The Contortionist

Starting about two weeks ago, as usual, I would wake up for Gillian's early morning feeding hearing her little voice in the monitor, no doubt verbally going through her checklist of things to accomplish that day. I would open the door to her room and somehow she would be anywhere from 180-270 degrees from the angle at which I had put her down the night before, and at least 80% of the time one or more limbs would be hanging out of the crib and her head would be smashed up against one of the crib slats (I would be crying if my head was smashed up against the crib slat, but thankfully she is herself and not me). I don't know how she turns herself completely upside down when she is really quite immobile still (I am seriously considering a spy cam to unravel this mystery), or where she thinks she is going, or if she thinks she'll get a better view of a possible escape route upside down...or maybe, since I always enter the room at night from the side of the crib where her head is, she thought this may facilitate more rapid food service. At any rate, her antics prompted the purchase of a "breathable crib bumper" to discourage her from getting so close to the slats (my rationale: if she can't let limbs hang out, she can't get close enough to smash her head against the slats). The bumper seemed to be a good solution until two nights ago. The past two mornings, I have entered her room to find her on her stomach, in a position with one arm pinned under her body and this morning, her entire body smashed up against the crib slats (yes, upside down). Mind you, I have never seen her roll onto her stomach before, she doesn't care for being on her stomach, and if on her stomach too long, whines of protest are sure to follow. Why would she deliberately roll onto her stomach, the most hated position of her young life? For the first time this morning she woke me by crying, no doubt because of the frustration of being in her very uncomfortable position (which she did all by herself).

I am a bit perplexed about how to address her newest hobby-namely, trying to escape her crib very ineffectively. Should I create a wall of pillows to protect her (thereby negating the purchase of a safe "breatheable bumper")? Perhaps put her to sleep upside down and see if it's just the angle she prefers? Or maybe just some good restraints to keep her from moving while she sleeps. I'm sure my wiggle worm wouldn't notice.

*sigh* and *sigh*; Motherhood is tricky.