Rocker

When I had Lola, I was reading and following Gina Ford’s ‘Content Baby’ religiously. One of the rules she has was not to 'help' the baby fall asleep. This includes not to rock them, hold them, give them a pacifier, or even nurse them to sleep, as they must learn how to do it themselves on day 1!!

With that mental note, I forbid myself to buy a rocker of course.

After that experience, I can tell you that you will break all these rules, when you are desperately trying to get her to sleep 4am in the morning. You will rock, hold, sing, nurse her to sleep, and if begging works, you will do that too.

I reckon there is no perfect ‘solutions’ whatsoever. We gave her a pacifier and that worked wonders. She was also never addicted to it. When she was 6 months old we trained her to sleep and since then we have no problem. Now all we have to do is to tell her "Goodnight Moon!" Then she will walk to her bedroom willingly, kisses us good night and fall asleep on her own. All the stress was for nothing.

So the conclusion for the preparation of Piper's birth is that I might buy a rocker. I did some research on the internet and found many hip and gorgeous selection. They will serve its primary purpose as well as being a great addition to the furniture collection afterwards. If you are a first time mom, my advise to you is to get one with 'arms'. You will need it to support your own arms while nursing. In this case, the Eames rocker might not be the most comfortable choice, albeit being the most beautiful one.

(By the way, Gina Ford's book is still worth buying. I do like her being very precise. Personally, I like specific guidance. Most other books I came across were very general and therefore not much help. But you mustn't beat yourself up if your baby refused to take a rigid 7 minutes nap. She isn't a robot after all and no matter what you do, her body clock has a mind of its own.)