love/hate swaddling

          Swaddling. I am unsure if it's the only way we would have ever got any sleep, or if it has ruined her for sleep. Every time I think to myself, "I should try weaning Elsie off swaddling again", I then ask, " do I hate myself?". Unswaddled in her crib, Elsie rolls from side to side, crashing into the bars in her sleep. When it finally wakes her up, she is either super enthralled that she is free to scoot around and scream like a pterodactyl in the dark, or their is instant crying. Neither of which are very conducive to MY sleeping.  Ideally you would wean them off by swaddling with one arm out, until they master that without bashing themselves in the face too many times, and then you let the other one free, until you have a baby who doesn't flop around like a fish out of water in the night. Or, you can gradually loosen it, but then you have the issue of this loose blanket in the crib. Swaddled, Elsie sleeps from 8 pm to 8am, and only starts grunting when she gets hungry. I then can feed her, change her ( I won't let her sleep in some 3 pound soaking diaper) and wrap her back up and we both sleep like rocks. So you can see why I have stuck with it for so long- Generally we sleep FANTASTIC ( excepting teething, growth spurts, etc). I need to wean her off because it is clear that she is over it and I think babies need that freedom of waking up in their crib and entertaining themselves and being independent little people. I am weaning her off with a method that I have not read about ( and I have read all the methods) called " Swaddle your baby till she is super asleep and then undo it" which has been semi successful. When her hands get crazy and wake her up in the night I do what I call a faux swaddle, where I take the blanket under her and tuck it over her arms and under her bum loosely, just so her arms don't get too cray. Which I also didn't read about anywhere. I feel like you kind of have to reinvent the wheel for YOUR baby, because they are all their own little sleepers. Right now she is currently asleep IN HER CRIB with her arms OUT of her swaddle so obvs I am feeling on top of the world. Little victories!

Elsie's "I am over being a baby burrito" face

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