For those of you who are new parents, you will learn that you will do WHATEVER it takes to get your baby to sleep during nap time and through the night !! We actually discovered our beloved sleep aids completely by accident….
A dear family friend bought Bella a pink seahorse, whose tummy lights up and plays music. We almost returned it, since she got so many toys as gifts.. But, before “See-Hee” (once you name it, you own it) was sent ot the ToysRUS glue factory (the return pile), Keith pressed its stomach. The music completely mesmerized Bella!! So, almost immediately, See-Hee became our constant companion any time we needed the little one to stay calm and drift off to sleep. PROBLEM IS, that See-Hee ALSO mesmerized Louie (our wheaten terrier). And one day when we were out, Louie decided it was time to remove See-Hee’s appendix. Now, our ONE sleep aid had a gaping, jagged hole in its belly so BIG, even duct tape or Dr. McDreamy couldn’t fix it ! So, off I go to ToysRUS Stat !!! And instead of retu
rning the charming pink seahorse, I bought A SECOND ONE ! See-Hee #2 reported for duty immediately ! His only downside is that he only plays for 5 minutes at a time. So, there’s a whole lot of seahorse-belly-squeezing going on at our house !!!
Once we realized our precious Princess liked “sounds” to put her to sleep, and given See-Hee #2’s time limitations, we found another “noise” toy at Pottery Barn Kids, called a Sleep Sheep. This thing is amazing!! It runs for either 23 or 45 minutes (weird time choices, right ?). It plays 4 different nature sounds, although Bella likes the STREAM the best. She’s obviously a water girl, like her mommy and daddy. And yes, we have 2 SHEEP in the family now, too. We figured it couldn’t hurt to have one upstairs and one in her carseat for walks and car rides. These sheep go EVERYWHERE with us, so if the sound of water makes you have to go to the bathroom, don’t get near Bella, because inevitably, she will have her sheep on her !
At night, when we all go to sleep, we have Sheep playing water sounds and the seahorse playing music .. It’s a regular baby symphony !! Hopefully, all these sounds won’t make Bella a light sleeper when she grows up, otherwise, See-Hee or her sheep may end up going to sleepovers and then college with her !!
Bottom line, find what works and STICK WITH IT… and if you have a dog, buy TWO !
Bringing Up Bella Eveline 
My oldest has to have white noise. Now I have a white noise machine in every bedroom. We are all sleeping much better with the rain blasting all night. At first I was worried I was “training” her to need white noise to sleep, but she was born a light sleeper. At some point every parent has to give up their idea of how it’s supposed to be and just do whatever works. It’s good you figured that out early. 🙂
PS: We have the Sleep Sheep too. I may or may not have used it for myself on more than a few occasions. lol.