In the Battle of Man Vs. Swaddle....

MAN WON! Can you believe it? I have been dreading this day since he was eight weeks old. The day we would have to say good-bye to the swaddle. I knew that it would be a day that lived in infamy...but I assumed it would be for all the wrong reasons. Perron had started rolling over onto his stomach in the middle of the night and I found him lying on his tummy two different times when I went in to check on him two nights ago. I knew that as much as we all loved the swaddle...and the sleep it gave us...it was time to say good-bye. I was just too nervous about him rolling over and getting trapped without having his hands free to maneuver himself with. I had read all the chat boards, I had solicited my friends for advice, I had tried to putting it off, but in the end Stephen and I decided to go cold turkey and see how it went.

We did our regular bedtime routine and then laid him down in his little sleep positioner. That was our only big mistake. He stayed asleep when we laid him down, but then he let his arms relax, they landed right on top of the positioner. That of course woke him up and started about 35-45 minutes of on and off crying. I tried a tiny version of the Ferber method were I would let him cry for three to five minutes and then I would go in to give him his paci, rub his little head,calm him down, but not pick him up. I did this for 3 or 4 times. On the last time, I decided I would just sit him his chair and position myself so he could tell that I was in the room, but could not see my face. This seemed to do the trick. He fussed a couple more times, but I just put the paci in his mouth and went back to my seat. He checked a couple of times to make sure that I was still in the room with him and then slowed started to close his eyes. He jerked awake two more times, but would close his eyes each time.

Stephen and I decided to split the night like we did when he was a newborn just in case things fell apart. I took the first shift and slept on the couch. I woke up at 12:30 to go check on him and he was sound asleep with his little arms just moving all around. He didn't wake up until 3:30, when he started bashing his head against the crib rails. Stephen moved him back to the middle of the bed and he flashed Stephen his biggest "i'm wide awake" smile. Stephen put his paci back in his mouth and went to sit in the chair. Before he knew it, Perron had flipped onto his tummy (confirmation that the swaddle needed to go). At that point, Stephen just went ahead and gave him a bottle. He fell asleep and didn't wake up again until 7:30. IT IS A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!

Now, I am fully aware that because I have gone to all this trouble to tell the world that he slept without a swaddle, that he will sleep a total of 4 and a half minutes tonight. He has proven that as soon as I announce some big milestone (see the coming home from the NICU post as evidence), he will throw a massive wrench in the plans. So fingers crossed this is not an anomaly and we have a baby that for once has done something the easy way! The next hurdle will be trying to get him to nap somewhere other than his swing. We will save that battle for another day. I will keep you all posted as the swaddle saga continues to unfold.