Our family was fortunate enough to win the Crane humidifier from the For the Love of Preemies Giveaway. There were several ADORABLE humidifiers to choose from.  We chose one of our two year old daughter’s favorite animals….an elephant, Elliot the Elephant to be exact.  Our daughter is convinced that any and all packages are for her and was quite excited to open this one.  She jumped up and down(yes she jumped and got some air…one of her PT goals ) and then excitedly yelled “elephant”.

The weather was pretty warm when “Elliot” joined our family, which meant there were no asthma attacks or colds.  We decided not to open him until he was needed.  Our daughter kept reminding us that we hadn’t opened him yet :-).

“Elliot” is easy to assemble, very easy to clean, works quietly and efficiently, has an automatic shutoff sensor(perfect for this forgetful mommy) and he’s a lot of FUN!!!  “Elliot” has been a wonderful addition to our family, our daughter’s imaginary chicken even likes to perch on him from time to time .  I highly recommend purchasing a Crane humidifier…. for yourselves, your children, and don’t forget they’re a hit with imaginary friends too :-)

They wheeled me back to my room. After a good cry, I grabbed the NICU bag they had previously given to me.  I pulled out the snoedel and read the instructions. This doll would give him what I couldn’t while he was trapped in that incubator. He would be able to smell me, know that I’m there and that I love him.  So I put the snoedel in my shirt and went to sleep.  I was desperate to do something for him, anything and putting this doll in my shirt to fill it with my smell felt like something at least.

The next morning I ran straight to the NICU. Again told I couldn’t hold or touch my baby.  That regulating his breathing was more important than bonding.  I handed the nurse my snoedel and she immediately opened his incubator and draped it over his little body. It actually covered him from his toes to his neck. Looking in his incubator and seeing this doll that I knew was covered in my scent brought me such peace. To know every breath he took, had mommy smell. The nurses even referred to it as his mommy doll.

As the days passed and as I was able to finally hold, bond and feed my little guy, I also had to continue to leave him there. The peace and comfort of leaving him draped in the snoedel, knowing that he felt me even when I wasn’t there, really helped ease the pain of leaving him.   That doll stayed on or beside him his entire NICU stay. Even under the bili lights for jaundice, the nurses made sure that doll was under his little body at least.

After we came home, the snoedel stayed in his crib with him. The same way the nurses draped it over him, I draped it over him while he slept.

My son is now 17 months old. You would never know he was a preemie by looking at him. You would also never know that we didn’t have the immediate bonding that I felt so robbed of at his birth. He adores me and is very “attached”. More attached then my other kids who never left my side, who had immediate skin to skin contact, who immediately breastfed. All the things he
missed out on. That snoedel is now tucked away safely in his baby box and has very special sentimental value I could never explain. I am so thankful my NICU provided this and was very sad to find out that most NICU’s don’t. This would be
a perfect gift for a new NICU mom. Actually perfect for any mom that needs a moment away and wants her baby to stay comforted by her scent. After hearing my story, one of my favorite stores decided to do a group order for them. She has
been having issues with separation anxiety during car rides and we both think this just might be the product she needs to sooth her baby during those short trips… Please check out http://paxbaby.com/zen/snoedel-bonding-doll-p-502.html and use
the coupon code snoedel group buy to get this at the group discount rate of $20 shipped!!!!!!

Alena, mom to my 34 weeker Aidan

Recently, It’s a Preemie Thing teamed up with Res-Q Wedge to host a giveaway to one lucky preemie mom to give a preemie some relief from acid reflux.  My son Spencer had horrible reflux and I wish I had known about the RES-Q Wedge!

One of the things we requested from the winner was a weekly update on how her baby is doing so others can follow the progress as well.  After all, don’t we all learn from other preemie parents?

About Allison:

Allison was born the beginning of April, she was 6 weeks early and born with a condition called CDH (Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia). What this means is that as a fetus her diaphragm did not form properly which allowed her stomach contents to enter her chest and hinder lung development.  She was diagnosed at 20 weeks gestation and given a 50% chance to survive. After birth they discovered that Allison’s condition was far worse than expected and that she also had two small holes in her heart.  After major surgery at 5 days old, she was in intensive care until she was 2 months old.

