For any of you that know us well, you know that from day one, Caden was a swaddled baby. At first this was by force. He was jaundiced when he came home from the hospital (which was both sad and really scary) and because of that he had to be on a bili blanket for the first three days. In case you don’t know (like I didn’t) a bili blanket is a paddle that lights up and provides UV rays on a flexible paddle that wraps around the baby’s skin. This way they can get rid of the bilirubin in their skin and become unjaundiced. Because of the bili blanket – he had to be wrapped up like a little baby burrito ALL.OF.THE.TIME. He didn’t seem to mind it, but it made me so so sad. However, from that, it became that the only way Mr. Caden liked to sleep was in a swaddle.
For the first few months we would use the receiving blankets to swaddle him, like we had been shown in the hospital… and that worked well UNTIL he became able to flail his little arms around – and then we were constantly REswaddling him as the night went on. Then, when he was about two months old – we came across the BEST invention we had found so far – the SwaddleMe Blankets that are made JUST for swaddling. He loved it. We loved it. It was perfect. It was tight enough to make him feel secure but easy enough to use that any of our sitters could do it. We were hooked – and he would snooze away.
But it comes to a point where you start thinking… HOW long is my baby going to be swaddled?! You begin to panic and think – should I stop this? What if he doesn’t EVER want to stop being swaddled?! What if he is 19 and in his college dorm room asking his roommate to Velcro him in for the night (I know it sounds crazy – but I’d be lying if I told you I had never had the thought). So Chris and I decided, come summer, we were going to say BYE BYE to the swaddle. Even if it was hard. Even if he cried. Even if it took nights and nights without sleep – we were going to help him transition OUT OF THE SWADDLE.
So one day, during his nap, I put him down without his blanket – and he cried (oh man did he cry) for over an hour. And I just let him. I went back in and shhhhed him and comforted him. That night, when Chris put him down, he cried for about five minutes. And now, over two weeks later, he goes down every nap and every night without being swaddled and sleeps (blissfully) through the night. FABULOUS.
For the first few months we would use the receiving blankets to swaddle him, like we had been shown in the hospital… and that worked well UNTIL he became able to flail his little arms around – and then we were constantly REswaddling him as the night went on. Then, when he was about two months old – we came across the BEST invention we had found so far – the SwaddleMe Blankets that are made JUST for swaddling. He loved it. We loved it. It was perfect. It was tight enough to make him feel secure but easy enough to use that any of our sitters could do it. We were hooked – and he would snooze away.
But it comes to a point where you start thinking… HOW long is my baby going to be swaddled?! You begin to panic and think – should I stop this? What if he doesn’t EVER want to stop being swaddled?! What if he is 19 and in his college dorm room asking his roommate to Velcro him in for the night (I know it sounds crazy – but I’d be lying if I told you I had never had the thought). So Chris and I decided, come summer, we were going to say BYE BYE to the swaddle. Even if it was hard. Even if he cried. Even if it took nights and nights without sleep – we were going to help him transition OUT OF THE SWADDLE.
So one day, during his nap, I put him down without his blanket – and he cried (oh man did he cry) for over an hour. And I just let him. I went back in and shhhhed him and comforted him. That night, when Chris put him down, he cried for about five minutes. And now, over two weeks later, he goes down every nap and every night without being swaddled and sleeps (blissfully) through the night. FABULOUS.
I love that you said you worry about him when he's in college. I would totally do the same thing :)
ReplyDeletehugs!!
-mel