Monday, May 18, 2009

I need my sleep!

So, I have been pretty lucky with Jack when it comes to sleep. He has been sleeping through the night since he was 8 weeks old, except for when he happens to get out of his swaddle...which has become much more of a problem these last couple of weeks. Apparently, his hands taste like beef jerky or something as he wants them in his mouth all of the time and thus is breaking free of his swaddle multiple times a night to get to them. He then proceeds to eat his tasty hands and talk and squeal to them until I come in and reswaddle him. He then goes right back to sleep until he has decided again that he MUST eat his hands! Last night, just between 4-6:00 am, I swear I had to go into his room 5 or 6 times to re-swaddle him.

This brings up a couple of issues for me. One, when he breaks out, should I just let him try and put himself back to sleep and just let him talk and such as he would like and only go in the room if he starts to fuss/cry? I afraid to try this as I am nervous that he just won't go back to sleep if he has the chance to put his hands in his mouth, but maybe I just need to test it out and hope he will fall back asleep. Secondly, and this relates to the first, is maybe I should try and break him of the swaddle habit all together. He is four months old and while he does not turn over at night onto his stomach, he may soon and that would scare me if he turns over and can't get his hands out of the swaddle. My fear in doing this though is that he wouldn't sleep as he almost never takes a nap or goes to bed at night without being swaddled. The picture below is a rare occurrence. He usually won't fall asleep laying on his back without a swaddle. He does sleep in his car seat and swing, but not usually on his back without being bundled up. Has anyone had to deal with this? What should I do? Should I wean him off the swaddle and maybe just leave his arms out? If I do this, will I get sleep??? Sleep is so important to me!



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