Swaddling

Oh swaddling….so we had a plan during Cory’s time with Claire he was going to work on ending swaddling. Claire was starting to get more mobile and more successful at using her hands to soothe herself and most baby ‘experts’ recommend ending swaddling around 3-4 months. We consulted "Dr. Google" and found a ton of suggestions on how to stop swaddling. We opted for the 'cold turkey method' - stop swaddling, deal with a few nights of fussing, and be done with swaddling in a few days time. It was a genius plan; by the time my dad and Cory’s mom were watching her no more swaddle would be needed.

Well folks, Claire is still being swaddled, at least partially. Our initial attempts were successful - Claire was continuing to sleep through the night, nap time was still a mixed bag but we were making process. After two nights of successful unswaddling, Claire woke at 2:30am, 3:30am, 4:30am, and 5:30am. We hoped this was a minor setback and forged on with no swaddle the next night, when Claire woke at 11:30pm and again at midnight Cory and I looked at each other and both said “swaddle”. Cory did a quick swaddle and we didn’t hear a peep from her until 7:00am – swaddling was back on. The next week and a half we went back and forth with swaddling at night. A lot of it depended on her mood and how much sleep mom and dad needed. We very quickly discovered that not swaddling during naptime was usually a bad idea. I thought it be would easier to stop swaddling for naps, but that has proven quite the opposite. It is much easier to get Claire to sleep unswaddled at night than during the day. For now we are continuing swaddling for naps and no swaddle at night. When I am home for the summer, we will attempt to stop swaddling at naps….maybe…..can you still swaddle them until their 18?