Swaddle Monster

[hatshetsut]

We have been trying to ween from the Miracle Blanket this past week. I have gone from having a DD who sleeps through the night 50-75% of the time to 0%. She has been waking every 2 hours and has been really difficult to settle. Does this mean that she isn't ready for weening, or am I expecting her to transition to a new system too quickly? DH and I are tired and irritated, and the fact that I am typing this at 3:48am can attest to that!

What should I do?

[calebs mommy]

What made you decide to wean her from the swaddle?  How are you weaning?  What do you do in the night when she wakes up?  Does reswaddling help her go back to sleep?  Sorry so many questions, I am just trying to be able to answer as best I can. 

[hatshetsut]

She is 5 months and I figured that it was time to stop swaddling her. We are weaning her leaving one arm out and one arm swaddled. When she wakes up we try to resettle her with her paci, pu/pd usually. I try not to feed her unless it is the hungry cry. As for reswaddling - last night she had a DF at 10:30, slept until 1:30 when she woke, woke again at 3:30-4:00 when she was reswaddled. She slept until 6 when she became unswaddled some how. We also start our day at 6, so it was fine. So, in answer to your question, see does sleep better after being fully swaddled. Thanks!

[calebs mommy]

I slowly weaned my son from the swaddle by first leaving his feet undone, then one arm, the other and then we were done.  I started just during naptimes and when he did good with one step during the day, I did it at night and moved to the next step during the day.  Does that make sense?  We stopped swaddling at 4 1/2 months because he was breaking out of the swaddle and waking up to be reswaddled and he was also starting to roll over.  It took a bit for my son to get through the transition, but we just took it slowly and he has done great ever since.  I let him sleep with the blanket ever since we stopped swaddling and he snuggles with it and helps soothe himself with it.  I think just taking it slow and not pushing your little one until she is ready for the next step might help.  Also, just try it during the day until she gets use to it and then try it at night.  I hope that helps.  Let me know how it goes!

[hatshetsut]

Well, we reswaddled last night and she slept all the way through, waking only once because of gas and went right back to sleep. I'm wondering if she just isn't ready to wean from it yet. We have been leaving her feet out, mostly because she is getting too tall for the Miracle Blanket! Maybe she just needs a much slower approach. We'll keep going with the feet and see how things go. Thanks!

holly