Breaking the Habit

Chloe Jo has used a swaddle blanket since she was born. This blanket has been a wonderful tool to help her sleep through the night and to be snug and cozy. She outgrew her newborn swaddle around 4 months and I didn't know what I was going to do. I hated even thinking about weaning her from it. None of the stores around her had that brand of swaddle in the large size. I finally found 2 stores online that sold the large and ordered that. She has used it ever since. We were lucky since she is very small for her age and we have been able to use it this long. Last Friday I finally decided to wean her from the swaddle. I had planned to wean her by taking one arm out for a few nights then the other arm for a few nights and then completely take it away. Plans changed that night. She cried multiple times before I ever went to bed and then she was awake 3 times before 3:00 a.m. I finally decided to let her cry it out and moved her bed into her own room. Then I realized that the reason she was crying was because she has to move her arms and legs all the time, even when she sleeps. This causes her to pop her paci out and that makes her very mad. There was no way I was going to be able to wean her from the swaddle and let her keep her paci. So, we decided to go all out cold turkey. Poor thing. I feel bad to do this to her, but it will be so much better in the long run. We won't have to go through this three different times now. Friday she cried for an hour before she fell asleep and was awake throughout the night, but I never did pick her up. She just had to deal with it. Then Saturday night it took her 45 minutes to get to sleep. Last night she didn't even cry for 10 minutes and she was asleep. It was sooooo nice! And this was without her paci and in her own room. YAY! I did give her a crocheted blanket so if she put it over her head she could still breathe easily. That was exactly what happened. She wanted that blanket over her head and I tried three times to pull it off of her face and she wasn't having that! She did finally fall into a deep sleep and I was able to pull the blanket off of her face. Anyway, I'm just happy that it she has taken to being weaned from the swaddle so well. We are going to go get her a crib this week. She is getting too heavy for the bassinet part of the pack and play so it's time. Maybe later this week I will blog about something other than Chloe Jo!