Sleep. You never know how awesome it is until you become a parent, specifically a mother. I don’t know about you but Motherhood broke that part of my brain that thinks sleep is necessary. Instead here I am at quarter to midnight, thinking about how we only have 2 more weeks to pack for the beach and what the kids are going to wear for Halloween. You know, pressing, imminent matters. And, when I do sleep, finally, after hours of such thoughts swirling around in my head, it seems like meer minutes until a little blonde head peeks around the door and announces “my diaper fell off mommy” (why he’s not potty trained yet I don’t know- I’d be happy to send him to you).

Yes, sleep is a very valuable thing. You know what else is valuable? Safety. When I had kids, I never imagined cosleeping. Nope, didn’t even cross my mind. Where does baby sleep? In the crib of course. No question. That’s just what babies do. Well, babies who sleep that is. Not babies who think 1 am is prime jump on mommy’s head time. I have four of those now. They’ve all decided mommy and daddy’s bed is the best place to be and who am I to disagree (oh yeah I’m their parent- ah well you win some, you lose some)? So, here we are, four kids deep and we have tried the co-sleepers and the by the bed bassinets. Heck, we even tried one of those baby positioners before we found out they’re basically little death traps. Luckily, my kid didn’t get stuck or anything, because, you know, she also didn’t sleep in it.


Soon after I had my fourth, my husband came to me and said, “we need a DockATot.” And, I said, gosh those look cool, excuse me while I try to retain some semblance of functioning life (I failed at that for a while but if you check out my series “We are Motherhood” you’ll see that I finally conquered- sort of- the beast that is Postpartum Anxiety). Finally, months later, out of the fog I came and onto our front stoop came the big beautiful black box of heaven. And, in it came the gift of sleep. Worry free sleep. Sleep without nightmares of babies rolling off the bed. Oh how I wish I’d found this sooner. Better late than never.


Maybe, now, with the plush (but firm- remember safety first;) bumper to keep the little devil- er- angel contained and without his foot in my face, we’ll all get some sleep. If not, baby Hey J has decided that it’s quite a cozy place to play with his toys. Excuse me, I think the kids are snoozing and I’m going to just imagine the beach trip will take care of itself. Because, thanks to DockATot I’m going to catch up on nine years of sleep.

Co-sleeper: c/o DockATot

Co-sleeper Cover: c/o DockATot

Panda Lovie: Apple Park Kids

Alpha Blocks: Thrifted, similar

34 Comments

    1. Yes! So, it’s like a multi piece boppy. The white one is actually a cover as well- inside are the pillows that form the dockAtot. It’s perfect because you can take it apart and wash it really easily!!

    1. Yes! In fact they make a smaller version that is just right for baby when he comes home. The nice thing about a cosleeper is that you can put baby in it and still keep your pillows. It puts a barrier between you and baby so you don’t have to worry about rolling over on him! I wish I’d had it straight away with all of mine!

  1. I totally agree – before I had my son (I mean like a few days before I gave birth) I had no other plan other than he would be sleeping his his crib as soon as we brought him home. Oh boy was I wrong!
    After a week of cosleeping – if you can even call it sleeping. My husband said we needed something and that’s when I found the dock a tot. I have been in love since !

  2. Ah yes, sleep became a very precious thing for me once I became a mom. And this looks perfect to help with that. My little one sleeps well on his own now in his crib but when he was smaller this would’ve been great. I’ll keep it in mind 🙂

    1. Yep- it’s awesome for a newborn- wish I’d had it too!! It also helps for rollers. It’s big enough that my 3 year old could sleep in it.

  3. Awww what sweetie pies you have! Great photos, I was actually looking into the dockatot for my 18 month old but he finally learned to sleep in his crib :). I admire you being a mama to four babies, btw, you’re doing better than you know!

    1. Aww thank you so much ❤️ it’s a hard crazy amazing life! This blog keeps me sane. I wish my babe would learn to sleep in his crib but for now- the dockAtot helps!!

  4. Ok girl, you’ve convinced me- I may need to get one of these for baby no. 2! And that print is soooo cute, is it a cover?

    1. Yes! It’s such a beautiful cover. The white is classic too but I knew my babes were going to destroy it. What I love about dockatot is the covers are so easy to wash! You for sure need one ❤️❤️❤️

    1. Yes- it’s a must have. I love that they have two sizes- now they just need to make one for grown ups!!

  5. I’ve never even heard of such a thing as this! Although it does sound like a MUCH better solution than home-from-hospital-straight-to-crib. We had a cradle for our babies til they were in their own room (in crib), and eventually even kept a play yard in our bedroom for their sleeping in on occasion, but there’s barely room in our bed for my hubby and me, let alone one of the girls LOL. 🙂

    1. It makes cosleeping safer! We have a huge bed and are super petite so even the larger size fits fine. But, it even works for toddlers to sleep in in their bed! Wish I’d found it long ago and had one for each!

  6. Hey, Thanks for sharing. I’m expecting my second baby & was really confused what to buy. You solved my problem

  7. I love this article and I relate to it. I also wish I had that Dockatot for my youngest son who is now 2 and won’t sit still for a second.

    1. Me too! I have a 3 year old like that and his sleep is still so so. The 1 year old (pictured) has settled so well since we got this!

  8. I was on the fence about DockATot and so wish I had got one. I definitely think we’ll get one with baby #2. We cosleep, and I think this would make things so much easier.

    1. My one year old has had his for maybe a month and he’s finally found a place to call his own (he hated his crib and used to sleep in a rock n play but he outgrew it- they don’t outgrow DockATot for soooo long and then you can size up!). We just had to bring ours on vacation because we couldn’t imagine leaving it at home.

  9. Aww…. your little one is absolutely the cutest little one ever!!! It’s been so long since mine were that tiny….

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