Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit

We were having a hard time with Ellie's sleeping (or lack thereof) it seems the older she gets the worse she sleeps. I was getting more sleep 2 days after being home from the hospital than I was getting a month ago. She started waking up 4+ times, wanting to eat sometimes, but mostly just up for random reasons. There were quite a few culprits involved. 

1- She was still sleeping in her rocker. While she didn't outgrow it size wise, she was strong enough to pull herself up and almost overboard. She would also twist until she was pinned face down and that was enough right there to scare me to death, so we knew our rocker days were over. Maisie slept in the rocker until she was10 months old and never attempted to crawl out, so we were a little surprised by Ellie doing so.

2- She still very much liked being swaddled. It was a sure way trick to settle her down. Although she is strong enough to break the swaddle, I was scared to put her swaddled in the crib because I wanted her to have access to her arms at all times.

3- she hated/still hates (remember this post?) food. So I am her complete source of nutrition. Breastmilk  is only filling for so long, and since she's burning more calories now than ever, I am nursing twice as much now than when she was a newborn.

4- Her hatred for the crib. Her rocker had a slight incline and was snug to where she felt cozy and safe, but her crib is spacious and flat and since we didn't feel comfortable swaddling her in it, we didn't, so the lack of swaddle wasn't helping anything.

Austin and I were THIS close to start sleep training because we were so beyond sleep deprived, but every time we talked about it we felt unsettled, nervous and dread. So we decided that was out of the question for us now. All we knew is that we needed her to be in her crib, that she needed to be safe and comfortable, but we didn't know what we could do to get her comfortable being in her crib, let alone sleeping.

So one day I was browsing the internet (not even looking for sleep solutions) when I was reading my lists of blogs that I follow, when one of the bloggers I have followed for a couple years explained that her 8 month old is progressively becoming a worse and worse sleeper, I was intrigued. The things she was describing about her daughter was almost exactly Ellie to a T! I was relieved that I wasn't alone and yet still had no solutions. The same blogger wrote a follow up post a couple weeks later and with the suggestions from commenters on her "no sleep" post, decided to try "Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit". She was skeptical yet desperate. So she ordered one. The first night her daughter used the suit she slept 10 hours straight. I felt hope! I was no where expecting Ellie to sleep that long, but even just going back to 5 hour stretches would be a luxury. We had a lot more factors going into it (list above) and after reading the FIRST Amazon review about someone's baby who wouldn't sleep in the crib and surprise, surprise, it was because of the SAME rocker Ellie was sleeping in- anyway the review concluded that the sleep suit was indeed magic. I called austin at work and told him we had to try it. He hesitantly agreed because of the cost, but I had some Amazon gift card money left over and used it for that.

A couple days later the suit arrived just in time for Ellie's third nap. I put her in the suit (took some pictures because she was so cute) and after rocking her and singing a couple songs placed her in her crib pretty much wide awake. Within 5 minutes Ellie was sleeping! In her crib! I didn't even have to trick her by getting her to sleep in my arms first and setting her in her crib. It was all her and the suit.


3:41 pm


4:02 pm

Ellie is now only waking up twice to eat- once around midnight/1am ish and the other around 4:30 or 5am. The best part? She has been sleeping in her crib for weeks now- NO ROCKER!! All naps and nighttime sleep has been in her crib. The rocker is actually packed away now. We are still using the suit because Ellie is cozy and warm, but probably in the next few weeks we will start using it less and less.