After arriving home, she was also diagnosed with severe MPA (milk protein allergies) and GERD (gastro esophageal reflux disease).  To say the least, she has had some feeding issues.  She is finally starting to get on track with her weight gain now at 5 months old with proper medicine dosing and medical grade hypoallergenic formula.  Aside from this it has still been a constant battle to keep her comfortable, and to keep food in her belly.  We have of course bought the best bottles money can buy, and practice all the necessary lifestyle changes.  Even still, we have consistent vomiting and many restless nights.  We are so excited to have won the ResQ Wedge in hopes that it will give both Alli and I some long awaited restful nights.

Week One

I was so excited when UPS came up the front steps with a big box marked from It’s A Preemie Thing! I didn’t even give him time to knock before rushing to the door.  Right away I burst open the box and threw the sling into a load of wash and wiped down the wedge to prepare it for our first night.  I got it all situated in the crib, ladybug sheets and all.  Alli had her bed time bath and bottle and started drifting off to sleep so I nestled her in, she looked so cozy.

I flicked on the monitor and started to head out of the room…BLAH!  She threw up all over everything, and it didn’t even wake her, but of course I woke her in order to get her wiped up and into a new set of jammies.  Realizing that I would now have to rewash all of her bedding, Alli spent her usual night with mom.  Since our first night, Alli has been put to bed on her wedge every night.  She has had a six day stretch without throwing up at all…can’t say for sure it is related, but it is a record for her!

She has had trouble staying asleep thus far, only going one and two hour stretches, but I think it will just take some getting used to.  We are planning to try out some tummy time on the wedge this week, so I will let you know how that goes in the next weeks review.

Allison asleep on her new RES-Q Wedge

Week Two

This week I flipped the wedge to do the tummy sleeping position per a ResQ Wedge expert’s advice. They have been so great contacting me to see how things are going and to answer all of my questions. Robynne, the therapist I have been in contact with from ResQ, explained how in the tummy position baby’s ability to breathe and her gastric emptying better, which is important for babies with conditions like Alli’s. She said that because of this she may sleep better. And she was right!

Week two - working those muscles

Alli was able to go three and four hour stretches in this position rather than the one or two she was going on her back.  Robynne also explained how tummy sleep is safe on the ResQ Wedge because of the way it is scooped around the airway region.  This has eased my mind since there is so much talk about SIDS these days.  The only hard thing has been getting baby to go down in the tummy position, I spend at least an hour getting her to sleep, because nearly every time I set her down in the tummy position she wakes up very angry.  If I can get her to take a pacifier that helps, but she has been on a bit of a binky protest lately.

I am hoping that she will start getting used to it and not only go down better but sleep longer. I have not had a full nights rest since she was born!  Also this week, we have been practicing our tummy play time on the wedge, although Alli still spits up on the wedge like she does with our usual floor tummy time, it has been really fun.  She is able to reach out for her toys while on the wedge which she can’t yet do on the floor. This keeps her entertained so that she doesn’t get bored and roll over which is great because it gets her working more on those important neck and shoulder muscles.

I have made sure that we do some tummy time on the floor as well since the wedge does restrict her from rolling which she also needs to practice. Overall it has been a great week with the wedge. I am so glad we decided to utilize it’s second side for prone positioning.

Week two - getting some tummy time in!

Week Three

Saturday night Allison had a dyspnea attack that put us in the ER.  We assume that it was caused by reflux aspiration. They sent us home without answers after a chest x-ray that looked good to the ER doctor.  With Allison’s special case, any sign of breathing issues puts us on edge.

Monday morning we received a call from Allison’s pediatrician asking that we come in as soon as possible for a follow up to Allison’s ER visit, after reviewing the x-ray they decided that Allison has the early stages of pneumonia.  Fortunately her case is nowhere near severe, so they sent us home with antibiotics and told us to keep a close eye on her.  She has not at all been ill or showed any signs besides this one episode of struggling to breathe, so this surprised me.  The only explanation, since she has not been ill, is that the pneumonia developed due to aspiration.  This also surprises me because Allison’s reflux has seemed so well under control the past few weeks.  She has only thrown up a couple of times in the past month.

