Maddie and the Swaddle

So, Maddie is finally done with her swaddle, *gasp*, I know. Some of you out there might be thinking, oh my gosh - she is still swaddled?!? And yes, she was. This little girl holds on to some things longer than Josh ever did, and one has been the swaddle. She learned to maneuver quite well being swaddled, Josh didn't. She could move around all she wanted (I know hard to imagine, but she did), and she loved it. She slept so well being swaddled, I was scared to break the habit.

I meant to get her out of being swaddled before we moved, but that didn't happen. And then, I kept thinking to myself - well how long would we be staying with my in-laws? I didn't want to try to get her unswaddled then because it was already a change, and then it would be another change when we did finally move into our own house. I wanted the transitions to go as smooth as possible, which leaves us where we are right now.

Long story short, she is finally sleeping without her swaddle. I started last Monday, just on her naps. And she did a lot better than I thought she would. She didn't sleep nearly as long as she normally does for either of her naps, but that was okay - I knew it would be a little rough to start out. The first two nights, she slept pretty good, but woke up several times and I ended up putting her back in her swaddle when she couldn't quite go back to sleep. But each morning I found her little arms out, so I knew we had to keep going and that she was ready. So then next night, she slept all the way through the night - and that was that. Now that we're a week out, when I put her to bed - she gets her binkie (I'm not ready to deal with this one yet), gets her baby and blanket, I tell her to lay down and she does - and she's ready for bed.

It's a great feeling for me now that she's not swaddled, because before I was the only one that could do it. My mother-in-law learned, but I still always felt that I needed to be home to put her to bed when we were living with them. So now, Brad or his mom, or a sitter will be able to put her to bed.