the (insert expletive here) bear suit.

for a few months now sylvie has been sleeping every nap and every night in this bear suit.  it started innocently enough.  sylvie, at around 3 months old, would only fall asleep in her stroller after we walked her around in the frigid winter air.  we are responsible parents, so we bundled her up for these walks.  this bear suit is basically her winter coat.  fast forward over 3 months later and sylvie has long outgrown the stroller sleeping phase, but still sleeps in her bear suit.  why?  because it is MAGIC.  we put her in it, zip it up, and she immediately turns her head to the side and closes her eyes.  so we let her sleep in it everyday.  if it ain't broke, right?  well, we are beginning to see the early signs of spring.  it was more than 60 degrees here today.  her toes are pushing at the feet.  we talked about cutting the feet off of it.  but more important than any of that:  it SMELLS.  i guess when you spend all night sweating and puking in the hood of something it ends up a little stinky.  it makes her stink, too.  so after months of constantly washing this thing, i made the decision last night to cut it cold turkey.

on tuesdays and thursdays travis has a late class, so i put sylvie to bed.  i figured i would try putting her down without it.  if it turned to be too much of a struggle, i could always put her in it again.  well guess what?  it was no struggle at all!  turns out we thought she needed it more than she actually does.  she slept all night last night and every nap today without it.  GOOD RIDDANCE says i.  travis, being the sentimental fool he is, wants to save it.  i, however, would love to torch the sucker.

goodbye, bear suit.  it's been real.  it's been fun.  it's been real fun.

Comments

[Deanna]

gage slept in his swing until he was 17 months old. he was at the point where he could climb into it and buckle himself. and then for the first couple of weeks after we moved him to the crib, he would sleep sitting up.

[sara without an h]

Deanna-That is too funny!

[Elle]

This is too funny. My daughter was the same way as Deanna's son when it came to her swing. We ran through batteries like crazy and if the swing ran out of juice in the middle of the night or during her nap, we would hear all about.

I couldn't take it anymore and stopped my daughter's swing and pacifier habit when she was 7 months old b/c as soon as the pacifier would fall out of her mouth, she would wake up screaming. Being the crazy person that I am, I decided to do it while my hubby was away on a business trip since he would be the one to break and give her what she wanted.

I about lost my mind from lack of sleep but by the time my hubby came home she was done with her pacifier.The swing took a little more time because my husband would give in. ;)

[Alisha]

It's so funny how we think they need things more than they do sometimes! Evangeline loved to be swaddled and loved her paci. But when I took them away, because they were causing too many problems, she was fine!

So very glad for you that she slept fine without it! But, I have to say...I'm very sentimental too. I'd probably wanna keep it too.

[randalin]

Haha, this is awesome. You're so lucky you have a good sleeper. I think Kale needs to borrow the bear suit.

[sara without an h]

Randalin-I never said Sylvie was a great sleeper! She used to be, but lately has been up several times at night. I blame her teeth. Though, she did give us a good stretch of sleep last night. Maybe she's growing out of it. ::fingers crossed::

Elle-I think we're going to work on the paci next. I would love to be done with it. She loves to suck on her fingers, and I wish she would just do that at night.

[Emily C.]

yay Sylvie! i'm too afraid to try to let DR sleep without the swaddle. someday...maybe...

[sara without an h]

Emily-We swaddled her until she was almost four months. One day we just stopped and never looked back! The bear suit limited movement somewhat. Now that she's old enough for a blanket, I find that helps.