transition from swaddle to no swaddle

babyonthebrain2010

for those of you who swaddled LO for night time in the begining.. do you still swaddle? if so when do you plan to stop?  if not, when did you stop?  will/did you just cut it off cold turkey, or slowly loosen the swaddle each night?

also, do/did you use normal swaddle blankets, receiving blankets, or a specialty type blanket?

Ltlsktl30

I used to swaddle N in a receiving blanket for the first few weeks.  We transitioned to a swaddleme blanket or a sleep sack.  But for the past week she's not been sleeping well being swaddled as she's struggling to get out and it wakes her up.

I just stopped and made sure she had warm jammies on and she's been fine. Thank goodness!

Paul&Mel

We still swaddle and LO will be 7 weeks old on Thursday. We have never swaddled his arms though, he gets really angry if we do. We'll stop if he starts getting angry when we do it, but for now it seems to really calm him at night. We use Aden and Anais swaddle blankets. They are so much bigger than regular receiving blankets.

LovesMM

Paige HAS to be swaddled to sleep. We've had to even start swaddling for her naps because they were nonresistant. I will swaddle her til she goes to college. 

pretiprinces17

We swaddle with the Swaddle Designs blankets from Nordstrom. They're really soft and big. LO gets angry and fights it at first but I know he can't stay asleep if he is unswaddled. We've done it since he was born and he's always fought it but it really does help him sleep better. I have started leaving his legs free (rather than pulling the bottom part of the triangle up to his shoulder) and that seems to help a bit. I'll probably keep doing it for a couple more months, until I know he can sleep on his back without startling himself awake. As far as transitioning out of the swaddle, I've heard it's good to start by leaving one arm free for a while, then both arms, then no swaddle at all. 

slwprincess

We still swaddle.  I will continue for as long as it works!  DS was swaddled for almost 6 mos with pedi's blessing.  We did start unswaddling one arm when he started rolling and eventually moved to both arms unswaddled.  We use swaddle me's and halo sleep sack n swaddle. 

LaLaaaa

I still swaddle with a SwaddleMe but Genna doesn't like having her legs bound so I only do her arms.  I guess I'll keep doing it until she won't let me anymore.  I like it because she doesn't usually wake herself up when she startles. 

babyonthebrain2010

LovesMM:

Paige HAS to be swaddled to sleep. We've had to even start swaddling for her naps because they were nonresistant. I will swaddle her til she goes to college. 

hahaha.  you can invite teenager sized swaddle blankets!  I'm sure there's $$$ in that. 

I should answer my own question, I guess.  I'm still swaddling.. I have used the halo sleepsack swaddle that the hospital gave me every single night since we came home until last night when he puked on it before I even got him in the crib.. I improvised with a receiving blanket and an aden and anais swaddle blanket and did the "escape proof swaddle" and it seemed to work just as well.  part of me wants to try putting him down for bed w/o a swaddle and see what happens but part of me is afraid he won't sleep well.  and I'm going back and forth whether I should spend the money on another sleepsack swaddle or just use the regular blankets, since I'm not sure how much longer to do it.  I figured I'd bring it up to my pediatrician but I doubt she'll have  much insight, she'll probably just say do what works.

--halo--

We had Jackson swaddled almost nonstop for the first week or so.  Then we kind of stopped cold turkey and he loved being free during the day, but it was a nightmare to put him down to sleep at night because he would flail his arms and wake himself up all the time.  So we started back up around week 5 and it helped, but then he was strong enough to break out of a receiving blanket. 

That's when I saw the escape proof swaddle and he's been sleeping 7+ hour stretches every night since.  It's freaking amazing.  

We only swaddle at night, and I use 2 receiving blankets for the escape proof swaddle.  I'm not sure when we'll stop... One night he slept 10 hours.  o.o

 

JulietL129

We stopped swaddling at about 6 weeks. He started trying to stretch and when he couldn't he would get mad and wake up. Since we have stopped he'll stretch his arms in his sleep but he stays sleeping. Now he sleeps in a sleep gown or sleep sack.

woollypetals

We swaddled in a receiving blanket till around 5 weeks when he started stretching his legs straight more often and that would break his swaddle.I then switched to the Aden and Anais blankets and they worked great till this week.

He was starting to be able to break his arms out. But if I don't swaddle him he still wakes himself up by flailing his arms when he startles so I tried this wrap that I got second hand from someone. It's kind of like the swaddle me. He slept and hour longer than he ever has at night and took a 3 hour nap today. I still swaddled him for naps or they would last 30 minutes.  I think the fact that it is more of a pocket and jersey so it stretches when he moves. He moves a ton when he naps and his arms where securely tucked by his sides.

I read in "the happiest baby on the block"  that the startling will start to go away between 3 and 4 months so once that happens will will transition to the sleep sack and then just pjs when it gets warm enough.

 

timark99

We have been using the escape proof swaddle and in the next few weeks try to transition to no swaddling. we swaddled the first week he was home then stopped and then started again when dS was about 4 weeks old because we couldn't get him to sleep for more than an hour at night, but he would take decent naps during the day without needing to be swaddled. We are hoping we can transition him from being straight jacketed otherwise he will likely need to be swaddled until he is in kindergarten.

kchesko@hotmail.com

LOL! I 100% agree with you. I am worried about when we no longer swaddle her. i am afraid she will never sleep. crossing my fingers

shaw

I have used the swaddle me blankets at night.  LO hates being swaddled, however, when I have tried to leave his arms out...he wakes himself up.  As soon as his startle reflex is under control I will transition to a sleep sack.  My Mom has spent the night over here and has taken the night shift with LO.  She puts him in the swaddle but doesn't really wrap it up.  He has slept well for her!?!?!  I don't use anything during nap time, but those can range from 30 minutes to 3 hours!?

kchesko@hotmail.com

LOL! I 100% agree with you. I am worried about when we no longer swaddle her. i am afraid she will never sleep. crossing my fingers

Tamzin418

LovesMM:

Paige HAS to be swaddled to sleep. We've had to even start swaddling for her naps because they were nonresistant. I will swaddle her til she goes to college. 

 

This!  We used to leave Veronica unswaddled (teachers, is that a word?) for naps but Monday she hardly slept during the day and had a total crying meltdown Monday evening. Poor little thing just about lost her voice. Yesterday we swaddled her for naps and we all had a good night. I'll keep swaddling her until she stops waking herself up when she's asleep or learns to fall back to sleep on her own.