She has had some small spit ups, but nothing that all babies don’t normally do.  Anyway, because of this scare and Allison’s diagnosis, we have unfortunately not gotten much use out of the wedge this week.  I have kept her with me through the nights to help keep her comfortable, and to be sure that she does not have any more issues breathing.  I hope to continue working her towards sleeping in her crib on the wedge again next week, but for now I just want to keep her close.

Week Four

Allison has not had anymore issues with breathing this week and is on the road to recovery.  I have tried three times to put her to sleep on the wedge, but each time she threw up all over everything in her crib.  For some reason she has become sensitive to being put to sleep on her tummy.  She has done fine with our tummy time, and tummy time has been our favorite use for the
wedge thus far.  However, she suddenly is unable to be put down this way to sleep as the Res-Q adviser had suggested to help her sleep greater lengths.

So, as much as I love taking apart her crib, washing everything, and reassembling it, my plan for next week is to go back to putting her down on the wedge side for supine positioning.  I haven’t gotten her to sleep more than an hour or two at a time
in this position, but maybe it will just take some getting used to.  My hope is that I can get her sleeping well on the wedge soon, because I know it will help with her aspiration issues – the cause of her pneumonia.

As easy as it is for me to just allow her to sleep with me since she sleeps much longer stretches, I know that the wedge is specially designed to help with Allison’s reflux and hopefully prevent her from getting sick in the future.

 Week Five

Allison enjoying the Wedge (week 5)

So we have switched back to sleeping in the supine position on the wedge this week.  I have been trying various things to make Allison more comfortable on the wedge hoping that she will sleep longer hours.  One thing I notice that seems to make her uncomfortable is that there isn’t support for her neck.  I rolled up a small receiving blanket and made a little donut pillow for her to help with that, since she has mild torticollis so it is good for that too.

Since she is lying supine, and can’t roll over while she is strapped in the sling, this seemed safe to me.  Another thing that I noticed is that her legs just sort of dangle and she kicks herself awake.  For some reason she doesn’t like having her legs swaddled, only her arms, otherwise this would not be an issue.  But since it is, I propped a pillow up under her legs to support them and these minor adjustments have definitely helped.

She has been sleeping a 4 hour stretch on the wedge this way.  Much better than waking every hour or two and hopefully the stretch will get even longer as she gets used to being on her own in the crib.  It has gotten much easier to put Allison down on the wedge as well.  Our ResQ adviser told me to strap her into the sling, then swaddle her and get her to sleep in my arms and then just attach the sling… I am not sure why I never thought of it myself.  I was getting her to sleep then trying to strap her in and swaddle her which tended to wake her.  That being said, the suggestion has helped tremendously.

Allison has seemingly had a bit of a relapse with her reflux these past few weeks, hence the pneumonia.  Her GI has scheduled her for a gastric emptying scan the first of next week, so hopefully he will have some answers and resolution for us.  I know she will sleep better once we get that little tummy of hers working properly!

Enjoying some ResQ Wedge play time!

 Week Six

We had our gastric emptying study and the results came back normal.  This is great news, but unfortunately it means that we don’t have any additional answers about her tummy troubles.  I am however, happy to report that Allison has been doing well with her wedge sleep this week.

She seems to have developed a routine where she sleeps a 5 hour stretch then wakes for a bottle.  Since she still needs those extra calories I expected this.  She takes her bottle and goes right back to sleep for another 3 hours, one more bottle, and a final 3 hours.  She is getting a total of about 11 hours rest and 2 nightly bottles, which is perfect for a 6 month old preemie.

It has been nice to have my own room too!  I have continued to use the pillow under her legs, and the roll for her head and those additions have made a world of difference.  We are still having some nap time issues, but that is a lot easier for me to deal with since I am not trying to get some rest too.  Allison only ever takes a couple of 20 minute naps through the day and I have been told that she should be getting at least 4 hours during the day in addition to her 11 at night, but we will continue to work on it.

I am hoping that I will have a happier baby once she gets a good napping routine down too.

WEEK SEVEN

Nothing has changed for us this week as far as sleeping on the Res-Q wedge.  Alli has kept her 5-3-3 sleeping schedule, and we are doing well with that.   She did spit up on her sling one of the nights so she slept with me while laundry was being done, but other than that she is keeping to her new wedge sleeping schedule.

