Tuesday, October 2, 2007

:: Salted Baby ::

When I put Evan down unswaddled just now he shot me this quick look -- a look like I was about to dip him into boiling hot water. Part panic, part how-can-you-do-this-to-me, part what-on-earth-is-happening. Then he burst into shrieks that really could curdle blood.

This morning I got him up from a nap and he was propped oddly on his side, all swaddled, teetering between rolling onto his back and rolling onto his front. And I suppose I gave him a look much like the one above: part pride, part panic, part realization that I am not going to be getting as much sleep for the next few? several? many? days. Because maybe it's just me (and my husband), but it doesn't seem like a good idea to let a swaddled baby roll over onto his stomach since without his arms it would be pretty darn hard for him to keep from faceplanting into all those adorable sheet animals, baby nose and baby mouth all covered and not getting air.

Just when we were settling into a routine of uninterrupted 12-hour nights and four short naps a day. Just when I was finally getting eight hours of sleep between my own bedtime and Evan's awakening in the morning. Just when we were getting things under control.

He is very unhappy with me right now. I've never heard him cry like this. It's worse than the "I don't want to take a nap so I am crying like my bed is eating me" cry. This one's more like "my crib is slowly slicing off my skin in thin strips and then sprinkling salt over me."

I guess I should think about going up there. Soothing him. Reminding him that I do in fact love him and that not swaddling him is my expression of that fact. It's my little way of saying "I don't want you to die in your crib." What what says love more than that?

6 comments:

Tere October 2, 2007 at 10:41 AM  

When Max got to that time, we would swaddle him until he fell asleep (he always needed to be rocked or held to sleep), then we'd undo the swaddle and lay him down.

It worked perfectly, and we would be fine until he was up and wailing for boobs.

bubandpie October 2, 2007 at 12:08 PM  

Would it help to do the half-swaddle? (Just torso and legs, but arms free.)

Julie October 2, 2007 at 2:09 PM  

That's what we're trying tonight, arms out. Trouble is, he can break free of any blanket we put him in, so we have to use the velcro swaddlers and they're a bit hard to do halfway. But we'll get there.

Christina October 3, 2007 at 5:39 AM  

I was going to suggest the same thing bubandpie suggested. I swaddled Mira with her arms out to help her adjust. Now we just use a sleep sack.

Julie October 3, 2007 at 7:23 AM  

The halfswaddle worked! He slept like a charm last night, arms high above his head in a gesture of celebration. YAY! Thanks for all the advice, folks.

Patois October 4, 2007 at 6:23 AM  

Hooray for the halfswaddle!