*Sniff* *Tear* my baby boy is growing up!
Ever since the hospital Walter has responded really well to swaddling. It always really calmed him down. We started out just doing it like the nurses showed us. But we learned, as he grew a little, that we needed to swaddle tighter to really keep him still, to make him feel cuddly safe, and to help him to sleep. We referred to this newer, tighter wrap as "the ruthless swaddle". Then later than that he started to wriggle free and wake himself up at night again, so we developed a newer technique that we called "the nuclear swaddle". I even developed a "summer swaddle" which just kept his arms tight because it was too hot to have the rest of him wrapped up. They always calmed him and helped to him to fall asleep and keep him asleep longer. We took our swaddle blankets with us everywhere. People at church became accustomed to seeing Jon perform the ruthless swaddle on the foyer couch during the meeting, and then pace around carrying Walter in his favorite position, the football hold. For a while there all our swaddle blankets were red, and we got all kinds of comments about how he looked like a little chili pepper (all he needs is a green hat!) and my chiropractor always called him Super Baby!!!
But when he started wriggling free of the nuclear swaddle and still staying asleep through all that we began to get the idea that he might not need the swaddle anymore. So I've been putting him down for naps without it, but we kept on doing it at night for the last couple of weeks. But last night he went to sleep without the nuclear swaddle and slept really well. So I think we may be the proud parents of a big baby boy who no longer needs to be swaddled!! Sad.
As a sort of tribute and good bye, here are the pictures we took of our swaddled little boy while he was growing. And I guess we'll put 7 or 8 square pieces of knit fabric in varying colors in a box for the next baby who likes to be swaddled!
7 comments:
Wow, that's some serious swaddleage - that nuclear swaddle looks bandage-tight! Nyah hated to be swaddled from the get-go, but Aislynne was a different story - we had to get pretty creative a few times when it was hot out to keep her feeling secure without sweating out half her body weight. She's since outgrown the need for swaddling, too, and has moved on to sleepsacks. So sad. Where does the time go?
You know I LOVE a good swaddle!
He is sooo cute! It really is true that babies like to feel secure and cuddled, well some babies! They do grow up too fast!
Is is possible that he has outgrown swaddling? I will miss little burrito-baby. No more swaddlyacha :( Welcome to the world of parenting--saying goodbye to the old and hello to the next amazing thing. Love you Walter. Such a big boy!
Gramma
What a big boy! Brooklyn lasted about the same amount of time in the swaddle, but I swadled Kyle until he was well over a year. People would tease me saying he'd be in kindergarten asking me to come and swaddle him for nap time! I was always so scared to try laying them down without the swaddle for the first time!
They grow up so fast. What a little cutie!
super cute!
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