I have tons of pictures to post of Mary Alice's adventures last week with Gege and Aunt Kelly and today with Gege and Aunt Sally but right now I need some advice from Moms!
We have been swaddling Mary Alice every night since she was born but now she seems to not like it as much. She has started to sleep from 10-4 and then wakes up again at 7:45-8 so we are scared to not swaddle her because we want her to still sleep. So if you swaddled your baby how did you wean him/her off of the swaddle at night? We are planning on starting the process this Thursday night but would love any advice.
Also we are trying to start Mary Alice on a routine with her naps and we want her to start taking naps in her crib. She will take a nap for about 45 minutes to an hour in her crib but I think she is still sleepy when she wakes up and we rock her again until she falls back asleep. Any suggestions on how to get her to sleep longer in her crib and how to get her on a routine?
Ok last suggestion.. When did you start putting your child down in their crib to fall asleep on their own and cry it out? I hate to do this but I don't want to spoil her by rocking her to sleep all the time and regret it later!
Thanks for your help! :)
6 comments:
I have no clue about the swaddling thing - Reese HATED to be swaddled. However, Reese is very much a "routine" kid. He gets all crazy if he get way off his routine. So what I did and do now is if he is to take a nap, he has a cup that he really likes - I put his milk in that cup, and sit and rock with him. He associates his napping/night time with that cup. So I would suggest finding something she "attaches" to and only give it to her when she needs to nap. As for the time, that is just gonna take time to reinforce. And for the "crying it out", I didn't do that until he was well over a year old. Some people disagree with that, but it has worked for us. Now, I can lay him down if I need to, or rock him to sleep - for me, its the best of both worlds! Don't know if any of that helped!
Perrin hated the swaddle blankets from day one so we didn't really do it. Do you have a positioner so she can lay on her side? Perrin never slept for over an hour for a nap at that age so she might not either. I pretty much rocked perrin for 6 months straight...hope you don;t have to, although one day you will want to rock her again! We let Perrin cry it out at about 8 months old. The doctor said he could handle it then. I think she might be too young to let her cry, some babies will go to sleep on their own in their own crib without crying and if she does that would be great but I wouldn't let her cry for more than minute or two at this age. She'll get the hang off it soon though. I remember things getting better about 4 months, that is when I really started to enjoy it, before that all it was was crying/eating/pooping and barely sleeping. Its hard but you'll make it somehow!
I never really swaddled the girls so I have no suggestions there. As far as "crying it out", I didn't do that until they were a little over a year. I always rocked them to sleep. I don't remember much about napping, but I think they started napping good in their cribs around 7 months.
Ali, obviously I am completely inexperienced, but a book I've found helpful is Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. Its suggestions are not over the top or intimidating in any way.
First, I think it's pretty obvious that I'm not a mother. Second, I AM a pretty awesome daddy and grandaddy, or at least I think so. My advise would be that's it's okay to read parenting books but don't hold them as gospel. Same with doctors. Wise as they may be they still have the same issues that you do when it comes to their own kids. Bottom line is that no two children are the same so any solution that works for one may not work for the other. You'll find that out if and when you have your second child, or just ask Kelly. Just know that God instills the motherly instinct in the female of every species, including the human female. The fact that MAG is healthy and, from the beautiful pictures, seems to be happy, I'd say you're doing a fine job of being a mommy. Oh, by the way, Melba's saying is that there are no spoiled babies, just some are loved more (quantity not quality) than others.
None of my kids really liked to be swaddled so we never did it outside of the hospital. I have read that when you're trying to wean them from swaddling that you start with just one arm out. Depending on how she reacts, you eventually move to swaddling with both arms out. Then I guess that's when you drop it all together! I'm big on schedules, but again, you just have to figure out what your baby wants/needs. I like the Babywise books, but they are definitely too strict for me so I modify the concepts in there and that's what works for us. Hang in there - it's all a learning process!
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