Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Acquarium

[MerRos]

My husband & I are new parents to an adorable 14 week old that we are crazy in love with - we are very lucky as she has been an exremely content and easy baby right from the beginning. My question has to do with sleeping in her crib.

From newborn - 7 weeks she slept in a bassinet. Other than just being a typical newborn (sleeping for 2-3 hours a stretch at night), she was fine in her bassinet. Then at 8 weeks she became congested and our pediatrician told us to have her sleeping up at an incline a bit - if we had a seat of some sort to put her in that would be great. Well, she loved sleeping in a sitting position and we immediately began to get a consistent 5-6 hour stretch and sometimes when we were out somewhere and she fell asleep in the carseat - she would sleep from like 7 or 8pm all the way to 5:30am. The problem you ask???

Well, my pediatrician wants her in her crib at 4 months as she said that developmentally it will be better for her and also at 4 months she will become more aware of her environment and it will be harder to switch her to her crib.

So at 3 months (Oct. 28), we started putting her to sleep in her crib. We usually do a bit of a routine - read and feed her and place her in her crib when she is drowsy. We turn on a lullaby CD and have some white noise in the back ground. She will eventually go to sleep by her self (sometimes with a pacifier) and sleep for about 3-4 hours. Then the rest of the night we are up and down all night with her sleeping 1 or 2 hours at a stretch. She has no problem getting to sleep - it is the staying to sleep and/or putting herself back to sleep that is the problem. We have used positioners and not used positioners. We have put the crib at an incline and not put the crib at an incline. We have had her sleep in the boppy and not in the boppy and no difference (although I did get 5.5 hours in the boppy one night last week, but that was a fluke).

I apologize for this looooooooooonnng e-mail and I welcome any suggestions. My original question is what anyone thinks of the Fisher Price Ocean Acquarium for soothing her and getting her to sleep? Or is she just too young right now and maybe try this again in another couple of weeks?

Thanks soooo much in advance!!

Meryl

[Rachels]

I'm not sure about the aquarium, but just wanted to empathize. My also incredibly-contented-and-easy baby slept beautifully until about 12 or 13 weeks, and since then wakes up all the time. Many of the babies in my mom's group do the same thing. I don't know why. I DO know that it's okay to keep your baby in the room with you if you want to. I have a doctorate in psychology and have studied infant development extensively, and it's not "developmentally better" for babies to be one place or another. This is purely a matter of opinion, and I think the best answer is to do whatever works for your particular family. The crib is fine, your room is fine. Whatever you and your daughter need is okay to do. Pediatricians can be awfully opinionated about this, so I just wanted to encourage you that there's more than one right answer as you work through this challenge!

-Rachel
Mommy to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[twins r fun]

We had the FP Aquarium (the bowl shaped one, not the newer one). One of my twins loved it and one did not care at all. For awhile we found it useful for getting the one who loved it to sleep. It seemed to keep him occupied until he was drowsy enough to fall asleep as opposed to expecting him to sleep when he really wanted to stay up and play. The problem is it only runs 5 minutes and then you'd have to restart it-maybe the new one is different, though. It could help your baby, but she may not be interested. It probably won't help her stay asleep or put herself back to sleep (since she can't turn it on), which you said was the actual problem.

The one thing I've learned from the 1st year of motherhood is that everything is a stage. You drive yourself crazy trying to "fix" them and nothing you try works and then they just change on their own-usually going into some other mysterious stage you can't fix either!

Nicole

[nigele]

My DS is up 5-6 times each night so I know what you are going through. I have tried everything but he still wakes up. He is congested all night but his ped does not think that is why he is waking up - he just does not know how to soothe himself back to sleep. I try to keep in mind that at least I get more cuddle time with my little one even if my mind no longer functions!

I thought about getting a toy that projects light on the ceiling to get him to sleep but as somebody posted, that would not help in the middle of the night anyway.

I am trying to find the time to research some sleep books/programs - maybe somebody can offer us some suggestions?

Good luck,

Lisa
Mommy to Tommy
7/2/02

[MerRos]

I heard that in terms of books, The Baby Whisperer is supposed to be really good - as well as the Ferber guy. I have been told by many people not to get BabyWise.

I absolutely have the same mindset you have about being grateful I get to cuddle more with my baby instead of being irritated that I have to get up - the time seems to go by so fast that I am sure there is a day that she will both sleep through the night and not be so into cuddling.

[kathsmom]

Hi, Meryl!

My brother and his wife have the old Fisher Price aquarium and they had a lot of trouble with it working, but their DD loves it! They are planning on buying the new one that is out for her because she likes it so much. I have asked my mom to buy one for DS for Christmas. I don't know about it helping my niece fall asleep,but I do believe that it soothes her at night.

Good luck!!

Toni -mom to Katherine (5/19/96) and Andrew (9/23/02)

[dd_ani]

We have the older version and dd loves it still at 8 months. Of course, part of the fun for the last couple of months has been for her to push the buttons herself :).

This is the one thing that really has worked to get her to sleep. Good luck!

Michelle

[MyFirstBaby]

Hi Meryl -

We have the new Ocean Wonders Acquarium and our 12 week old is hypnotized by it. In fact - we have had our son in his crib from Week One, and have used it since the very beginning to soothe him to sleep. He is now 12 weeks and sleeping completely through the night for 11 hours (started at 9 weeks). I can attribute part of this to the Acquarium. The music and lights are really calming - in fact my husband and I don't mind listening to it at all on the monitor because it is so relaxing! It's amazing, but as soon as I turn on the Acquarium, he almost immediately falls asleep, like he's drifting off into another world!

I highly recommend it for your baby and do not think she is too young. The only complaint I have is that it shuts off too quickly (5 minutes), but luckily it seems to be enough time for DS to fall asleep.

Another suggestion when your daughter gets a little older (or even now) is the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Fishbowl. It has the floating fish encased in the water, with the nice music and water sounds and lights, and three balls to put in and take out of the fishbowl. The recommended age is 6+ months, but I can easily sit DS up in between my legs and he kicks it to make the lights and music go, while I put the balls in and out for him. Another recommendation :) I bought it at Babies R Us, but did not see it yet online. It may be a new product.

Good luck!

Rhonda G
Collin 9/21/02

[elizab27]

I might be missing something in your note, but did you solve the congestion problem before moving her into the crib? I'm 3 months from D-day, but my pregnancy congestion has made ME wake up every 2-3 hours. I too started sleeping at an incline like your DD, but Dr. said it's bad for my circulation, so I got a small air purifier from Sears which creates white noise AND gets dust out of the air (I can see from the dirty filter it's working). It has helped immensely and might be what your DD needs? (I sometimes resort to breath-right strips, but don't think that will help a 3 month old much!) My friend's baby had a congestion problem that turned out to be an allergy to their 2 cats. Getting rid of their cats (sad for them) solved his sleeping problem.

Good luck!

[MerRos]

Thanks for your e-mail. Actually we did get a humidifier about 4 weeks ago and it has made a world of difference!! In terms of her sleeping on her back in the crib - that is coming along slowly but surely!! The acquarium didn't do anything for her at all and I thought the noise was awful - there was some loud motory noise that drowned out any other sound. So we returned it. We actually have a foam wedge in the crib that allows her to sleep on an incline - not for the congestion, just because she is preferring that to flat on her back - and that seems to be helping.

Meryl