To swaddle or not to swaddle...

...a progression.

We started off swaddling newborn Isaac with little square receiving blankets -- he was so tiny that we could swaddle him in almost anything! We learned how to swaddle like superstars from the Happiest Baby on the Block DVD, and Jacob quickly became a master swaddler.

Once Isaac got a little bigger, we were able to use these yellow swaddling blankets that have velcro tabs on them. Isaac slept so well swaddled, and if he ever kicked a leg out or loosened it, he'd wake himself up with his flailing limbs.

So, swaddling worked great for a while...

Then, we started to notice him fighting the swaddle, but each time we'd try to put him down unswaddled, he seemed to have a hard time falling asleep. We found him asleep like this during one nap, as if once he'd finally gotten his arms out, he then let himself fall asleep. We laughed at how he looks almost defiant sleeping with that arm up behind his head!

"Is that really all you got, Dad?"

Then he managed this...

Once he was houdini-ing his way out of the yellow swaddler blankets, we started using this bigger blanket that's made for swaddling too. It's a bigger square blanket (no velcro), so it swaddles better for a bigger baby. Eventually, he figured out how to escape this one too.
(Katie Beth, c'est la couverture que tu nous a donnee!)

I got online to read about swaddling because he was escaping even Jacob's master swaddles, but his movements in his sleep would wake him up when he was unswaddled. I found a chatroom of moms discussing this, and some moms were saying they had to keep using bigger and bigger blankets because they had the same problem -- a baby that slept better when swaddled but was too big for the little swaddler blankets and kicked out of them. One mom said that she'd started swaddling her 6-month-old in a full-size sheet!!!!!!!!!!!!! We decided not to go that route, and instead transitioned to this "wearable blanket."

We have two of these wearable blankets now, and he really likes them. When I start putting it on him, he sometimes starts yawning, as if he knows it's naptime!!

But sometimes, he even falls asleep like this!!

As I'm typing this, Isaac has been sleeping through the night for the last five nights!!!!!!!! (Each time I say those words, I feel as if I can hear the trumpets and singing in the background...Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Ha-le-lu-jah!)

We're at 12 weeks now, and I'm starting to feel human again! Isaac is so happy during the day, which we think is related to the good rest that he's getting -- so thankful!!