Swaddling

Thom took this picture of Aaron sleeping two weeks ago when I was at work and e-mailed it to me. Aaron had been sleeping for well over 3 hours and Thom wondered if he should wake him up. Although Aaron had been waking up more frequently at night, he wasn't staying awake after I fed him, so I didn't feel like he needed to be awake more during the day. The only time I wake Aaron up is when I'm ready to go to bed and it has been more than 2 hours since he last ate or during the day if we are going out.

You can see the Miracle Blanket in this photo that we swaddle Aaron in. It truly was a miracle for the first 2 months or so, and still continues to be a big help. But more and more he works his arms out of it and wakes up sooner because he is not swaddled. I think they need to make this product in bigger sizes. But it still works to help get him to sleep. I've tried a few times to put him down unswaddled, but he either can't get to sleep or he wakes up within an hour.

I recently bought a SwaddleMe wrap which uses Velcro to secure the baby. It comes in 3 sizes and I bought the large one. He still manages to get his arms out, but not as easily and not as often. I know that one day soon we are going to have to deal with getting him to sleep without being swaddled. If anyone has had to deal with this and has some pointers, let me know!

Earlier today, we had been playing with Aaron on the back patio on a blanket. He must have gotten overly tired or over stimulated, because he went from completely mellow and staring at the pattern on his blanket to all out screaming like he'd been burned with a hot poker. No fussing or anything else to warn us that he was getting tired. So we took him in to get ready for a nap.

Since swaddling him sometimes makes him cry harder when he is tired, I just took him into his room and held him while sitting on the guest bed. He was crying and screaming and arching his back. I tried to soothe him and get him to take his pacifier, but he wasn't calming down. Finally, I put him in his SwaddleMe blanket and picked him up again and he quieted down within a few seconds. It is really amazing what swaddling can do.