She just wakes up for 10-15 min the two times to have a bottle and goes right back down.  She has woken up coughing/choking a couple of nights but fell right back asleep, and of course it always scares me to wake up to that and I don’t sleep as well, but I am glad she is okay with it.

She is really having a hard time with feedings this past month and doctors are concerned about her weight.  She has dropped below the 5^th percentile for her adjusted age this month, with the normal gastric emptying results they decided to conduct a swallow study and we are waiting to hear back about the results.  She also has an echo scheduled to check up on her heart, obviously we are hoping there is nothing serious going on, but we need to get her back on track.

WEEK EIGHT

After the rough week we had last week, it was so great to have a good one!  Allison gained great weight, and we received normal results back on all the testing they did.  They will be running a few more tests in the upcoming weeks, but it’s looking like things are back on the upswing.

Allison had a few scary choking spells this week, but hopefully her GI will get things figured out with the upcoming testing.  Her sleep pattern has stayed the same and it is working well for us.  Allison had a really fun photo session from Inspiration Through Art, thanks to the tag from It’s A Preemie Thing Facebook.

She has been happier during the day and I have been getting her to nap better, though we are still working on getting a good steady schedule like we have made for nights.  Her OT saw her this week too and says she sees great improvements since her last visit.

WEEK NINE

Allison has continued doing really well.  She actually slept a couple of 7 hour stretches this week, and started taking a whole 3oz at some of her feedings.   The doctors suggested bumping her up to a faster flowing nipple and it has really helped us get more
down her since she tends to wear out quickly.  We also started thickening her bedtime feeding with a little rice cereal as suggested to us on ResQ’s facebook page.

In combination with sleeping on the wedge, it has really helped with all the night time coughing.  Those extra calories have got to be good for my little skinny mini too.  I am certain that she will have gained some good weight by her next appointment.

 

WEEK TEN

Allison is continuing to do very well in my eyes. She is sleeping comfortably, and eating more than she ever has. The doctors are still not content with her weight gain, but we will continue to work on it. Hopefully we can start some solids soon, because I am really hoping that will help.

We attended a feeding clinic as advised by Allison’s therapist, and they basically just told us what we already know. They said she is a “very passive eater.” I think it is a blessing that she eats on her own at all after all she has been through. So many CDH survivors are on feeding tubes for years, and she hasn’t been on one since she left the NICU at 2 months old. She will be 7 months on the 7^th! I can hardly believe it was that long ago that we were stuck in that hospital room day after day. It seems like just last month. Has it really taken this long to get her feeling good? As I am sure you all know, the reflux journey is a long one!

 

NOTE:  Alexis had Allison’s pictures taken through Inspiration Through Art  is a non-profit organization that provides our special heroes with complimentary photo shoots, special cards and mail, gift packages, and various  other programs, events, and fundraisers.  What a great organization!!

 

WEEK ELEVEN

We had another good week sleeping on the wedge!  One night Allison even gave us an 8 hour shift.  Then of course she received the booster for her flu shot…so we had a couple of rough nights too…but that is to be expected.

The doctors said her weight gain was okay this month, which is good after the plateau she had over the last couple of months.  She is still low on the charts, but gaining!  She is really babbling lots this week and has started sitting on her own for short periods of time.  It is so amazing to watch her grow and get stronger every week!

WEEK TWELVE

With my final posting all I can say is THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!  To ResQ Wedge and It’s a Preemie Thing, thank you so much for this opportunity.  Three months ago I would have never guessed that Allison would be sleeping through the night in her own crib. It is so nice to get some rest knowing that Alli is sleeping safely elevated on her wedge.  It is also wonderful not to have to clean up projectile vomit night after night.  And to be able to sleep for more than 2 or 3 hours at a time is heavenly.

Allison has been sleeping 6 to 9 hours without a peep this entire week, then she goes right back to sleep for another 3 or 4 after downing a quick bottle.  I truly felt like I was never going to rest easy again when we brought Allison home from the hospital.  So glad I was wrong!  IAPT and ResQ gave so much more than just a wedge in this giveaway.

Allison in an It's a Preemie Thing onesie!!

I swore I wasn’t going to let me son watch any television for the first few years, although videos where he was learning something seemed to be on a different plane of my thinking, so I popped a video in and let Spencer watch it. Within a week, Spencer was signing “milk” and “more” and he was only 9 months old! I was so excited that he could communicate with us and knew at that time his brain was going to be fine!

