Author Topic: when to unswaddle? 4 mo old  (Read 7076 times)

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Offline kaynay

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when to unswaddle? 4 mo old
« on: January 19, 2010, 17:11:50 pm »
our 4 mt old is tightly swaddled at night and for naps he is really really compacted but in the day he loves his hands has a grand old time with them for hours...should we think about weaning the swaddle?
we have 1-2 NWakings and am wondering if his hands will help him sooth or is it too early since he cant break out of what he is in...but what he is in is very tight he is in a Kiddopatmus Swaddle with a 2 blankets wrapped around him stretchy ones that cling?

Offline firsttimemummy

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Re: when to unswaddle? 4 mo old
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2010, 17:37:51 pm »
You could always try having one hand out to begin with to see how he gets on.  Try during a daytime sleep incase it bothers him too much.  PErsonally we stopped swaddling when DS kept breaking out of them no matter how hard we swaddled him!
L x Having a bw break from 1 Feb 2012 - if you want to get in touch please send me a pm.  I may not be here but you are all in my thoughts xxxx (probably be back some time)

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Offline SThompson

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Re: when to unswaddle? 4 mo old
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2010, 20:45:39 pm »
We have a 4 month old little girl - she's also used a Kiddopatmus since birth.  We started to just unswaddle one arm and started with all sleep periods.  She had a little more trouble falling asleep the first one or two sleep periods, but by the first night was doing great.
We completely unswaddled her two nights ago.  It takes her longer to fall asleep, but she does so without her pacifier (she pulls it out) or the swaddle.  We have a harder time with her naps because she's not as ready for a full sleep. She goes down okay, but when she comes out of her cycle she wakes and takes some help to get back to sleep.

I'd start with one arm out and see how she does, then try to move to completely unswaddled and know that it'll take a few sleep cycles for your LO to get the hang of it!  Good Luck!

Offline firsttimemummy

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Re: when to unswaddle? 4 mo old
« Reply #3 on: January 20, 2010, 07:50:42 am »
SThompson - just wondering if your LO is on (or on way to) 4 hour EASY, with you saying she's not as ready for a full sleep?

It wont take long to get your LOs sleeping fine - it gets easier with time!!
L x Having a bw break from 1 Feb 2012 - if you want to get in touch please send me a pm.  I may not be here but you are all in my thoughts xxxx (probably be back some time)

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Offline JLSPAS09

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Re: when to unswaddle? 4 mo old
« Reply #4 on: January 20, 2010, 12:41:54 pm »
Kaynay, does your LO use a paci? If you swaddled him without the extra reinforcements (i.e., the other 2 blankets) would he be able to get out of the swaddle?

I have have a 4mo old LO tat has been swaddled since day 1. She was STTN but now we have a NW anywhere between 3-5 where she has wiggled her hands out of her swaddle and woken herself up. She has never been able to resettle, so every night I have to go back in and reswaddle.

In my case, since she's getting out of it and it's causing a NW every night, I know we need to wean. It's sooooo hard. We've tried the arm out- disastrous. I've tried the sleep sack (like a swaddle but the arms are free) even MORE of a disaster. So, I'm thinking I might have the sleep sack arm holes sewed shut, but still put her in the sleep sack so that she has much more free range of motion than in a traditional tight swaddle, but can't hit herself in the face/head. I'm thinking that once she gets used to the freedom, we can just let her sleep in her footie pajamas and call it a day! (We live in FL so it's warm :))

So, in your case, it's whatever your comfortable with at this time. We have just transitioned from 3h EASY to 4h EASY (well, sort of- she's still taking 35m naps so it's more like EASAS EASAS)

Good luck and please let me know how things go. Know that there are plenty of us out there in the same boat!!

Jamie


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Offline SThompson

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Re: when to unswaddle? 4 mo old
« Reply #5 on: January 20, 2010, 22:55:37 pm »
Firsttimemummy - we did move to 4-hour EASY about three weeks ago as she was showing lots of signs she was ready for it (not eating well, not sleeping well, etc.).  Since then, she's improved greatly.  Each day her naps improve - she is just getting used to being unswaddled.

