In my ongoing mission to make this next baby sleep better than my first child (we can dream, right?) I am reconsidering my position on swaddling. My son loved to be swaddled. He only slept in his crib when he was swaddled, and slept for the longest stretches when wrapped tightly. But he didn’t want to give it up. Once he was rolling we had to cut him off cold turkey because frankly my nerves couldn’t take it. At the time he was *gasp* sleeping in his crib the majority of the night and I checked on him constantly for fear he rolled over and couldn’t breathe. But the problem was that we lived in an apartment with squeaky floors. No matter how lightly you stepped you hit a creaking floorboard and it often times that woke him up. It was awful. After we stopped swaddling him he woke up every few hours again, down from sleeping in 6 hour stretches. And it just went downhill from there…. we were laying him in his crib and he fell asleep watching his aquarium, he regressed to nursing to sleep. Then he just started sleeping with us because I was exhausted.
I am terrified the next baby will rely on swaddling and the transition will ruin him too! In my son’s baby book he started “sleeping through the night” at a fairly young age. Til we stopped swaddling. Then it took him until he was a year old. Then he stopped again. I just can’t get an 8 hour stretch of sleep! I understand newborns aren’t meant to sleep all night, I am ok with that. I just want to begin healthy sleep habits to hopefully have an easier time of it this go around. So, do I swaddle this baby and stop sooner, or stop when they are “ready,” or just not swaddle past a couple weeks?
And, what blankets should I choose? There are a lot on the market, some which profess to be “miracles” so I am lost! I tried two brands with my son and we liked one of those.
Pros:
Easy to use. Highly rated.
Coms: $$$, looks like you have to remove all the way for diaper changes
Pros: Supposed to hold in the wriggliest baby. Well rated.
Cons: $$$, complicated
Kiddopotamus & Co. Organic Cotton SwaddleMe
Pros: My son’s favorite, simple, inexpensive.
Cons: Velcro tabs wore out from drying.
Pros: lightweight, beautiful, well rated.
Cons: $$$, traditional swaddling blanket so you actually have to “swaddle” lol
Go Mama Go Designs Snug and Tug Swaddling Blanket
Pros: cute, breathable, choice of materials
Cons: $$$, have to wrap around and then under baby
Cozy Cocoon® Organic Baby Bunting
Pros: Super adorable designs, matching hats
Cons: $$$, Put on like a sock for some models, not as easy to change diapers with,
So, any ideas? I am so not prepared for another 2 years of sleepless nights! I swear, 2 kids is my limit, I don’t think I can do it 3 times!
