no more burrito baby

march 13. the day the swaddling burrito blanket became no more in the morgan household...

it started off like any other day. ellery and i played. she went down for her nap. i started cleaning in the kitchen. after a little while, i heard baby girl fussing. i walked in her room to find her on her belly! she had rolled over all by herself, and appeared to be quite surprised by her new-found ability. we celebrated with hugs and kisses, and then quickly realized what this meant...

no more swaddling. our pediatrician recommended stopping swaddling when ellery could roll over. so when she does get to get to her tummy, she can use her arms to help roll back over. and let me tell you, ellery loved that swaddle. she slept so well in it. she would be fussy because she was so sleepy, but the second i tucked her arms in and started wrapping her up, she would actually smile. so, while i was super excited at e's new milestone accomplishment, i was a little sad at the loss of our swaddling.

i asked other moms what in the world i do now... some recommended to keep swaddling, but do it looser & looser each night. some said try one arm out at first. a lot said go cold turkey & do no swaddling at all. we chose the option of keeping her arms out and let me tell you, those first 2 nights were no fun. ellery would wake up every 30 minutes crying, because she startled herself by moving her arms. we would soothe her back to sleep, and before we knew it, she was back up again.

by the third night, things got a little better. she slept for 4 hours then woke up. after nursing her, she woke up every 1 1/2 -2 hours after that. and that has pretty much been the norm since. one night she slept a 5 1/2 hour chunk. which isn't horrible, but before, she was sleeping about 6-7 hours, up to feed for 20 min, then back to sleep for 2-3 hours. i miss it already. more recently, we lay her down to sleep & she wakes right up. she rolls around, flings her arms, eats her hands....and then starts talking still with her eyes closed. then all of a sudden her eyes pop open and the crying starts. not fun for the e babe or mom & dad.

also, as ellery gets closer to 4 months, i've also read a growth spurt can happen, or sleeping habits change due to all the new things she learning and doing - like tummy time, sitting up, and using her hands. i just felt like we were in such a good rhythm, and then with one little roll, everything changed!

so here's to a good night's sleep for ellery tonight... i really hope :)