For those of you struggling with this: be persistent.  I would try to unswaddle, she'd not go down, sleep horribly and I'd go back to swaddling.  The trick to breaking it is to stick it out.  You will have a few bad days MAX and they will get the hang of it.  My little one still throws her hands around and kicks as she's going to sleep, but she is getting better and better.  Stick it out - it's better you do it now then when they start to roll over and you are forced to do it!

Offline kaynay

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Re: when to unswaddle? 4 mo old
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2010, 04:23:29 am »
we are 3.5-4 hour easy this week...1 feed is 4 hour the others are 3.5 and we have a cluster at the end of day to account for 5 day feeds bfeeding...his naps and day are great I just dont get it at night he just has more time to lay there so...we dont use a pacy...

SThomspon---how old is your LO? did you just quit cold turkey for all naps and bedtime?

JLS--we dont use pacy he isnt into it he tries and tries to resettle then we patt ssshhh.

Do both of you feed at night? We were down to 1 NW for feed but lately he is waking more due to being all over the crib lengthwise upside down etc all swaddled hitting his head on slats...last night we tried to put him down unswaddled he played all the way til 10pm almost 2 hours he wouldnt sleep finally he feel asleep for 20 minutes to to play again I finally just swaddled him so he could sleep was that bad? he wasnt crying just playing with his hands and feet and making funny noises...he had a rough night then he woke at 2am couldnt settle til 4ish with pat shhh went back til 7 so he didnt eat all night but his cry wasnt a hungry cry just a moan "Im so tired I cant believe I fell asleep past 10" kind of cry then at 7 when he breastfed he didnt eat so much I really think he can STTN without food as he has done it before and the NWs are developmental...

so really just wean it totally cold turkey he is 4 mos to the day today?...the sleep sack with arms shut sounds like a good idea although I think he would bunch up the blanket and chew on it for ever! So it is official once they roll over they can't be swaddled correct?

Oh today he was furoious when he woke him self up from a nap I swaddled him loose just furious...so bad news is I swaddled him tonite since last night was such a disaster maybe we just unswaddle for daytime for a few days? Im at a loss as he is working to STTN without eating maybe trying to do that and be unswaddled is too much at first?

Offline lpperry

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Re: when to unswaddle? 4 mo old
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2010, 18:53:56 pm »
My LO was swaddled for close to 6 months. He really needed it to settle down.  He could sit by himself before I stopped swaddling him!

I think around 5 months, I unswaddled one arm and then at 6 months I unswaddled both.  I would try unswaddling one arm at naps and see how things go.  It might take a little longer for LO to settle. If it doesn't work go ahead and swaddle for awhile longer.

My LO was a peanut, so he fit fine in his kiddapotamus swaddle at 6 months.  My friend's 3 month old is pretty big and she found XL kiddapotamus swaddler online.

Offline SThompson

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Re: when to unswaddle? 4 mo old
« Reply #8 on: January 21, 2010, 20:32:46 pm »
Kaynay - I'd agree with LPPerry that you should try and see what works for you - you don't have to stop at 4 mos exactly!  I didn't go cold turkey - I just did half-swaddle until I felt she could take that.  We have been doing that for about a month and have just moved into the sleep sack/no swaddle at 4 months (she hit 4 mos last Thursday).

For me, I could see that she was getting better coordination with her hands/arms and could put her fingers in her mouth if she wanted to calm herself so that was a hint for me.  We still have to go in and S/P as she has NW/EW and we're still dealing with that.  I have tried to drop a NF, but am considering re-introducing it as I cannot figure out why she is still waking.

Good Luck!

Offline JLSPAS09

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Re: when to unswaddle? 4 mo old
« Reply #9 on: January 21, 2010, 21:16:34 pm »
Hi, Kaynay-

LO sometimes has a NF- general around 4...more often she just goes back to sleep when I reswaddle her. I tried to leave her unswaddled for naps today and she's taken one, 35m nap. *sigh*

Swaddling is SUCH an incredibly strong sleep cue for Paige (my LO) that our wind down is completely thrown off. Any body have any ideas as to a new wind down? I have also given her 2 dolls/lovies to hold on to while she's falling asleep. (one for each arm- haha)

I am newly separated so I'm terrified of doing this alone. I already handle any and all NW/EW on my own so to wean the swaddle alone (which has been FABULOUS for Paige) scares me!!

