How and When do you stop swaddle??

[Z and A]

My DD is 5 1/2 mo and still needs to be swaddled for sleep... but she is big enough to kick out of it and wakes often needing to be reswaddled and given back her paci.  I have also have to put a sleep positioner to hold her on her back and prevent her from flipping over all the time while swaddled.  I have tried to get her to sleep on her tummy unswaddled, but that did not work either.

How do you transition out of the swaddle?  I have been trying different things for a couple months, but nothing seems to work!

TIA!

Shawna

[Mariek]

Hi Shawna

A Gro-bag /sleeping bag was the answer to our swaddling transition problems. It made DD feel enclosed without the need for swaddling and meant she couldn't kick her way out of it. Have you tried one of these?

love

[branwen]

I ended swaddling early- as my lo was turning herself around in her crib at 7 weeks!  At first I would leave her arms out, one and then moved to both, but by the time she got her legs going I gave it up entirely.  Once I found the blanket up on her face- she'd kicked out of it and pulled it up over her head! Scary!!  Now she sleeps in just a footie for bed.  I plan to use a sleep sack this winter though because she is such a kicker and will be roomy enough for her to move around in it :wink:

[Z and A]

Thanks.  I have  a couple like this from my DS which I will get out and try.  I had not tried them yet because it seems to be her arms that really need to be pinned down and this bag wont do that.

Do most kids just grow out of swaddling?  The idea of how to transition out does not seem to be in any parenting books!

[Deb_in_oz]

DD2 is 5 1/2 months and spirited and really needed the swaddle, but HATED it and managed to get out all the time.  we recently (2 weeks ago)went almost cold turkey after a couple of false attempts...We had her in a very loose wrap for naps for 1 day and then that night she had it around her waist when i went in to do Dream Feed so i decided to risk it and see how she did - she slept through until 7am! so i never looked back and she surprised me and is fine now in a sleeping bag - she sucks her arm or fingers sometimes now and settles in strange positions, but at least i am no longer rewrapping 50 x day.

Sometimes if you take the plunge they can surprise you - i never thought we would be swaddle free and still sleeping through so I was really underestimating her.

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

Hi there,
I started weaning from the swaddle at about 4.5 months during the day for naps and dd was fine with it. I waited until 6 months at night only because I had a heavy sleeping/grobag which I started to use when we went home( colder climate) and have continued with the grobags.
Fiona

[cwolff]

I was just going to post a question about this.  My DD is very frisky, jerking her arms and legs.  So much so that I asked the doctor about it.  He said that some babies when they are relaxed particularly, will jerk more.  At this point, her hands seem to be foreign objects when she is tired, jerking around, knocking the paci and the bottle from her mouth.  So, I have tried one arm out, and that hand knocks the paci from her mouth.  My DH is really getting on me about not swaddling her, but I'm afraid that she's just going to keep waking herself up without it.  I don't see anything wrong with swaddling a 12 week old.  When did you know it was time to try and stop.  And were your babies waking themselves up with their arms and legs still after you stopped swaddling?  Do they just get used to it.  I kind of think that waiting until she has a little more control over her arms is the right thing to do, but maybe that won't happen if I keep swaddling.  Oh, I don't know.

[Deb_in_oz]

  Do they just get used to it.  I kind of think that waiting until she has a little more control over her arms is the right thing to do, but maybe that won't happen if I keep swaddling.  Oh, I don't know.

although somke seem fine without swaddling at a very young age most usually it is around 3-4 months that  most babies START to get control of their hands.  it will happen even if you swaddle her as it is a natural development AND i assume you let her hands out during the rest of the day  :wink:  so don't worry.  if she needs it now keep doing it - we stopped at 5 months this time and i think around the same last time (that was due to the warmer weather)

[Dina]

I gradually stopped swaddling when my 5 mth old was almost 4 months old.  I first of all tried it for his naps and although his arms were jerking around a bit, he eventually got used to sleeping with his arms free. And then I let him go unswaddled at night leaving one arm out one night and then totally free the next.  Now he sleeps soundly, even more better than when he was swaddled, because he used to spend half the night trying to set himself free !

The only down side to sleeping unswaddled, is that he some how manages to scratch and hit himself in the face whilst aiming for his mouth in his sleep and pushing off blanket.

[cwolff]

Thanks, that makes me feel better.  My husband is antiswaddle, he thinks it will stunt her growth.  Yes, I know he's an idiot.  But unfortunately, unless I want to be the only one to put her to sleep, I have been letting him help me out in the middle of the night.  This morning he got up with her at 5:30am.  Fed her, and of course did not reswaddle her to put her to sleep.  He also kept her up too long.  So, as I am blissfully trying to get 3 hours of straight sleep, he's setting me up for an all day cranky baby.  He brought me the baby monitor and said she had been sleeping in the crib for 30 minutes and she was fine.  He went to shower.  I got up, went into her room, and she's knocked the pacifier out of her mouth, and is sleepily jerking around trying to find it.  Argh.  I put it back a couple of times but she just kept twitching and knocking it out.  Finally I just got her up.  I told him again, we must swaddle, or transition slowly.  But, like I said, he's an idiot.  So it's up to me again.

[Dina]

Dear Cwolff, my husband does similar annoying things !

We have a rule, that he only puts the dummy in his mouth when it's sleep time, not at any other time unless he goes banana's !  And that he must eat every 4 hrs (or near enough !) and that he only sleeps once he's been awake for about 1hr and 40 mins, And that if he puts him in the cot early enough he will fall asleep himself without any rocking etc.

What does he do ?  All the opposite.   :x   :x   :x 

(I needed to get that off my chest !!!!)

[thitz]

cwolf, I had to reply because I just started laughing when I read your last comment.  I know how you feel.  I've had to be really firm with my dh when we first started easy and pat/sh and pu/pd.  I gave him heck when he didn't follow the 'rules'.  He then accepted them and does as I ask most of the time.  Of course I'm understanding too that sometimes the 'rules' just don't work.  It helped that I had him observe me putting her to sleep a few times so he knew exactly how to do it.

[cwolff]

Thanks girls!  See my DH is less then reasonable about most things.  He thinks he knows it all.  This is his first baby too!  So no matter what, he just does his own thing.  I'm hoping that once we transition out of the swaddle (since that seems to be his issue at the moment) that he will fall in line with the rest of the stuff.  If not, well, he's working during the day so I have her most of the time.  And they will hopefully work out something that works for them.