So each day during meal times, we would pop in a Baby Signing Time video and Spencer would stare at the TV as he ate, happily watching Rachel, Alex and Leah and of course, Hopkins the frog!  He was quickly picking up more and more words, so we actually had to start watching them as well so we could keep up with him and understand what he was telling us.

Here’s the small disclaimer for parents that don’t have Signing Time (and the ones that do will totally agree)…be prepared to catch yourself singing the songs even when your children are not around.  They are catchy, hence why the kids love them, and apparently addictive.  Today I even went somewhere without Spencer, and about 1/3 into my drive I realized that I didn’t have to listen to the Baby Signing Time CD and put on grown-up music…what a concept!

When Spencer hit 15 months he crawled over to me and signed “please food” and I knew this was really working and man, this kid is smart!  I mean adjusted age he was 12 months (11 weeks early)  and was putting signs together!  At 16 months Spencer received his walker and picked it up right away, and at 16 moths he started crawling on all fours for the first time and also got himself into the sitting position for the first time.  I truly think Signing Time got his brain going and he realized he could do more…you might think that is crazy, but it’s my story and I’m sticking to it!  The only issue with Signing Time I have had, I told Spencer to “Go Go Go!” in his walker, so rather than start walking, he let go and signed “Go Go Go!” and fell face first into the cement.  Ok, not so much Signing Time’s fault, but it was funny that he signed it back so quickly. 

Spencer is up to over 50 signs at 18 months and now as soon as he wakes up, he’s actually signing Baby Signing Time and pointing to the TV.  I recently purchased three new DVD’s when they had their Anniversary sale and now he’s hooked on those.  He becomes pouty and mad if I put the wrong one in, so I have to figure out quickly which one he wants to watch.  No…he’s not spoiled.   But don’t all preemies deserve to be spoiled?

Another down side to Signing Time…your children CAN communicate with you much earlier, which is AMAZING…except when you sign to you child “NO, NO, NO” and he looks at you and signs back “YES, YES, YES!”  Crap, he gets this way to well.   He signs animals now and is even saying some words and signing them at the same time.  He’ll sign airplane and I have to look around and try and find it as he apparently has spotted it before me.  And yes, we’re in Seattle, where it’s still in the 50′s and raining on 1 June…and yesterday we got caught in the rain coming out a store and he started signing rain and then wet.  Yes sweet pea, it was raining and we were indeed wet.

What I also find fascinating about Signing Time is the reason behind the company Two Little Hands, and the fact that Rachel discovered her daughter Leah (Leah and Rachel’s nephew Alex are the stars of the DVD’s alongside Rachel) was deaf at 14 months.  And her second daughter Lucy, born 8 weeks early, had spina bifada and cerebral palsy.  So Rachel took things into her own hands (pun intended) and begin Signing Time with her sister Emile. 

It’s not only an amazing family and story, imagine how many lives they have impacted in such a positive way…and I know one for sure.  A little boy named Spencer, born the day his mom hit 29 weeks weighing 2lbs 5oz who was scheduled to have a brain shunt when he was born (real due date) due to ventriculomegaly and hydrocephalus and later diagnosed with Rhombencephalosynapsis.  That little boy is one happy child, no brain shunt, but an amazing smile, desire to learn and some tiny hands craving more words to be able to share with his mom and dad.

Although if you keep reading, you will see I’m giving away a copy of Volume 1 of Baby Signing Time, I HIGHLY recommend getting more!  And the wonderful folks at Signing Time have given us a discount code for preemie parents to use!  Enter in preemie starting on 3 June and  it expires June 17th it is for 10% off $50 or more and can not be combined with any other coupon or offer.

**GIVEAWAY**

When I bought my last DVD’s for Spencer, I purchased a Baby Signing Time Volume 1 knowing I’d be writing this review soon and wanting to share with another preemie family my love for communicating with our tiny miracles.  So to win Volume 1 of Baby Signing Time, here’s the scoop!

