Life As We Know It: Adventures of the Swaddle

So over the last week we have had some interesting nights involving the Swaddle. Austin has been swaddled pretty much since the day he was born, give or take a few naps in the crib and the nights he spent in the jaundice bed. The few times he slept in his crib without being swaddled, he would move around quite a bit and keep his arms thrown up at his head. It was almost impossible to keep him covered up and this was when it was cold, so he needed to be kept warm. This is how we would lay him down in the crib.

And this is how he would end up, completely shifted and near the bumper.

We even tried to use a sleep sack a few times. He loved his "sprinkler" pose so much that it was the only way to keep him warm since he wouldn't keep his arms under the blanket.

Eventually, when he got accustomed to his bedtime routine, he started to know that the swaddle meant bedtime. For months he has loved being swaddled at night and has never put up a fight. All of a sudden last weekend, he started to fight the swaddle at bedtime. We would lay him down in the crib swaddled up, and if he fought it, then he worked himself into a sweat and we would eventually have to take him out of it to cool him off. He stayed with Justin's parents last Saturday night and they said that he was put down in the crib by 9:00 but he kept maneuvering himself out of the swaddle. After putting him back in it a few times, they finally decided to leave him unswaddled until he fell asleep. They said he laid in the crib until well past 10:00 and played before he finally fell asleep. This is one of the reasons why we swaddle him - he KNOWS it's bedtime when he's swaddled. So if you take him out of it, he lays in there and plays and talks to himself until finally he wears himself out and he falls asleep.

The other reason why we want him swaddled is because he hasn't quite mastered rolling over from his back to his belly yet. He gets about 90% of the way there and then can't quite get over his bottom arm. One day I know he will and I want that to be when he's not in his crib in the middle of the night. I want to make sure that he will be able to get himself back over onto his back if he wants to. He is very good at rolling from belly to back but he's never done it in a confined space like his crib, so I really want to make sure that he has room and doesn't get his face stuck in the bumper where he can't breathe. Yes, I know I'm probably being very paranoid about it but I can't help it, and I wouldn't sleep knowing he was in his crib roaming free!

So Monday night, it was just Austin and I, and he absolutely would not be swaddled at bedtime. I decided to put him down and let him play until he fell asleep, then I would go swaddle him then. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep and when I realized that I couldn't hear him playing anymore, I ran into his room to check on him and this is how I found him.

Prime example of why we want him swaddled - he's a wild man when he sleeps! He's just all over the place!! He loves to nap with blankets and keeps them pulled over his face, and he does the same thing in his crib.

Tuesday night we went through the same thing, only this time it only took about five minutes for him to fall asleep. This is how I found him Tuesday night.

Wednesday night, same thing. We decided to try the next size up swaddle that we bought for him about a month ago. We decided that since he had outgrown the maximum weight on the small one, it was time for the medium. The first night we tried it, it almost swallowed him whole and there was no way of keeping him inside it. So it went back in the drawer and made a reappearance Wednesday night. We figured maybe he didn't like his old ones anymore because he was just TOO confined, and this one gave him a little more wiggle room. Once he fell asleep and I got him swaddled, I took this picture to show how he SHOULD sleep when he's swaddled.

Thursday morning he woke up on his own, and I guess he had been awake long enough to want to move around some because this is how we found him when we got up!

Somehow he got his arms and legs out of the swaddle, but it stayed velcroed across his belly! This is how he earned the nickname Harry Houdini from Justin's parents. I guess we'll keep fighting this battle until we feel comfortable enough to unswaddle him all night. The last few nights we've had no problem but it seems to vary each night. And in case you were wondering, he's not sleeping in the same onesie every night - he has six that are exactly alike!

Other than that, he is being such a good baby! His newest thing is to tuck his bottom lip in and make "mmmmm" sounds - constantly. It can be rather annoying at times because he is non-stop with it, but at the same time, it's better than crying!! I'm not sure what it is about the sound that he likes, but we're hoping he grows out of it and into a new sound soon! Here are some more recent pics. I can't believe that he is 5 months old now!