always be safe in her sleep space without being able to roll over or startle herself with her evolving reflexes.

The time came however where we sadly had to say goodbye to the beloved Snoo and transition her to her cot. We started with her in it during the day time for her first morning nap when we knew she’d be more sleepy than in the afternoon, so it was likely to ‘take’ a bit smoother. It worked, and she was sleeping so well in her cot. But, as a first time mum and having only had her in the Snoo swaddle bag, I was a little nervous about her rolling over (even though she was not developmentally at that rolling milestone yet).

We had her in the Love to Dream arms up swaddle bags, which she loved as it allowed her to feel as if she was free from the arms down swaddle position that she didn’t like, but kept her arms in a position that her startle reflex wouldn’t alarm her if it set itself off during her sleep (haha the things you learn about babies!).

The other item we had for the cot was the Ergopouch tuck sheets. These were incredible at keeping her safe, warm and settled.

One of the biggest game changers though was the routine we started with her to gently signal to her that it was time to sleep. We started this from about 3 months old, where I would feed her, change her, pop her in her sleep suit or bag, read to her, close her blinds, turn on white noise and place her in her bed. I did this routine every single time I put her down, which during that phase of life was every couple of hours. It was a lot, and repetitive for me, but it totally paid off by the time Spenny was able to comprehend what it all meant, and most importantly it was familiar to her so she knew she was safe once she was down in her space. The wind down of the routine allowed her to relax into the sleep session, too.

While sleep training and sleep associations are a hot topic within the parenting world, and I am of course no way a professional in this area, I truly feel that creating a space and routine around her sleep has allowed her to be a confident sleeper now as she gets older. We *touch wood* haven’t experienced any ‘sleep regressions’ and always know that Spenny girl will catch up on her sleep at night, if the day naps didn’t quite go to plan.

These are the products we loved, and made a difference to Spenny’s enjoyment in her sleep space:

BABY CARRIER: We love our Reds Baby Connect Plus.

Not exactly a typical sleep item, but in a way it was her sleep space! Naps not going to plan? The carrier was our saviour! Unfortunately Spen has never fallen asleep while on a walk in her pram. She loves being in there and is just fascinated by all that she sees when out and about (even with the cover down!). But, she always would fall asleep in her baby carrier if I had her chest to chest with me. So, on many an occasion in the earlier months, if we needed to make sure a nap had to happen to guarantee a good night sleep ahead, into the carrier she went and off we went for a walk (or a bounce for me!).

SILK SHEETS OR SLIPS: We love our Silky Tots Cot Sheet (and for the Snoo we had the Bassinet Slip)

When Spenny started rolling in her cot, she was so intense with it her hair was splitting from the friction of the cot sheets, and her ear lobe was starting to tear! We swapped her cot sheets for a 100% mulberry silk cot sheet and not only did her hair grow back so quickly, her ear healed and now that she’s teething it aids in comforting her skin while her dribble (haha babies!)

COMFORTER: Spenny girl loves her Winnie the Pooh

As Spenny grows older, she has become so cuddly and adores having her soft toys around during play time. One of the greatest tips a Child Health Nurse gave me was to introduce her comforter (or one that we were planning on giving her at 7 months when it’s age appropriate for her to sleep with – not sooner) during play time, on the change mat or anywhere we were with her that she could become familiar with it. I had chosen a sweet Winnie the Pooh comforter and would do as the CHN suggested. Now, Pooh is with us when we read our books before bed and comes into the cot with her. She snuggles him, and in the morning when she wakes up she looks for him and gives him a big cuddle. It’s the sweetest.

BLOCK OUT CURTAINS: We love this simple one from Ikea

Day time sleep champion, these block out blinds are MVP’s when it comes to achieving that perfect dark space for bub. Spen actually started sleeping in a room without it, and it was just fine but since being back in Perth we decided to get these as her room orientation is to the east, so her morning light was creeping in to much and now during the days she’s always sleeping so deeply and I just know these have made a huge difference for that.

MONITOR: We love this simple one from Kogan

One of the most asked questions I have from friends expecting is ‘what monitor do you use?’ and they’re always so suprised when I say a $70 Kogan camera. When we were buying up all of the baby things before Spenny girl arrived earth side, we were blown away with how expensive baby monitors are and for no added features that are drastically different to that of a standard security camera for inside the home. A lot of research and feedback from other friends with older kids said that they often found their baby monitors stalling or running out of battery power, so I wasn’t convinced that we needed to pay the big bucks for something that could be more affordable and do the same job. I found this one on Kogan which is actually super cute, so works within a sweet nursery decor, and is tiny, moveable to fit anywhere you need to have it to watch over bub (on bassinet, on shelf etc). It had excellent visuals, we can listen, we can talk back, we can record and all the things you need or would want for your monitor as you watch baby in their sleep space.

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I would love to know what you, and your bub, loved the most when creating a great sleep space!

Knowledge is power, and this is for sure one phase of life you want to know all the wonderful options available to help make sleep more achievable for all, and rejuvenating…when it happens!