[anilorak13ska]

Yikes! I tried the swaddling two nights in a row now, and I haven't seen an improvement. The first night, I didn't do a very good job initially with the swaddling, and Baby V flung herself out of it and was cold, which I finally figured out by 3:30 am and the 4th time she woke me. I changed her, swaddled her extra tight, massaged her legs and carressed her hair, and she was out for 3 hours until I woke her up in the morning.

But last night, I went straight for the tight swaddle, yadda yadda, and she did sleep for 3 hours straight, but she usually does the first three hours regardless. Then she woke me up every hour and a half, until finally I had had it and tried to let her cry it out. I said firmly "no", bc I knew she didn't need anything. I had offered her water, checked her diaper, she was warm but not too warm, etc, etc.

After some 15 minutes of that not working (she seemed to settle down repeatedly, but then she'd start up again with the screaming ), I caved and reswaddled her, gave her her binky AGAIN, and did the whole hair/massage thing until she was asleep. As soon as I got in bed, she started wailing again . At this point, I knew she just wanted me there next to her, but this was ridiculous. I wasn't picking her up, but apparently standing there with her has also become a crutch to her self-soothing.

So this time I left the room and let her cry it out. In about 20 minutes, she fell asleep on her own, and I caught a half hour nap before I needed to get up. When it was time to wake her, she kept on sleeping as I uncovered her, picked her up, carried her downstairs. I thought to myself, "sure, NOW she sleeps".

I hated hearing her cry, but I think I'm going to have to go with this strategy. Four or five wakings during the night for an almost 8 month old who does not feed at night is excessive, isn't it?

Am I doing the right thing? Anybody?