Thursday, January 31, 2008

Who knew!

Apparently my son likes to be swaddled! We swaddled him when he was younger but got out of the habit just because we didn't see any real need for it. That and the fact that swaddling with a blanket is difficult to get tight!

Let me back up a little... lately Adam and I have been trying to break Chase of this 1 am bedtime that he seems to have adopted. We are also trying to move him into his own room. In addition to those 2 things, we are trying to break him of the habit of nursing to sleep, instead learning to self sooth. These 3 things combined have made for some tough times the past few days.

Yesterday I went with Danielle to a doctors appointment and while I was waiting read a chapter about sleeping and one about swaddling from "The Happiest Baby on the Block". I became convinced that the crib problem was due to Chase's Moro reflex which is removed when you swaddle him. I also thought instead of the blanket, I could try the new fangled swaddling blankets (they think of everything for babies!) that has velcro and instructions! Danielle gave me one she got from her baby shower to try out and I am happy to report that I laid Chase down at 10:30 when he was semi-awake... he stirred for a bit... started fussing... I let him go and he settled down and has been sleeping since at least 11:15... it's now 2:30! That is over 3 hours in his crib and he self soothed! I couldn't be more happy!!!

I am now of the opinion that this nap has gone on a little to long but I sure did enjoy the break! Now to go rouse my sleeping baby!

4 comments:

chocolate hug said...

There was a milk lady (lactation consultant) at the hospital that was so excited to show us this video about swaddling...some Dr. discoverd if you do a set number of simple things for a baby when they are upset or can't sleep, it will sooth them right away. I wish you lived closer, I could show you a pretty awsome way of swaddling that is hard for a little guy to get out of. The video was pretty cool and I appreciated having some tools to work with when I got home and suddenly realized I didn't know anything about taking care of a baby! God bless that milk lady!

Glad you found something that worked...we had a velcro thing that someone gave us too...I always kept it in my diaper bag as a back up.
diana

kathi said...

YAY!! Mommy time!

Anonymous said...

Dr Karp and his happiest baby on the block book/dvd is wonderful. I wish more people would look especially during the first three to four months it as it really does provide a benefit to both the baby and the parents :)

The Townleys said...

I'm such a hero! Okay...maybe not... but I'm claiming credit anyway.