Sleep and Rolling Over

Tory Bean rolled over for the first time last week!

Except, she hasn't done it since. She's not a big fan of laying on her tummy (says the world to me: babies usually love laying on their tummies! Well once again, mine doesn't. I must have a strange baby on my hands). I'm not too concerned about it because I know she'll eventually get there. If there's one thing I've learned about Tory, she's strong-minded like her daddy. She has to come to decisions in her own time.

So with this rolling over business, we decided to plunge into the unchartered waters of un-swaddling. Swaddled up, Tory had figured out how to rock and roll herself from back to tummy and I didn't feel comfortable chancing her rolling over in the night, even though she only did it once. The first few nights were rough. Tory woke herself up every hour and a half and I was a stammering pile of sleep-deprived mommy. But things seem to be getting better now and she's only waking up two to three times a night - which I can handle. I also think she was getting cold since her hands weren't swaddled underneath her blanket. So I started dressing her in a long-sleeve onesie underneath her jammies, turning the heat up another notch at night and leaving her bedroom door open to allow air to circulate. All of those things seem to be helping her sleep more soundly.

In the last few days, I've also realized just how quickly I jump out of bed and run to her crib in the night. When I was on maternity leave, I never minded multiple wake-ups because I could catch up on sleep throughout the day. I also didn't want to wake Andi because he had to work the next day. Plus, Tory was still a few weeks old and I didn't feel comfortable letting her cry it out. However, when I went back to work, I started to watch the overnight clock more closely (read: holy crap, I've been up every two hours and now I have to stay awake, drive to work and actually be productive for 10 hours without drowning myself in gallons of caffeine). As I watched Tory on the video monitor one night, I realized she was just stirring and fussing a bit but still sleeping. I really never watched her before, just hopped up and went to her. I talked about it with Andi and we agreed to let her fuss (not cry) herself back to sleep (when I knew she wasn't hungry) to see how many times she'd actually wake up. "Don't worry about me!" said Andi as stuffed in earplugs into his ears. Gee, thanks honey.

Honestly though, Tory's sleep patterns have become better every day. I feel good about dropping the swaddle. We're well on our way to a happy, sleeping, roly poly baby.