We use the Velcro swaddle blankets and they've been great since Jack likes to sleep with his feet straight out and his arms to his side. Well he grew out of the small size and there isn't a medium, so he has been in the large for a month now, but he is too skinny for it! It is on the edge of the Velcro and now it won't stick anymore. So he gets his arms out and can't calm himself down. So we end up going in there and re-swaddling him so he can fall back to sleep.
Well he's now over 5 months old and we keep being told from everyone (seriously it must be the question/advice we get most often) that we need to stop swaddling him. So this week I've decided to focus on getting Jack to sleep without being swaddled with his pacifier on his chest.
It's Monday. I just put Jack down for his first nap. OMG I don't know if I can handle this! I think I have tried everything...
1. I rocked him to sleep while holding him. I put him in his crib on his tummy with his pacifier in his mouth. He stayed asleep but woke up by the time I made it back to the living room.
2. I then flipped him over on his back and put a blanket around his stomach with the pacifier in the blanket and in his mouth. He then cried and kicked and I saw on the video monitor that the blanket was completely covering his face.
3. I went in to remove the blanket and left him without a blanket. He was all smiles as he saw me and when I left, he started screaming.
4. I let him cry for 20 minutes straight! He never calmed down. He just kicked and moved his arms.
5. I went back in there and held him to try to calm him. I finally got him calm again. I slowly started to lower him back into the crib and he started screaming again.
6. So I put him in the swing. I didn't swaddle him. I buckled him in the swing with his pacifier (maybe we will try one of the 2 things at a time). I turned on some white noise and left the room. He sat in the swing awake for about 5 minutes then fell asleep.
7. He was asleep for 12 minutes until he started sucking on the leg of the bear pacifier and kicking. Right now he's getting fussy again.
So now I sit here an hour after putting him down and he slept for a total of 12 minutes. THIS IS TORTURE!!! I don't know if I can do this for 2 more naps today plus all night, oh and multiply that by 7 for the rest of the week!
Help me! What can I do differently?
7 comments:
I think you are doing everything right. We swaddled Greta at night for awhile. Maybe until 7 or 8 months? We weaned her by putting one arm out for a few days then the other arm, so only her feet were swaddled and eventually she was good without it. You can always used a blanket to swaddle REAL tight if you aren't ready. Don't torture yourself.
haha i definitely can't help you - but that photo is hil-arious! when are you coming to denver? please tell me!
NOT that I know, but my friend had the same problem (do you remember kelly?) So she ended up doing one arm at a time. She would swaddle his body+1 arm and leave the other arm out. Once he got used to that, she did the second arm. I think it took a while though since he couldn't/wouldn't go cold turkey. Just a thought :)
Healthy Sleeping Habits, Happy Baby - this book changed our lives and everyone that we've referred to it. Seriously.
if you aren't ready to let it go yet, you could always swaddle him with another blanket underneath, or there is a really cool blanket out thats pretty much a stray jacket for babies and you can make it as tight as you want and it fits all sizes. not sure on the name. serioulsy no pressure i think on weening. I swaddled my little on tell 6 months and only stopped cuz she was starting to roll over. to wheen her i started swaddling under her arms and slowly moved down so she could get used to her arms beingn out. good luck, i KNOW how hard these things are! Now we are moving her to a big girl bed and I'm so scared i iwll lose her naps!! SO it goes!
hi there, - here is something that may be helpful for him. IT's called the Peke Moe and it's from New Zealand. But arrived quick (we are in LA), our LO was addicted to the MB (miracle blanket) and slept SO WELL until she started escaping it and waking all night!!! it worked straight away, was amazing really. http://www.pekemoe.co.nz hope that helps!
I put Brooklyn in the footless sleepers. They are like fleece sacks that are like a blanket. It's not as tight as a swaddle but it makes them feel like they are getting in a blanket and now as soon as i zip her in it, she is so excited to go to bed!
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