Unswaddle or Bust.

I’m currently battling the sleep issue yet again. A week shy of 8 months old, and she just won’t sleep without being swaddled. We feel it’s time to get her out of her cocoon or we may be stuck swaddling her well into her teens. It’s now or never, or so it feels.

It took us a whole lot of patience and effort to get her into the swaddle in the first place. At that point we were at our end with her lack of sleeping and had hoped swaddling would do the trick. We tried swaddling when she was a month old and she hated it. She cried, screamed, and protested until we took her out and put up with more endless nights of night waking. My husband moved into the basement so that he could function. I remained in the “family bed”, co-sleeping with my little bundle of awakeness. And became desperate enough a couple of months later to try again. Bags under my eyes, a constant haze before my eyes, and a “Miracle Blanket” in hand, and I proceeded to wrap my daughter in this “swaddle” that seemed like more of a baby straight jacket to me. It felt cruel, but it worked. Tears and obvious discontentment for 20 minutes the first time, then she settled into it and slept… like a baby. The next time the tears lasted 10 minutes, and on we went. She nursed better in the swaddle, she slept longer than she ever had before, and she was less grumpy during the day because of it. Hallelujah! The swaddle turned out to be the answer we were looking for after all… until we realized she couldn’t sleep without it, and had visions of wrapping her up forever.

Trudging onward, I referred to the internet a number of times in my search for ‘the answer’. How on earth would I get this kid to sleep on her own without the swaddle.

1. Loosen the Miracle Blanket each night. (She got out of it on her own at a certain point and then it was just too loose for her to fall asleep in… More sleepless nights.)

2. Take her out of the Miracle Blanket completely, put in sleep sack with a receiving blanket under her back and sides folded over her arms and under her back. (Legs are more loosely covered, gets her used to less of a wrapped feeling.)

3. Slowly loosen the receiving blanket. (She consistently gets out of the “half swaddle” and bonks herself on the head or wakes herself up by grabbing onto the rungs of her crib… More sleepless nights.)

4. “Cold Turkey”. Put her in the crib with no swaddle, no half swaddle, no nothing. Try holding her arms beside her body until she falls asleep. (Acting as a human swaddle.) Let go when she’s in her slumber and go back over and over again to calm her when she wakes herself up by bonking herself in the head.)

5. Nurse. Give up the idea of training her to self-sooth, give her the boob until she falls asleep. Place her back in the crib until she wakes up bonking herself in the head.)

6. Read Story and give up when she goes bonkers trying to grab the book.

7. Sing the itsy bitsy spider complete with hand motions on the mattress so she has to look down and close her eyelids a bit. Watch her grab at my hands, let her hold my hand and continue to sing quieting to a whisper. Watch her fall fast asleep.

It’s 9pm. I’ll assume this will carry on until the wee hours of the morning. However, it will pay off, just as the swaddling did at one point. I remember when I was pregnant and people gave me the advice that I should just do whatever works. I totally know what they were talking about. This business of parenting is not for the faint of heart. Sometimes you have to go against your gut instinct and try things that don’t seem right for you, but as it turns out, it’s right for your kid. Whatever works.

Thanks www.groovystyle.co.uk for the image!