Sleep Training

We learned early on with Joshua that swaddling was our best friend. It really was the only way he could sleep and he would go down so easy. If he wasn't wrapped tight enough and an arm broke free, he would whack himself in the head and wake up crying. I would swaddle him in a regular receiving blanket during the day, which he would increasingly bust out of as he got bigger and stronger. For nighttime, we have a more robust swaddler with velcro that really doesn't budge. Seems much more like a straight jacket to me. But he stays asleep, which means we stay asleep, which means everyone is happy in the morning.

However, since he is getting bigger and stronger AND because my return to work was looming - meaning others would have to try to swaddle him - I figured it was time to start transitioning Joshua out of the swaddle. I didn't want him to remain dependent on it and be more difficult to get to sleep if the grandparents didn't get the swaddle just tight enough since they will be watching him while I am at work.

I started by swaddling as usual, but leaving one arm out. Thinking that he could still feel the security of the swaddle and only have one arm flailing about instead of two. I prepared myself for a rough day with the boy getting little sleep. Much to my surprise and delight, he did awesome! He'll normally cry a little in the swaddle, but fall asleep within about five minutes. The first time with his arm out and he was asleep in 15 minutes. It was pretty much the same with every nap the first day. After that he would fall asleep faster and faster.

Such a rock star!!

In less than a week we had both arms out.

I did find that for some reason he still likes his torso swaddled. It seems kinda silly to me, but there must be some sense of comfort there. One time he was crying and crying with no swaddle and I didn't want to take a step backwards, so I just swaddled his trunk and he went out like a light. Once in while he'll even go down without the torso swaddle.

He's only that much cuter to watch sleep now.

We still give him the straight jacket swaddle at night. I'm dreading the first night we try to go without that. But I dreaded this process too, so I guess I should hope to be surprised.

Another result of being swaddle-free is that Joshua has started to explore his fingers. First he nibbled on the left index finger for a few days. Then he suddenly switched to the right index finger. Monday he found his thumb and this is looking like his new favorite. The others he would just suck on for comfort and never really seemed to sleep with his finger in his mouth. But the thumb is a new friend. We find him sleeping with his thumb in his mouth somewhat often.

Is there no end to the cute exponential?

So all this training was motivated by the inevitable day for me to return to work. That was yesterday. I was anticipating it for so long, that it was nice to just get that first day over with. Like finally ripping off a bandaid. I'm only working three half days this week, so it's not too much of a shock right off the bat. Next week will be the full, normal, revised schedule. I will work three days in the office and two half days from home. I think it will work out really well. The grandparents have their assigned days to watch him and Jim has some days mixed in as well. I am so elated that he will always be with family - it is such an immeasurable blessing.