Flailing Arms

A rare event. Grace asleep without being swaddled.

When Ginny was an infant, she hated being swaddled. She would wiggle and squirm until she could get her arms out of her bindings. Then, once out, she would roll onto her side and sleep. She started doing this Houdini act at 2 weeks old. I stopped attempting to swaddle her by the time she was 3 weeks old. There really was no point.

Grace, our charming 4-month-old baby, is nothing like her sister was. She loves being swaddled. She needs it. It calms and soothes her. Ginny used a pacifier to sooth herself, but Grace won't take a pacifier at all, much less suck on her thumb. So, swaddling it is.

I wish that I could get away with no longer swaddling her. I can't. If she is not swaddled at bedtime, she starts to flail her arms about and wakes herself up, every time. I keep trying, but it has yet to work.

The problem is that we are beginning to running into issues. Grace is a big baby. The swaddling blankets are getting smaller and smaller, making it more difficult to achieve a tight swaddle. Most baby stores sell the product Swaddle Me, but they only work on babies up to 20 pounds. Grace is very nearly 20 pounds, if not that weight already.

Hopefully, someday soon, she will either learn how to fall asleep without flailing her arms or how to sleep through the flailing arms. Maybe. I hope. Sigh.