Lately, the swaddle blanket and I have developed a love/hate relationship. Last night, Ella started whimpering after I put her back to bed, and her whimpering gradually turned into grunting. Not knowing if she just had gas or not, I went to check on her and found that she was wiggling around, trying to bust her arms out of the swaddle. Knowing that she usually sleeps more soundly when her arms are swaddled by her side, I let her be. A little while later, we woke up to a screaming baby. When we went to get her, we found that she successfully got her arms out of the swaddle and was now upset with her arms flailing around! So, baby is not happy with arms in swaddle, and then baby is not happy with arms out of swaddle. We have tried putting her to bed without a swaddle at all and with her arms out of the swaddle, and she doesn't sleep nearly as well. We're not really sure what to do about this dilemma, but we have decided that the pros of swaddling outweigh the cons, so we are going to keep on trying (at least until she is so strong that it is completely pointless). If we could let her sleep on her stomach every night, this wouldn't be an issue at all. Like her mom, Ellasyn is a stomach sleeper. She takes naps on her tummy everyday while I am there to watch her, and I have never seen her sleep so soundly for a couple of hours at a time!
I have also discovered that the sound of my hair dryer is very soothing to Ellasyn. Today, she was crying and fell asleep as soon as I started drying my hair. When I was finished, I put it on the cold setting and left it on the counter while I finished getting dressed. Worked like a charm because as soon as I turned it off, Ella woke up and started crying!
I wonder what we will discover next?
abby,
ReplyDeleteella is beautiful and i love hearing about you progressing as a mama. can't wait to meet her...let us know when you get back to stl and we will have a baby hang out!
now, my 2 cents...
i realize this is "not allowed" but all my kids were belly sleepers when they outgrew the swaddle (we used www.miracleblanket.com which i LOVED as well and lasted a LONG time). z was on his tummy by 3 months, and c and l by probably 2, n much later. if it totally freaks you out, there is a monitor that goes off if there is no breathing for x number of seconds.
also, buy a sound machine! they are in the candle-ish section (i think, anyway) at target. well worth the investment...my boys sleep with it on all the time.
good luck! keep posting! :)
Hey Cousin - For the white noise, a simple fan would be helpful. I've used one with Turner and Owen both. Owen now falls asleep to 98.1, KUDL. Ha!
ReplyDeleteAs for swaddling, OJ broke out of his pretty early on, but we learned to swaddle his upper body and let his legs hang free. That seemed to pacify him some. When you first start allowing belly sleeping, it'll be nerve-wracking no matter what. Do what you feel is safe. We generally waited until they were rolling over, but I do know with Owen we propped him on his side with a blankie in front and behind, to prevent rolling to his back (which pissed him off) or his belly (which scared me). Good luck!
Jessica