Swaddle {Free}

Oh, the swaddle. How I both love and loathe you. From the day Ethan was born, we swaddled him - first, with the Halo Blanket, and then with the Miracle Blanket, which we've been using religiously for naps and at night. 

At first, it seemed to be the answer to our prayers. Ethan would {usually} calm down when we wrapped him up, and started sleeping for long periods at night. Then, I started thinking, when do I stop swaddling him? Most of my friends didn't swaddle their kids, or stopped when their kids were pretty little. I thought maybe I would stop swaddling him when he rolled...but he's been pretty hit or miss with that. Sure, we'd tried here and there to let him sleep without it, but it usually ended up in a screaming fit, and battle of wills {usually we gave in...just to make it stop}. I think we became just as dependent on it as he did! 

I had visions of me having to swaddle a 10-year-old! 

And what would he do in August when he had to go to daycare? Surely, they would not swaddle him, and even if they did, I didn't want him to be that child. You know, the one that has all the rules bent for him, and can only do certain things under special circumstances.

Then I thought, he'll tell me when he's ready. I mean, he "told" me when he needed an earlier bedtime, right? Wrong. The child was content to be wrapped, even though he'd {technically} grown out of his swaddle. 

Finally, Kevin and I took matters into our own hands, and decided that the swaddling needed to stop. Although these ideas might not work for everyone, they worked for Ethan, and they might work for others trying to wean their babes from the swaddle.

• Start Slowly...we started by leaving his legs out. After about two or three weeks, we left one arm out. He did regress, at which point we had to swaddle both arms again, but after another three weeks, he became the "one arm bandit" again. 
• Appeal to Other Senses...we noticed that Ethan had an affinity to a certain giraffe lovie {GiGi} made by Angel Dear. The texture really appeals to him, and he seems to be comforted by it. He takes it with him everywhere he goes. Recently, we found that Angel Dear makes napping blankets! Perfect. We got him this one for his 6-month birthday. I slept with it for three nights, so that it smelled like me. Now, I know  you aren't supposed to put anything in the crib with baby, but in my opinion, You gotta do what you gotta do. I think this, along with a plethora of other things, are a parents' prerogative. For me, I am comforted to know that we use the AngelCare Baby Monitor, which detects a stop in your baby's breathing. 
• Cry it Out {Yep, I said it!}...only you know your baby, so you decide if it's right for you. I know Ethan's cries pretty well, and I can tell a tired one from an actual one. Therefore, when I hear a tired cry, I know I can let him cry it out. I also know that if he works himself up enough, he will never go to sleep, no matter how long I let him cry. Our first night sans swaddle, I had to go in 30 minutes after I put him down, then he started fussing 20 minutes after that, and after 10 minutes of crying, he fell asleep. He woke at 2am and 5:45am, but went back to sleep after his pacifier was reinserted. The second night he slept from 8:15pm to 5:35am, and once his pacifier was reinserted, woke up at 6:15am. Those are wins in my book. 
• Begin with Bedtime...for us, it was because we have a bedtime routine down. Ethan knows that it's time to sleep. Nap times are not at regular times yet, so we were afraid he'd think it was time to play rather than sleep. For the most part {see above}, it worked. He transitioned seamlessly to unswaddled naps after his first night with his blankie, too.

Good luck, and Happy Un-Swaddling!!