The Night Beckett Finally Slept Without Being Swaddled

 

 

I thought this day would never come. I feel like we have reached a milestone comparable to walking or potty training. I don't think swaddling is a big deal for most people, nor is the end of it usually something to celebrate about. But for us this has been a big deal. I began swaddling Beckett in the velcro swaddling blankets when he was tiny. He slept like a champ and I wasn't going to complain. Then he began to grow..... and grow and grow and grow. So I purchased the largest velcro swaddle blanket I could find. And he grew some more. That was the end of the velcro blanket so I decided that was the end of swaddling. The first night was awful. I was up every 90 minutes putting him back to sleep. After two nights of that I decided I would swaddle him until he was a pre-teen if I needed to, and I've been swaddling him in an Aiden and Anais blanket ever since. I wrap him up like a burrito for naps, at night, even at church to sleep in his car seat. He looks so silly because not only is he 7 months old, but he is a BIG 7 month old. I began to have visions of having to purchase king size bed sheets just to have something large enough to swaddle him in.

Last night I went in to check on Beckett before I went to bed. Rather than finding my little guy cocooned in the center of the crib where I left him, I was shocked to find him laying sideways in the crib, with his arms out of the swaddle, and sleeping on his side! He looked like such a big kid rather than my little sleeping baby. I was so excited..... like I think it's a little weird how excited I was. He usually breaks out of the swaddle once he wakes up, but not while he's sleeping so I decided to tuck his arms back in and lay him in the center of the crib again. 10 minutes later I went in to check on him and his arms were out and he was sleeping on his side again!

As excited as I was, I was also very nervous about him rolling all over his non-bumpered crib, and especially nervous about him sleeping on his stomach. I ended up sleeping on the floor in his room like a true first time mom. He woke up a little bit more than usual, but a huge improvement to the last time he tried sleeping with his arms free! I think he was just finally happy to be able to sleep on his side. If I had to sleep on my back for 7 months, I would be happy to finally sleep on my side too! I have a feeling he would have settled himself down after a few minutes of squirming around, but because I was in the room I put him back to sleep. Now that I know he can sleep on his side without any disasters, I will sleep in my own room tonight and try to let him self soothe a little more. I've started always putting him in his crib after he is fast asleep because laying him down slightly awake meant bursting out of his burrito. I know putting him to bed asleep is not a habit that I don't want to get into which is why I'm so happy to be done with the swaddling!

Tonight I will definitely still nurse him and hold him until he is drowsy, but I will lay him down a little more awake than usual. I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that cry-it-out is just something we never have a need for.

I can't believe I just wrote four paragraphs all about swaddling, but like I said, this is a big deal for us!