Tuesday, July 19, 2005

move over, darvocet

I have a new drug of choice: swaddling. Yep, when our baby is swaddled, he easily sleeps eight hours at night and takes two-hour naps. When he's not swaddled, he wakes himself up screaming after 45 minutes. In fact, I just tried putting him down for a nap unswaddled to see what would happen. Predictably, he woke up flailing and wailing. He still seemed tired, so I swaddled him and he went instantly back to sleep. The minute I put his arms in the blanket, his eyes just melted closed and he relaxed immediately.

So what's the problem? I'm terrified to stop swaddling him. I'm also terrified to continue, because what if he needs to be swaddled forever? I keep picturing him on his first night away at college, asking his freshman roommate to wrap him up in blankets.

I'm sure I'm worrying about nothing -- I mean, he's only three months old -- but that's what new moms do. I guess at this point, he needs his sleep. I know I do.

My name is Rebecca, and I'm a swaddle-aholic.

3 comments:

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star said...

Don't worry Bearca, we'll get through this one together...The first step is acknowledging your addiction...

Just Kidding.

You know what I think? Swaddle away. I don't know from personal experience in motherhood, but as someone who survived being fed vodka and second hand smoke both inside and outside the womb and turned out okay, I may know a thing or two about what's inside the "What Mom's Shouldn't Do" Hall of Fame. I can tell you right now...

You are not on this list.

Nor will swaddling your baby each nap put you on that list.

You know what they say: "A swaddling each nap keeps mommy's insanity intact."

(okay, they don't really, but we'll pretend they do.)

karla said...

Hey, I'm all about swaddling, if it gets me some peace and quiet. I'll swaddle my husband if necessary. And it's cheaper than feeding the kid NyQuil.

Emily said...

"Swaddling" is the funniest word ever.

Maybe in college you could just buy him a straight jacket to wear to bed. I'm pretty sure that's the grown-up equivelent of a swaddle.