how to stop swaddling?

[masha35]

Hello

My son is 6 month old and love to be swaddled. We tried putting him w/o swaddling or with one hand out and he wakes up every couplel of hours, while when swaddled he sleeps the whole night pretty much.
During the day he used to sleep in his swing and we are just starting to get him to sleep in his crib during the day as well. But the only way he will nap there is swaddled.
He is getting too big for his miracle blanket
Any advice?

[CC's Mum]

Hi Marsha,

It was good to read your post as I too am worried about this.  My DD is 15 weeks old and has pretty much always been swaddled....if we don't she all but knocks herself out with her flailing arms!!!  She doesn't, however, get swaddled for naps.  She nearly always goes through at least 10 hours now, sometimes 11-12, the only time she wakes earlier than that is if she manages to get an arm free.  As you can imagine, I am therefore worried about  putting her to bed unswaddled!!!   

What do other people do???  How long can we realistically swaddle for?  My DH say's how is she going to ask her future husband to swaddle her on her wedding night....that's how long we see it going on for!!!!

Lacy x

[J&Jsmom]

My DS is only 12 weeks and has been half swaddled now for about 3 weeks. I used a miracle blanket but I found he really used to fight it. He did sleep well with it, but it took 10 mins of crying everytime I put him in it.

Then one day it wasn't washed so I just left his arms out. He kept hitting himself in the face and would wake but it wasn't too bad. We probably had a bad few days and then he was fine. Now he sucks his fingers to self soothe and doesn't want a dummy - which I don't think he would have learned if he'd still been swaddled.

So I would say, start by unswaddling one arm, then both after a few days. You may have a rough few nights but they will get used to it.

[vickytxs]

hi, i posted 'can someone help me with my fidgety 6 mo old please!'. and am going thru the same thing.
my son uses the miracle blanket as well he will be 7 months on the 16th. he is very fidgety and would scratch his ears, eyes, everything. he also is now rolling over which is making it difficult to swaddle. i have still been using the miracle blanket, however, the past two nights i have gotten him to go to sleep in only his baby-gro. he does still wake up, he always did even with swaddle, he gets thirsty, etc. i think he is very slowly getting better. he was getting to the point where he did not want to be swaddled, this just recently, whereas before he would go straight down after his bath and swaddle.
at 15 weeks, i would say dont worry and keep swaddling. im only trying to stop now cause he will be 7 mos and is rolling over quite a lot. he might still be swaddled again who knows, but these two nights are a major breakthrough. id say keep on swaddling until they can really roll over and actually roll over in the swaddle like mine did and/or they make it obvious they dont want it anymore. hang in there!!!!

[f1re_cr4cker]

i have a solution!! use the aussie swaddle(look at top threads) its brill an is looser thus helping them wean off it! my lo now is in a grobag with just arms swaddled!

ive also heard that socks on hands helps too!

[CaedensMama]

We had to stop swaddling when Caeden started rolling over while sleeping and since his hands weren't out I was concerned about him suffocating. We ended up jsut going "cold turkey" and struggled for several weeks and are now getting back on track. We use a sleep sack, but that doesn't cover their hands.
I found sometimes 'helping" him go to sleep with my hands holding his helped some to get him to sleep, but mostly for us it was living thru it while he adjusted to it.

I too have heard good things about the aussie swaddle or leaving one hand out - even though it didn't work for us...... he kept getting out anyway.

[Hubbafer]

I HAVE THE SOLUTION!!

We, too, swaddled our 6 month old up until he was 4.5 months of age. We had no choice but do this, or he wouldn't get to sleep, nor settle down in his crib... it was a comfort for him.

You'll need to take one arm out of the swaddle at a time, but in 2-3 week intervals so your baby gets 'used' to having the freedom of one arm out (it will fly around and they wouldn't know how to control it too much.. lol). Once they are used to having one arm out, do the other....and voila!

It only took us less than a month, and it works VERY well! Weaned him out of the swaddle, and he sleeps better now too!!

Hope this helps!

[Mom2katiebug]

So when do they get control of those arms?!?  And can you overswaddle a baby?  My DD is swaddled at night (a good 11 hours), but not for her daytime naps that she takes in her swing.  Bad mommy, I know. :oops:

But, I would have to swaddle her if I put her in her crib (I think) and then her arms would be "bound" for another 5 hours during her daytime naps.  Doesn't that seem like a lot of time?

[CC's Mum]

Eureka.  Caitlin's arm came free last Friday night and hubby didntre-swaddle. She was sucking her thumb so he just left her. The following nught we just swaddled 1 arm (which again came free by midnight!!!!).  We decided to leave her as her thumb sucking seemed to sooth her bach to sleep.  She was very noisy for the first few nights, sucking away but has every night slept from 7.30am-7.30pm.  She now either isnt as noisy or we have "tuned" out to it!!!!!

Thanks for the advice on the board.