A Bad Habit to Break

As you know, we've been trying to wean the boys from sleeping on the wedge. We started with sleeping them flat for one nap then added a second nap and I thought all was going well, both in terms of our worry about them and in their spitting up. Yes, the sheet is a bit more wet with spit up after they sleep flat, but we have by no means heard more coughing/choking/sputtering episodes than normal so clearly the boys are handling it.


I have been cursing the past few days however, because the boys haven't been napping well. I put them down in the afternoon and it takes them forever to fall asleep and then when they do sleep it doesn't last. Yesterday morning I also realized that instead of sleeping until their usual 10am (post 5:30 feed) they have been waking at 8 every day. I put them flat again this morning at 6am and at 8 they were still lying awake. I suspected I knew what the problem was so I put them back on the wedge and in a matter of seconds they were asleep until I woke them to go out at 10.

Houston, we have a problem. The boys can't sleep without their wedge.

Of course they can't, why would they? I don't think it's the angle they are missing, but the "nest" that is built around them. They are 8 months old and have NEVER slept without being burrowed into a nest. Initially in their incubators they were always swaddled or nested to give them a sense of security (preemies don't do well if their limbs are allowed to flail without boundaries). Then when they were co-bed in the crib they were not only nested on all sides and below them, but also secured into a sling and topped off with a cozy blanket. Talk about cushy.

So there go mom and dad, ripping not only the wedge but all the padding and blankets that go with it right out from under them and expect them to adjust to lying flat in a cold and empty crib. But they haven't. I go in there and they are sideways, miles apart, arms and legs askew, as opposed to nestled, literally skin to skin next to each other, tucked warmly under their blankets. So now what?! Keeping them in the wedge forever is not an option because they have proven they don't need it. Additionally they are getting too big for it so if we want to keep them in it we'll need to move them to two separate cribs. That above all would not fly. They love, love, love sleeping together and that would be punishment to separate them. I think part of the reason they sleep so well is because they have each other for comfort.

I am at a loss. Being blessed with three good sleepers, Jordan and I have never had to engage in any sort of sleep training episodes. The closest we have come was when Rio acted out when I was on bedrest so my brother and his wife had to pull a Nanny-911 for me and let her cry it out (ok SCREAM it out) at bedtime. That lasted all of two nights and she was over it. That's IT. We have no experience with this. And the thing that I am having the hardest time with is that they aren't misbehaving. They aren't pushing any limits that are driving us crazy. They are not 4 years old and we're trying to take away their pacifiers. They are tiny little babies and we are trying to take away one constant comfort they have known for their entire lives.

So what do we do? Go cold turkey on the wedge and prepare that we all have a few sleepless days until they get used to it? Try to build them a safe/non-smothering nest in the flat crib? (How to do that without breaking all the SIDS rules is beyond me). Keep them on the wedge until they literally cannot grow a centimetre longer and then we are FORCED to go cold turkey?

Suggestions?!