As far as the weaning being too much to do with other stuff going on- I feel that there will ALWAYS be other stuff going on. So, just do it when you're ready and you think your LO is ready.

I don't necessarily think I'm ready but I think Paige will be better off once we're over this hump since she's busting out of the miracle blanket at least twice a night. My issue is- she finds her hands, which I think is fine, but it wakes her up and she can't resettle!!


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Offline Irish0028

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Re: when to unswaddle? 4 mo old
« Reply #10 on: January 22, 2010, 03:13:50 am »
I am going through the same thing- LO is four months and now gets out of the swaddle at least 3-6x a night and wakes all of us up. It takes me a while to re-swaddle and get him back to sleep. It's exhausting and it's a loss of a couple hours of sleep at night. He was sleeping so well too! I have tried to quit cold turkey- no suck luck. He knocks the paci out and immediately bawls. I have tried one arm out- that doesn't work either. I too was considering sewing the arms of the sleep sack. :) Let me know if you figure out something that works and helps to wean slowly- as the one arm out isn't working at all so my LO might need a little more time??~?~!
Mom to two little lads- Braden John (9.22.09) and Liam Jude (8.22.11)

Offline JLSPAS09

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Re: when to unswaddle? 4 mo old
« Reply #11 on: January 22, 2010, 13:09:33 pm »
I tried going cold turkey yesterday for naps only and she missed one nap entirely, and had 2, 35m npas. I made her hold two lovies because she lays on her back and needs something for both arms! HA

For last night, I left one arm out- she didn't wake at all actually until 5:30a- she was completely out of the whole thing and wanted to get up and play. UGH.

I think I'm honestly going to give the sewed sleep sack a shot- that is, if I can find somewhere to sew it soooooooon!!

Irish- what are you using to swaddle your LO currently?


~Jamie~

Offline firsttimemummy

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Re: when to unswaddle? 4 mo old
« Reply #12 on: January 22, 2010, 15:25:25 pm »
I haven't heard of anyone sewing the arms of a grobag!  Suppose it may work but then will you have the problem of when to unsew?!?!  It wont be long until your LOs are able to sleep unswaddled.  At around 4 months I started using PUPD with good effect for DS (he was out of his swaddle by then as he was so strong!) so that could be an option to teach them to sleep.  I do remember just before starting PUPD (and discovering BW) the times when he used to be almost asleep on me and then I would lie him down and he would start "running" with his arms and legs flapping - if I remember correctly doing PUPD seemed to help.

Good luck :)
L x Having a bw break from 1 Feb 2012 - if you want to get in touch please send me a pm.  I may not be here but you are all in my thoughts xxxx (probably be back some time)

still happily married, just not counting!

Offline SThompson

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Re: when to unswaddle? 4 mo old
« Reply #13 on: January 22, 2010, 18:47:05 pm »
Just reading through an inteview with Tracy regarding sleep and her are her comments about breaking the swaddle:

Q:  I’ve seen some questions from parents about swaddling babies beyond the age of 3 months – whether to do it.

T:  And a lot of babies need it, because they haven’t quite found their fingers.  You know, some babies up to 7 or 8 months like to be wrapped.  Even as adults – my husband cannot bear the bedclothes tucked in, and I have to be in a cocoon.  It’s individual.

First of all, if you’ve been swaddling and now want to try stopping, you’ve got to do it gradually, first one arm and then the other.  The process is to go gradually.  Some like to have one arm down by their side and the other up by the face, so they can find their fingers.  But if you find they’re not settling being unswaddled, even if you’ve tried to do it gradually, then swaddle them – and keep trying the gradual approach every now and again. But keep swaddling until they can settle.

Hope this helps!

Offline JLSPAS09

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Re: when to unswaddle? 4 mo old
« Reply #14 on: January 23, 2010, 13:00:17 pm »
SThompson,

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I was feeling as though I was doing my LO a disservice by keepingher swaddled. However, with these past few days of trying to wean, it was by far my worst experience with her yet. I just don't think she's ready! I actually swaddled her last night in her normal miracle blanket and wrapped another light swaddle blanket over her tucked and she slept through the night. Ahh, the night's sleep was BLISSFUL :)

We will try again soon, when she is better coordinated with her arms.

Have a great weekend,

Jamie


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