1.  You must be a parent/grandparent/aunt/uncle (related) to a preemie so the preemie gets the DVD!

2.  You must be a fan of It’s a Preemie Thing  and Signing Time on Facebook (leaving love on Signing Time from IAPT is optional)

3.  Comment on this post about your little one or the preemie you’re winning it for!

BONUS ENTRIES (make a separate comment for each):

4.  Follow It’s a Preemie Thing on Twitter @apreemiething and tweet:  Preemie only #giveaway with @apreemiething for @signingtime DVD http://tinyurl.com/3jojzgb

5.  Share about the review and giveaway on your FB status!

Giveaway closes on 9 June 2010 at midnight PST, and I will use a random winner generator from WordPress to select the winner!  Thank goodness since I’d give one to everyone if money grew on trees.

The review above is my own opinion after purchasing SEVEN various Baby Signing Time and Signing Time DVD’s on my own.  I was not compensated in any way for my review.

Spencer using his walker and probably listening to Baby Signing Time!

 

I remember the first lactation consultant I met, Carol, as she was so cheerful, a NICU Nurse who came into my room hours after my son was delivered to discuss trying to retrieve some “liquid gold” for my little son.  I liked Carol instantly, and didn’t think she was negative at all when she began explaining that I should not for one second beat myself up if my milk didn’t come in.  I was starting with three strikes against me…my son was conceived via IVF, I was in my 40′s having my first child, and he was born the day I turned 29 weeks.  My body just may not produce milk, and if it doesn’t, it’s ok!  She made me comfortable from the start.

Carol and I would look back later and laugh at that conversation when they finally told me I no longer had to leave milk at the NICU because I had so much frozen there already.   I was one of the lucky ones, my milk came in with a vengeance.  My NICU neighbor Natalie and I compared our “Golden Boobs” production amounts thankful for the ability to provide to our sons.  Between Carol, Lisa, Shar, and Tonya…the lactation consultants I would grow to love and know well for the next 64 days of my stay, they told me about things like Lanolin, Lansinoh Soothies gel pads (highly recommend for sore nipples) and my favorite product…my Simple Wishes hands free pump bra!

Having to pump every 3 hours during our NICU stay, I can’t imagine all the time I would have sat there and held those pumps to my breasts staring at a clock.  Instead, I would slide the pumps in the bra and since we were fortunate enough that every baby has a private room in our NICU, I could pull a stool up to my sons incubator and rest my hands on him while pumping, which would help us both.  I could also catch up on my blog or emails in the middle of the night…and even chatted online with my other NICU mom’s pumping in the wee hours of the morning.  I even purchased a second one so I could leave one at the NICU and have one at home.  Yet another wise decision!

Another bonus about being hands free was that there were times I would sleep through a pump (you fellow NICU mom’s understand the mental exhaustion) and I could actually massage my breasts while pumping allowing the milk to flow better.  It really helped!  I also love that you can expand or make them smaller, it’s not like you have to purchase one each time your bra size changes, which unfortunately, happened quite a bit!

I pumped so much milk that we had to purchase a full size deep freeze just to store the milk.  I even donated to two adoptive families so that their baby could have breast milk.  Then Spencer finally came home, and I was so excited about breast feeding, although I knew I’d be going back to work in just two short weeks since all of my maternity leave was used up while in the NICU.  Spencer had other plans and decided that in the mornings, and only laying in bed would he nurse.  The rest of the time he wanted a bottle of breast milk…not from the source direct.  So my Simple Wishes found use until Spencer was 9 months old.  I told myself I would stop pumping at 6 months, but the momma guilt runs deep through my veins and I tagged on an additional 3 months.  I even had enough frozen to just about make it the entire first year! 

When I started It’s a Preemie Thing, I knew instantly I wanted to carry Simple Wishes, I mean a bra saved my sanity through all those hours of pumping.  I had forgotten it one day at work and was so annoyed, how would I have ever made it without it through all of those months?  So yes, you can purchase one directly from It’s a Preemie Thing along with a few other great products I’ve found since the NICU!  Seriously, invest the money, save your sanity!

Look...no hands!

I purchased my own Simple Wishes hands free pump bra during my NICU stay in 2009-2010.  I was not given a bra to review or compensated in any way by Simple Wishes for this review.  This review is purely my opinions and my desire to share with other moms so they don’t have to sit behind a pump holding them!

