I hesitate to ever write anything about sleep since it always seems to change as soon as you write something (hence why I still haven’t written about the kids sharing a room even though we did that change months ago – overall it’s going great!)… but I thought I’d pop in with a quick update about Mister Harvey’s sleep while I have a minute.
In preparation for going to Minnesota for 10 days in August, we started weaning Harvey off of swing naps in mid-July at about 6 months old. However, we kept one of the swings around (the one upstairs in our bedroom) to use in emergencies…aka, the 5am wakeup when you REALLY want another hour of sleep or the 1pm nap where big sister is throwing a fit and he REALLY needs to sleep. He was mostly sleeping in the crib at that point anyway, and we knew he was getting close to the age where we would have to do away with the swing completely, but it was a guaranteed 3 hr midday nap if we had something we needed to get done, and it was the key for the extra hour here and there in the early morning on an as-needed basis, so we held on as long as we could.
On September 6th (just before he turned 8 months old), I walked into the bedroom and saw this…
Um, ya… he had reached up and over and PULLED the entire swing to the side to look at something.
However, I continued down my path of denial that swing naps were a thing of the past.
Then yesterday I got home from work and our Nanny told us that she had walked into the room to see him trying to launch himself out of the front of it, and thankfully the lap strap was holding him in – JUST SO BARELY. He literally had a mark across his chest from it. Little shit. 😉
So ya, the swing is coming down this weekend, and I guess we’ll be moving on to our next bag of tricks.
*****
Regarding nighttime sleep, for 3 NIGHTS IN A ROW (*knocking on all the wood*) Harvey has slept through the night! We’re talking 7:30-8:00 pm until 5:30-6:30 am! I’d love if it moves more consistently towards that 6:30 wakeup time so I can actually workout and shower in the morning before the kids get up, but DAMN if it doesn’t feel great to sleep through the night again!
Lol, can’t believe how strong he is already. WOW, sleeping through the night already? Go Harvey!! Go you guys!
We had the same problem around the same age. I don’t know where the shoulder straps went, but we had them originally. We were having trouble getting E to sleep any reasonable length and transitioning from a swaddle all at the same time. We started putting him in a zipadeezip at night and then at naps (backwards from their recommendations) but it worked like a charm and he loves those Zippys! I can put him to bed or down for a nap wide awake and the zippy means sleep time. You might consider one (or three like we have) they say thumb suckers will suck right through it!
He actually does great sleeping unswaddled in the crib. He LOVES his blankie & his thumb and he is set. We really only used the swing when we were desperate for another hour here and there, but it sure was nice in those moments. 🙂
Oh ya, and shoulder straps…hm…they’re probably tucked behind the cover there. We never used them b/c they drove me nuts in the middle of the night. That would have been a good idea as he got older, huh? Oops. 🙂
It’s a bittersweet day when you have to pack up the swing. We got some good naps out of it too. Hope your new bag of tricks are just as successful!
We only ever used our swing for newborn storage while doing other things 🙂 It sat on our kitchen counter so only babies who literally didn’t move AT ALL went in it. As for sleep, Poppy doesn’t take a paci at all and doesn’t suck her thumb so I’m terrified of sleep training (down the road) to get her to fall asleep on her own bc she has no soother 🙁
You’ll be okay. Stella was a no thumb / no paci kid, and other than my breakdown at 7.5 months with her when she woke up every 45 min, she did great! (and I mean that in all honesty) If you get to that point, read back over my sleep posts from that point (I can send you a link or you can look at the sleep category above) and ppl sent me a ton of great advice about it all!
Thanks. I’ll look back at it for sure when we get there. Right now, we’re not yet at a point where I mind her waking at night, but even if she never ups her wakeups enough to make me crack, I’ll still have to figure something out bc I’m not going to nurse her to sleep forever! I’m ready to be a little freer when she turns one. So, either way, I’ll be taking a look back at how you did it with Stella. G&L both used pacis, so I didn’t feel as bad teaching them to fall asleep on their own, but then I ended up having to sleep train twice with both: once to fall asleep without me and then later to fall asleep without the paci.
PS – START NOW on putting her drowsy but awake. It’s WAY HARDER when you wait until 7-8 months when separation anxiety starts hitting. Seriously. Easy to rock her to sleep now, but easier in the long run to put her down drowsy now. I’m saying this as a Mom who hated any form of “sleep training” but had to b/c my child woke up every 45 minutes all night long. Save yourself that pain. I know you’ve gone through the ringer with Gracie already, but I’m just reminding you that the easiest way now isn’t always the best way for the long term!
Agreed for sure!
Oh my goodness, I was extremely attached to our swing. There was this whole ordeal where it was lent out and I almost was hysterical (okay I was hysterical) that is never get it back or a chance to ever use a swing again, and I get to bust it out in feb! Woot!
Sleeping though the night is better than anythig in the world! Congrats!
YEAH for more sleep! And uhhhhh you better get him into weight lifting early with those muscles!
Yay for sleeping through the night!
That is a very familiar sight!! Although Alex took his time with the crawling, around six months of age, he was trying with all his might to get out of the swing and we had a few close calls (thank goodness for the harness!). We had to say bye to the swing naps by 7 months.
Glad to hear Harvey is on a good sleep tear!!
I think L liked the swing more than G ever did. I was so happy to pack up our swing this time around. I realized that the music it played (which G insisted was on to help his baby brother calm down) was a trigger for all the Bad Emotions I had during G’s early months.
Oof, I hated the music and refused to ever turn it on! I’m glad that trigger is out of your life.