I was going through some of my old posts from awhile ago, and I came across this one. I never published it. I’m not sure why, but, I think it could help a lot of mamas out there who are struggling with the transition from swaddle to sleep sack!
When Marielle was about 3.5 months old, she decided that it was a really fun game to break out of her swaddle in the middle of the night, so she could chew on her hands. She had also mastered rolling over in her swaddle. Not good. As cute as she looked on the video monitor with her tiny hand poking out of the top of her swaddle, I knew that the time had come to stop swaddling her, and allow her to sleep in her big girl sleep sacks. We did a couple of nights with Marielle wearing a Swaddle Designs zzZipMe and the first couple nights went great. She fell asleep and slept through the entire night. I think this was just plain lucky. Not long after, Marielle was waking herself up by flailing her little hands all over the place, and rolling on to her tummy. While the pediatrician said it’s okay for her to do this since she was strong enough to lift her head, she still became quite frustrated because she was not quite as good at rolling back over onto her back. I was starting to become sleep deprived and had Marielle attached to my hip all day, because naps were no longer than 25 minutes without her swaddle. Clearly, she needed something. So did I.
I brought up my concerns at my ECFE class, and I got a unanimous response from other mamas that I needed to try something called Baby Merlin’s Magic Sleep Suit.
I’m sorry, what?
They warned me she would look ridiculous, but that it really does work. I went home, immediately Googled this “magical” suit and bust out laughing when I saw images of babies looking like marshmallow peeps and space travelers. Apparently, the thick material prevents their arms from flailing so much that they wake themselves up, but can move enough to suck their thumb to comfort themselves back to sleep. They also cannot roll onto their tummy.
I was skeptical. Two days later, at Marielle’s 4 month appointment, I brought up the sleep regression issue with her pediatrician. “Have you heard of Baby Merlin’s Magic Sleep Suit?” She asked. I guess everyone else knows about this thing but me. I went home and I Amazon Primed a Sleep Suit overnight to our house. This thing is ridiculous. It better work.
That night, Brendan and I put Marielle to sleep in her Magic Sleep Suit. At 4:30am, I woke up because I hadn’t heard Marielle on the monitor and my mommy instincts automatically woke me up to check on her. I pressed view on her monitor, and there she was, sound asleep. Looking silly. I smiled and went back to sleep. It worked. Marielle was back to sleeping through the night. The real test was going to be the next day. Would she nap in this thing? She did. 2 hour naps, and woke up with a huge smile on her face.
She was happy.
Brendan and I were happy.
One big happy family.
So, if your little one is transitioning out of the swaddle, but still needs a little comfort, I absolutely recommend the Sleep Suit. Mamas to be…this is one for the registry!
You can absolutely be sure that I will be using this with Baby #2!
The Simple Elements 