Update on Crib Transition

Pierce has been sleeping so well in his crib by himself! It makes me a little sad that my little boy is ready to be so independent so soon.

He had a good 30 minute morning nap in his crib yesterday and his afternoon nap was at least 1.5 hours! That hasn't happened since he was a newborn, I couldn't believe it. Of course, he was up a lot later than he normally is. He went down for the night between 6:30 and 7:00 and was up once to eat at 2:00 a.m. and then up for the day around 7:00 a.m.

I think the reason he's doing so well is because it's so dark in there. He really likes it nice and dark when he sleeps, just like his Momma. I was looking forward to him sleeping in a bit later since he's on the West side of the house so it would be extra dark, but he woke up earlier than usual.

I will admit that this has been quite hard on me, though. As much as I think that it's great that he's taken the transition so well, I miss being able to just look over and see him sleeping there. It took me a very long time to fall asleep last night both when I went to bed for the night and after I put him back down after he woke up to eat. Pierce is a swaddle addict and he likes to be swaddled nice and tight and I worry that he's going to roll over, not be able to push himself up to breathe and suffocate himself. I know that the chances of that happening are very slim and I'm probably just being an overly worried first time mom, but not being able to look over at him or even hear him breathing is really hard on me.

I want to start weaning Pierce from the swaddle because I think that will ease my mind a bit more, but he's such a swaddle-aholic that I don't know if I want to go through the impending horrible nights of sleep by doing that. And I am not interested in any form of cry-it-out methods of sleep training. Although perhaps I will take a look at The No-Cry Sleep Solution, I've heard that's a good method. I know some parents start by leaving one of their child's arms out of the swaddle and some just go cold turkey, but I don't know if Pierce is ready for either of those options. If anyone has any tips on how to wean Pierce from the swaddle, I'd certainly welcome them.

Transitioning to Crib

We've begun transitioning Pierce to his own bedroom in his crib. This makes me sad and excited at the same time. He turned 5 months earlier this month and I think it's time that he slept on his own. Even though I would love to have him in the bed with us, Mr. B just doesn't feel that it's safe and Pierce sleeps better on his own anyways. I think it's more important that we all sleep well.

Pierce had a late nap yesterday since I couldn't get him to nap at his usual time so he didn't end up going to bed until 6:30 or 7:00! Usually he's more than ready for bed by 5:00. We swaddled him and put him down in his crib, but he was awake and crying within 5 minutes, so we moved him back to our room and he was fine. I have to admit I wasn't too disappointed when it didn't work right away. After I left his room and closed the door I hung out there a little bit and seriously contemplated sleeping on the floor outside his room. I definitely think that giving our children a little bit of independence is more difficult on us than it is on them.

Today I played with him a little bit in his exersaucer and on his play mat and then he decided he'd had enough and sounded like he was ready for a nap. So we swaddled him and Mr. B rocked him and sung him to sleep and placed him in his crib. So far he's been in there for 10 - 15 minutes and he's doing well. Normally I can't get him to sleep during the day unless he's in the swing. There are room darkening curtains in his room so maybe he just needs the darkness to be able to sleep properly. I've noticed that he's been getting up with the sun these past few days, which means he's been getting up earlier and earlier. That may also be why he stayed up so late last night.

I hope this continues going this well. I still need to get a change table for Pierce's room, so we'll be able to do diaper changes in there soon, too, which will make putting him there overnight much easier.