No Swaddle For Me Thank You

Last week I wrote about Ellery's ability to move down a hallway while swaddled and the week before about Emily flipping on her stomach while swaddled & sleeping. They girls also fight being swaddled, and early on I knew it was necessary because they had crazy arms all over the place. Because of those little incidences we tried only swaddling one arm in and leaving one arm out last week. I thought that this would maybe help the girls soothe themselves since they LOVE to touch their hair, face, suck on their hands, arms, basically anything that is within reach. Good news is it didn't cause them to sleep any less than they have been, but I don't really think it made a difference. Emily still rolled over and Ellery still put up a fight every night. So last night I decided to be brave and swear off the swaddle. We put the girls in a sleep sac and said good night. To my surprise they both slept a few hours longer than we have been lately (note - not as well as they had been sleeping prior to moving to cribs (sad)). I checked on them a million times and they always had their hands up or in their mouths. They didn't fuss any more or any less and the actually slept. I even found Ellery (not Emily) on her tummy at one point (I've never seen her roll over that way!). They say that once they can roll over by themselves it's not such a SIDS risk, but it still makes me nervous so I politely rolled her back over. We're trying it again tonight....wish us luck!

I'd post a picture of the cuties swaddleless, but I don't want you to frown upon my non-SIDS prevention related items in their cribs. Emily has a sleep positioner that I started using last week to keep her from rolling over...guess what...it works! Yes she does push it around her crib, but it usually ends up around her feet. I have a nice fuzzy blanket tucked into Ellery's crib in hopes that when i give her a bottle at 3am I can actually put her back to bed there and not in the pack n play. I think the girls think the mattresses are cold and hard (which they are!) and when they aren't in such a deep sleep as their first portion of the night, there's no tricking them! So far not working, but I'm not ready to give up. GASP! Baby Mommy! (Yes I do know you are not supposed to have ANYTHING in a crib but a tightly fitted sheet over the mattress. I'm desperate, OK!) I do use a breathable bumper and I find the girls with their faces pressed into it almost daily or I hear them smack their heads into the wooden crib slats over the baby monitor. I'm picking my battles. :)