Another Swaddling issue and self soothing

[cwolff]

DD is finding her way out of the miracle blanket.  I think it's really time to start trying to wean her.  Here are my questions, and I hope you girls have some suggestions.  First:

She doesn't exactly know how to put herself to sleep yet.  I've been working on putting her in the crib after a certain time period, instead of waiting however long it takes for her eyes to droop.  Consequently, I've listening to the fussing for sometimes close to an hour.  She has only cried out a couple times, and I will go in there and give her the paci back and quickly leave.  Then I wait.  Which sucks, listening to the whining.  Anyhow, last night, she did eventually fall asleep.  But it seems like on the nights that I do have to put her in her crib more awake than usual, she wakes more often, seems more unsettled and sleeps poorly.  Why is this?

Next, she doesn't fight me when I put her in the swaddle, in fact I'm sure it does relax her and is a big part of our sleepy cues.  But she keeps kicking out, and that wakes her.  So does this mean it time to wean her from it?  And should I just go cold turkey? 

I figure if she doesn't self soothe too good now, then I should just do it now so that she learns to self soothe and be without the swaddle at the same time.  Otherwise, I'm afraid that I will have to "retrain" her to soothe herself to sleep if I teach her that now, then get rid of the swaddle later.  Do you think it is too much at one time, or is it better to do this together? 

I've posted other threads on swaddle weaning and for the most part no one has had the same situation as me.  A couple people had weaned off the swaddle, but their babies didn't have paci's and so weren't yanking them out with their free hands like mine is.  And also, a couple of babies were only swaddle from the waist down.  Which to mean is a dream because if they can sleep with their arms out, then you can put them in a sleep sack and they are fine.  It's the arms that are a major problem for me.  I hope there's someone out there with a success story and also, how do you know when they are just not ready and when you should keep sticking it out.  Thanks!!!!!!!

[shem2005]

i don't really have any advice but my daughter is 4 months and we have been struggling with her wrapping for about the last  month. I am pretty sure she loves it but keeps getting out of it. I think this may also be causing her to catnap because she seems to do it more frequently when she has broken out of her wrap.

I have just emailed our local sleep school to ask about the wrapping and maybe if this is an indication that it is time to wean, I will let you know what they say.

We do pat shh on her chest so when she is weaned off her wrap i think this will make our job hard cause her hands will get in the way.

My daughter can self settle but sometimes can not resettle herself which causes us the problem - i am not sure if this is cause she is out of her wrap or she is struggling and then comes out.

[cwolff]

Please do let me know.  I have so many questions, and not enough answers.

[shem2005]

Well my sleep school said just to do it cold turkey! I am so worried about doing it as well. But last night she woke at 4am, just talking and whinging. By 4.30am i had had enough and went and reswaddled her, she went straight to sleep but only for 1/2 hour, then she was whinging on and off until i got her up at 7am. I am so tired.

So I am getting no sleep now cause she keeps getting out of it so I am thinking of just going cold turkey tonight and see how she goes.

The sleep school said it may take 3-4 days but then she should get it.

Here I was thinking that i wasn't doing any accidental parenting so wouldn't have to worry about all of that but now it seems like she is addicted to her swaddle!!!

Maybe just do it cold turkey and persist for a couple of days. I may even leave it to the weekend so that my husband can help, I am so tired at the moment that i don't think i can do it on my own if she decides to play up.

[cwolff]

Ahh, thank you, finally an answer.  Let's do it together!  We are going out of town tomorrow, and coming back Sunday.  I think I am going to start tonight, and just hang in there.  If I'm a mess, I'm making DH do it tomorrow night.  He's the one that has been bugging me to death on the subject.  She's taking crappy naps today anyway, and she's sneezing a lot so I hope she doesn't have a cold.  If she does I may have to put it off.  Argh!  But I will support you, if you will support me!!!

[shem2005]

well we kind of did it last night. But we just armed swaddled her. So i put her in her grobag then someone told me how to just swaddle the arms.

She actually did get out of it but she was no where near as noisy last night as she has been for months now. I think i will try this for about 1-2 weeks and then try her without any swaddle.

I have just put her down for her first nap of the day and she went down fine - now will she stay asleep!!!

How did your DD go overnight?

[cwolff]

Well, she has a cold.  So I didn't want to start doing it yet.  It stinks because DH could have helped.  So, we will wait till she is better.  She is a long baby, so most of the time the first thing she gets out are her legs which is what happened last night.  Honestly I don't know if having her legs out wakes her up, or if her legs get cold and that's what wakes her. 
It's great that it seems like the right time to transition your DD.  You put her in the Grobag then, and swaddled her arms only?  How did you do this?  Were you using the miracle blanket also?

With the miracle blanket, there's too much material it seems to leave her legs out.  It all kind of goes together.  But she is too long for it. :cry: I swear if she wasn't truly outgrowing it I would leave her till she was 18.

Here's something else I've been wondering.  Rachel is very squirmy is the only word I can use.  She struggles and twists, etc. especially when she doesn't want to go to sleep.  But she also does it to settle.  With her swaddled, it's relatively easy to keep control and keep her settled in my arms.  But what to do when there's no swaddle?  I'm afraid it's going to be a wrestling match!