Swaddling

We had decided that when Mariko started to roll that we would stop swaddling. It seemed logical, as kids who can roll need their arms out to help them if they roll to their stomach while sleeping. Yesterday we decided it was time. She was still sleeping in the curved Newborn Napper but we planned to swaddle arms out for a couple of days and then move her down to the flat part of the Pack n' Play (when we go to Seattle my mom's Pack n' Play only has the flat part, and once our furniture comes, we are going to move her to her mattress on the floor).

Needless to say it did not go well. I was gone in the morning and Toshi put her down for her first nap with arms out. She cried for a half hour and then slept 40 minutes. A 40 minute nap is normal for her but she usually goes down in less than 10 minutes. Toshi was gone in the afternoon and the next two naps were mine. The first of those two took about 15 minutes and the second about 10 minutes but each time she still only slept about 40 minutes. We talked about it and did some reading online about all the people that swaddle even though their kids roll. And, Mariko just started rolling and hasn't really gone the whole way back to front yet, only front to back so maybe we didn't need to cold turkey just yet. So, for her final nap of the day I swaddled her. After an hour and forty-five minutes I had to wake her because it was 6:15 and she needed to eat before going to bed (usually between 6 and 7). She was clearly happy being swaddled and trying to make up for the bad sleep she'd gotten all day. She went down about 7:45 for bed, swaddled, ate at 12:30 and then didn't wake again until nearly 7:00. She's currently on her fourth nap of the day (usually she only takes 4 but today I guess will be 5!) and during her third one she slept an hour and a half. Needless to say we are all happier with the swaddle and it's not time to take it away from her just yet.