Swaddle me this...

Labels: - Sunday, February 7, 2010

Ever since Jack was born, he has been swaddled.  The kid LOVED it.  Before he was born, Jeff and I were reading all of these parenting books that we never have time for anymore, and so many of them said to swaddle the newborn so he feels all snug and safe.  Well, we are pretty good at following directions and did just that.  I swear, for the first 3 weeks of his life, he was swaddled pretty much 90% of every day.  If he wasn't eating or getting a diaper change, he was swaddled.  And he loved it!  Look how tiny and cute he was!  So, since he no longer sleeps for 90% of the day, we've just been swaddling him for naps and at night. 

For a few weeks, Jack was doing great with his night time sleeping.  He was at the point where he was no longer hungry in the middle of the night, and would just sleep on through!  It was so great to get more than 4 hours of sleep at a time.  I was in heaven!

Well, a few weeks ago, that came to a screeching halt.  He was waking up again, not to eat, just to wake up and fuss!  And each time I would go in to his room, his arms were out of the swaddle.  Curious.  He seemed to love the swaddle when he was going down for bed, but obviously, fighting his way out at some point.  So I'd re-swaddle the bugger, he'd fall right back to sleep, and I'd head back to bed.  Not pleasant, but not too terrible. 

Well, last week, not only were we waking up, we were STAYING AWAKE.  Um, no.  You're not a newborn anymore where you kinda get a pass for such things.  You get to sleep, son!  As you can imagine, telling him that didn't really do anything, so I'd suffer through the hour, helping the little one get back to sleep and we'd both wake tired in the morning.  Not loving that. 

I'd asked my doctor at our 4 month check up if he thought I'd be swaddling Jack on his first sleepover, and he laughed and said no, and that I'd know when he was ready to stop swaddling.  Thanks for all the help and guidance there...

I got to thinking Friday (which is hard to do with an hour break in my night time sleeping) maybe this is it!  Maybe it's time to stop the swaddle.  Sad!  We'd used his newborn swaddles for the first 4 months, and finally Jeff's mom decided that we needed to stop trying to shove a 10 pound potato into a 5 pound sack and had just gotten us some extra large ones...yes, we jumped from newborn to XL...that probably gives you some idea as to how the newborn ones were fitting.  

So, Friday night, Jeff and I bravely zipped him up in a sleep sack (which is essentially a blanket that zips up) and left the swaddle on the chair.  We walked out of his room after kissing him goodnight and wondered how this would go...I've heard horror stories.  Well, it took Jack about an hour to go to sleep.  And no, that wasn't him just lying in bed, eyes closed and smiling.  There was quite a bit of fit throwing.  We'd let him cry for 5 or 10 minutes, the go in, pop the pacifier back in, and head back out to wait.  Eventually, he let out one big sigh and he was out.  He woke up a few times Friday night, but never never fussed!  He'd coo and talk, that's it!  And really, probably would have fallen back asleep if we hadn't gone in!  

Last night was night two.  Ten minutes of talking to himself and he was out!  And....wait for it....didn't wake up until 7:30!  Woohoo!! 

Don't worry, I'm not getting my hopes up for tonight.  Prayers, yes.  Hopes, no.  Here's to conquering the swaddle!  At least for one more night.

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