Crib Mobile useful?

yes they do like them I remember my first would cry if down at all (the first 2-3 months), so I had to carry him all the time, or put him in the baby bjorn. If I had to do something alone, like go to the bathroom I could put him in his crib with the mobile and he wouldn't cry. I could get 2 windings of the mobile before he would cry. I learned to do things very fast!!
 
I agree with Capital that it is a good distraction, but
I was advised my a number of health professionals (mid wives etc) that you should try and teach baby that bed is for sleep, not play. If you start putting mobiles and toys in the bed it can distract them from what you want them to do (which is sleep). This is really for when baby is young and you are trying to teach them the lesson of sleep early. Initally, my baby kept crying but I kept putting her back into the cot after settling, and she eventually learnt to fall straight to sleep when placed into the cot. She can now be placed into the cot at bed time, quick kiss and I can leave the room and she falls asleep almost immediately. No fuss.
 
Agree that bed must be meant for sleep but health professionals (as well as literature I've come across) have told me that it's perfectly fine to have toys and a mobile in the crib AS LONG AS you differentiate between "sleepy time toys" and "playtime toys". For us, we use a crib mobile and put a soft plush blue bear into our 6+ mo old son's crib and they work like a charm to signal to him that it's sleepy time. One twist of the mobile and it's off to dreamland he goes as his eyes strain to watch the animals on the mobile before fluttering to a close. And the great thing about having his little blue bear in the crib is that if he wakes up in the middle of the night and he sees it's next to him, he is "reminded" that it's sleep time and the bear comforts him back to sleep. So for us, those two have worked like a charm. Just make sure your bedtime toys are of neutral soft tones, not of loud bright colors that could energize him, not settle him. Mobiles that play lullabies from our experience are fantastic, if used to lull baby to sleep. So don't turn it on during playtime or if he is waking up. Use only for bedtime/naptime routines.
 
We got a very simple one that I thought was quite ugly but my daughter was mesmorized by it starting at about 2 months! It had a battery that made a wheel rotate with colors and shapes on it and she could stare at it for hours. I am just about to take it down now that she is 7.5 months and starting to grab for it.
 
Our son didn't like his at all. He is a spirited baby and was not content to just stare at something hanging over his head. He was easily bored with it and then when it was time to sleep it was just another thing keeping him awake. It was a total waste of money for us--but...if you would like to buy a nearly-new mobile that comes with a remote, has many music settings as well as nature sounds--we have one available! (Huge discount on what it would have been brand new!)
 
IKEA has a lovely simple mobile (and cheap!) mobiles with no sound/lights - just five little whales in cloth -- bright colours - our daughter loves hers. When we want to make it go round then we direct a little table fan at it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top