There comes a time in every babe's life that they need to be weaned from their swaddle. For Elizabeth, that time came earlier this week. I searched the internets and my own blog for tips. I was surprised at how little I could find on my old posts. I remember the process of weaning Abigail from the swaddle but not how long it took or how it affected her sleep. I was really disappointed not to be able to reference that. My 2010 self didn't help my 2016 self like I'd hoped. So, here's my 2016 self hoping to help out my hopefully 2018 and 2020 self.
Elizabeth sleeps really well swaddled. She just turned ten months earlier this week and I couldn't believe how time flew and also how she barely rolled over while swaddled. She would occasionally roll over swaddled after a nap, but it wasn't a bit deal. Then in a matter of days, she started doing a lot of rolling over in her swaddle while she was trying to fall asleep.
So Wednesday afternoon, honey had come home early from work and I decided to try Elizabeth napping with one arm out. Honey and the kids went to the basement to play and hang out so I could focus on Elizabeth and watch the monitor and listen for her.
I spent over an hour periodically going into help her (she didn't cry or scream but would either roll over and get stuck, break out of the swaddle, or just start to yell and fuss). I mainly tried leaving her right arm out and trying to just loosely swaddle both arms in. Eventually, it was getting late enough that I was worried it would push back her nighttime sleep, so I swaddled both of her arms snugly as usual, gave her a binky (to help her fall asleep super fast and because she was overtired at this point) and watched her on the monitor to make sure she fell asleep on her back.
When I put her down for bed that night, I did the one arm out again, but left out her left arm (because she is already very right hand dominant) and hoped that would make a difference. I sat in the glider in her room (because I enjoy listening to her fall asleep)... She never fussed, and it took less than ten or twenty minutes for her to fall asleep. So then I peeked at her before I left the room. Umm, she'd falled asleep on her belly. Dangit. I was never worried about Abigail suffocating because she had the unswaddle skills of a tiny Houdini and I never worried about Brady because he was freaking loud so I knew I would hear him. But Elizabeth is quiet and gentle and still hard to hear. Also, she will struggle for a long time before ever making a fuss. And she's physically at about the level of a five month old. So I didn't have a lot of trust that she could keep herself safely away from her crib bumpers and suffocating her face in the mattress.
So I quickly and quietly and gently turned her into her back and snuck out. I watched on the monitor when I got downstairs and she seemed to be sleeping but then awake for a couple of minutes and then back asleep. Success. She slept all night (I think. My short term memory is horrible) and was fine in the morning.
Thursday, she didn't get a morning nap because I had to get milk at Walmart , but she napped for a few hours in the early afternoon and did fine with her left arm out. I was nervous about leaving her with a sitter that night but gave him pretty good instructions. He said she only slept for less than an hour (definitely shorter than usual). I didn't ask for details of if he gave her time to settle back down or if he just got her up or if she'd rolled over or anything.
She was still awake when we got home at 11. I put her to bed around 11:30, left arm out, and she did great and slept all night. Morning nap on Friday was great. She fell asleep quickly and easily, on her back, and slept for over 3 hours. The best part is that during her awake time before and after sleep, she's staying on her back and not trying to be very mobile. Ideally, I would give this a few more days so she could get really used to the one arm out before we moved to two arms out, but I think I'm gonna be trying two arms out tonight so that I'll have the whole weekend with honey home that I can have the time and focus to work with and monitor Elizabeth. Hopefully by Monday, Elizabeth will be a champion swaddle less sleeper. Thankfully, so far, her sleep hasn't been affected (except for that short nap Thursday night with Parker, but that could have just been a result of her nap schedule being off that day) for naps or nighttime and hopefully that will continue. Also happy that her crib awake time hasn't been affected either. She's still happy to hang out forever until I come get her.
Crossing my fingers that this weekend goes well... And hopefully I'll remember to update things as I go.
Saturday, Elizabeth did well with two arms out. I altered her nap times to fit out conference schedule better. I had her awake from 10-12 while we watched and then put her down after the first session ended. She fell asleep pretty quickly and slept for a good amount of time. Her later nap took a lot longer and involved fussing and a toy and a binky but eventually she fell asleep... At 5:30. I thought I'd wake her up in a bit to eat and whatever before going down for the night... But I got lazy so I didn't. She ended up sleeping until 1am (that's kinda what I was hoping/expecting her to do when Parker babysat on Thursday night)... I fed her, and even though she was super awake and playful, she put herself back to sleep quickly and easily (no binky) and didn't wake up til 6:30 or so. Expected because it had been 13 hours of sleep for her, but I don't get up with my kids before 7, so I fed her and our her to sleep again. She did great... Back to sleep quickly and easily. I was feeling pretty confident about things, but when I put her down for her nap at 12:30 after the first session of conference, she wasn't having it. I don't know if it was because she was overtired from being awake so long or if she knew what was coming and decided to go ahead and fuss instead of waiting patiently and then falling asleep, but she was noisy and flipping on her belly and just not happy about it. Eventually I gave her a binky and eventually she fell asleep (on her belly). She let out one cry at the 45 minute mark and immediately fell back asleep (not sure that she was actually even awake). But she woke up again a little while later while I was in the shower. Honey gave her a binky and she fell back asleep but then woke up again 20 minutes or so later again so I just got her up.
Putting her down for her nap after second session wasn't good at all. She wasn't as tired and she was fussing immediately when I left the room. She even quickly worked herself into a hard cry (which she really only does if she's hurt) so I went back and comforted her. I sat in the glider, wondering if it would help her to have me in the room. She alternated between fussing, giggling, and just looking at me (on her belly, looking over the crib bumper). There was a lot of fussing though. Eventually I gave her a binky and then eventually again (riiiiight when I was about to get her out because it was getting so late), she fell asleep (on her belly). It was 5:45 by that point. I let her sleep a little while and then got her up. I fed her for a while in the kitchen and took her upstairs for bed, but because of how the two naps went, I felt like maybe I should back off a bit so I just swaddled one arm and left her left arm out. There was no fussing or crying, lots of giggling, no binky necessary, and she fell asleep within ten minutes... On her belly. So, we'll see how tonight goes. With both arms out, she did well yesterday and pretty bad today. We're not on a deadline so we'll play it slow this week and see how things go. She's always been so easy going that I try to be accommodating of things that are hard for her because it's not like she complains about much. Also, she likes her crib and she likes sleep and it's really important to me that she has good connotations concerning those things.
So, there's the latest. Hopefully I'll be back soon for more updates.
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