A mother responded that something called the Nap Nanny was a lifesaver for her baby with acid reflux and she couldn’t have survived without it.  I believe I may have waited about 15 minutes before I was submitting payment for my sons Nap Nanny and wasn’t about to tell my husband that I spent about $129.99 on something that might work.   After all, nowhere on Nap Nanny’s site did it say anything about acid reflux!!

We received our Nap Nanny, let it air out as it did smell rather strongly, although I’ve discovered Nap Nanny wasn’t happy with that either and found a new supplier and that is no longer the case!  (Isn’t it great when a company actually listens to their consumers?)  Washed the cover, put it back on and gently placed my 3 month old 7lb baby onto the Nap Nanny.  He instantly went to sleep and slept for a long time…it was working!!  Our son actually slept in the Nap Nanny at night inbetween us on the bed and for naps for quite some time, until his acid reflux finally disappeared, and he was able to sleep in his bassinet.  Which by the way, I finally bought a wedge to try in the bassinet just to ensure the acid reflux wouldn’t return and he would slide right off of it.  I was so sad the Nap Nanny didn’t fit in the bassinet!

Here’s the caveat…per FDA regulations, Nap Nanny is NOT allowed to say that it helps babies with acid reflux since it’s not medically proven.  But ask the other four of my friends that purchased them after seeing mine, and I’m sure many others and we will say it does.  Then of course there was the recall late last year that keeps popping up. 

It does state on the Nap Nanny NOT to use it in a crib or on an elevated surface, and you know how so many of us don’t pay attention to those warnings.   I discovered through the owner Leslie, that Nap Nanny was talking to the CPSC for several months about relocating and redoing the warning label because they were learning about people using it incorrectly, despite their warnings to only ever use it on the floor.   Nap Nanny was two weeks away from the recall when unfortunately, a baby that was placed in a Nap Nanny in a crib (buckled in) rolled over and was trapped between the crib bumper and the crib and passed away.   I can’t imagine what that family went through, but the Nap Nanny was never deemed unsafe and never removed from the market (those with the Gen1 were given the option to return the cover for a $50 coupon to buy a new one).  

The recall was not because of this incident though, it only emphasized what Nap Nanny was concerned about, that people either weren’t reading or weren’t heeding the warnings to only use it on the floor.   The baby actually suffocated on the crib bumper  (which is another product recently under fire for being dangerous itself, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-12-12/news/ct-met-bumpers-20101212_1_crib-bumpers-crib-slats-staple-in-many-nurseries).   It’s also worth noting that Nap Nanny has never had any medically treated injuries to any baby ever using any of the Nap Nanny models, when it’s being used properly.

I actually let me son sleep in it at night until he started rolling over, then only let him nap in it during the day when I was awake and around.  At 16 months he still uses his Nap Nanny to watch a Baby Einstein DVD while drinking a bottle of milk.  Not only that, as I’ve mentioned before, my son has a rare brain malformation called Rhombencephalosynapsis and does not have trunk stability or balance.  We have a therapist come once a week and we actually were using the Nap Nanny during our therapy sessions to teach him how to pull himself up and balance.  He seemed to have mastered that quickly and now he pulls himself up on the larger end, and dives over and rolls off…so it’s turned into not only a comfortable place to sit, but quite the indoor toy for him.

I highly recommend the Nap Nanny for not only preemie babies, but all babies!  Especially mothers of multiples, great place for one to sit if you’re nursing the other, or you can have two and one in each while bottle feeding.    Personally, I’d like to see a movie theater have adult Nap Nannies as the chair of choice to relax in, although it would be a waste of money with the lack of sleep I get as I’d settle in, the lights would dim, and just like my son, I’d instantly drift off to sleep.

The new Nap Nanny Chill was recently released and I’m rather bummed I don’t have it!  My favorite new feature…the harness is removable so when your little one is big enough, they can just use it as a lounger…which Spencer now does.  So yes, thrilled to have a Nap Nanny…but don’t think my husband would be thrilled for me to buy another one just to have a removable harness.  

Nap Nanny on FB:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nap-Nanny/84092968947

Online:  http://www.napnanny.com/

I received no compensation or product for this review, it is just my humble opinion as a preemie mom and Nap Nanny owner!

Preemie's chilling in their Nap Nanny's...Nat on the left was born at 1lb even, Spencer on the right at 2lbs 5oz (Pic from April 2010)