Transitions

From day 1, Julia has loved a good swaddle. She's a super cuddly baby, so being wrapped up all snug and warm is right up her street. Eventually, swaddling with a blanket wasn't cutting it anymore as the only blanket she liked being swaddled in was fleece. She would wake up sweaty and that would frustrate her even more.

Along comes this wonderful invention called The Woombie. We had my mom send us one from Canada (as, being American, I would pay import charges on any woombies bought in stores here). It took a few nights, but Julia grew to love it! She slept for 7-9 hours at night and always settled straight away.

Then she hit her 3-month growth spurt and the woombie is quickly getting smaller and smaller. There are bigger woombies available, and ones that have zips on the arms so that you can transition baby to sleeping with arms free. I was planning on purchasing this one in February when we went to Canada, but since Julia outgrew her first Woombie so quickly, I decided to try going straight to a baby sleeping bag.

The first night was great! Julia settled quickly and slept relatively well throughout the night. What's better, she started sleeping better during the day as she was more used to her arms out.

The second night was a nightmare. It took at least 10 times to get her to settle and eventually, at midnight, she was asleep for the night. There were other factors contributing to her unsettled nature, such as a party next door, but I was glad to crawl into bed when she was finally asleep.

The third night was okay. She went down after 2 attempts and slept reasonably well. I thought we were making progress.

The fourth night was awful. One step forward, two steps back right? She wouldn't settle at all as every time we put her down, she would wake herself up my trying to suck her hands. Eventually I put her in our bed for the night and she settled straight away.

After I thought about it, I figure that she wants to suck her hands to soothe herself. She doesn't do it in our bed, but then again, she knows that we are right there so she doesn't have the need to self soothe. This has led me to think about methods to soothe her as she transitions into her sleep sack. We have a soother that she has never really taken to, but today at nap time I slipped it in her mouth just before she fell asleep. She doesn't suck it, but it seems that just having it there is helping (as she is still sleeping as this post is being written!)

Tonight is night 5. What will it bring? Who knows?

What transitions have you had with your baby? Any easy ones? Tough ones?