Swaddle weaning, Paci prop, Co sleeper

[brummum]

Little man is 4 months old and is swaddled with a dummy for night sleep and occassionally during the day for one of his naps. He has just learnt to roll over back to front so should really be unswaddled. This is proving difficult for several reasons. 1) he bothers himself for with his arms when unswaddled and knocks dummy out (yes it's defo a proper but do not want to wean at this point!) And gets very frustrated and upset. 2) he moves about alot when u swaddled but is currently in a bedside sleeper and there isn't really enough room for this so he ends up bashing/rolling into the sides and again gets very angry. So I have resorted to re swaddling him after 3 nights of horrendous sleep. He sleeps better but I am gonna have to change things soon because I'm pretty sure he's going to start fighting it and it's. Not safe. At present he has a sheet tucked.in under the mattress to prevent rolling and I go to bed at the same time so I would know if he ended up.on his front. Any suggestions about where to go.from here??

[Lindsay27]

We tried unswaddling at 4 months too because my DD was rolling back to tummy as well.  It was a disaster.  After 2 nights of literally zero sleep I decided enough was enough and she still had to be swaddled.  She wasn't rolling over in her sleep so I wasn't overly concerned about it being a safety issue.  2 weeks later we tried again with the same result, so again I went back to swaddling.  Just this past week she's made it clear that she didn't want to be swaddled anymore so we started weaning (again) and she's done absolutely amazing.  Last night was her first night completely unswaddled and she had no issues at all...no flailing arms, no knocking her paci out, just perfectly calm and peaceful. 

Obviously we want to be aware of safety concerns, but it was clear that at 4 months she was not ready at all.  Now, a month later and we've completely weaned in a week with absolutely no issues.  So, just wanted to share that so you know that if it isn't working you might just need to take a break and try again in a week or 2. 

[grace annes mommy]

We tried unswaddling at 4 mos. for the same reason and it was a disaster.  J was just not ready.  We decided to keep her in the rock n play where she really couldn't roll over and I tried every few weeks (unsuccessfully) to unswaddle her.  At 6 mos, we moved her into her crib, still swaddled.  Recently, she figured out how to roll over in the swaddle, so we've pulled 1 arm out.  She's adjusting fine and tomorrow we'll pull her other arm free.  She's ready now.

Some LOs really take their time emerging from the swaddle.  As long as they aren't rolling over at night in the swaddle, I do think there's no rush (of course, talk to your dr. also).  Both of mine were happily swaddled til 7 mos. or so.  (This is not the "norm", just food for thought.  I felt much more relaxed about this after reading the Happiest baby on the block and dr. harvey karp's book about sleep as he's a big swaddle advocate)

I would continue every few weeks to pull an arm out.  You'll know when he's ready.

[shinysarah]

Hi,
I know it's hard!! My LO is 18 weeks and I've bought a swaddle/sleeping bag so she can sleep with her arms up...It's working wonders!! If not, then persevering and consistency is key. keep trying every few weeks and all of a sudden they crack it!

[brummum]

Thanks all that's reassuring. He's definately not ready to be unswaddled so will keep trying every other week or so.