Unswaddling HELP!

emw8910

I haven't posted on here in a really long time but tonight I'm totally at a loss. My LO is 4 1/2 months old, rolling over and is still swaddled at night. Now that she's rolling consistently I want to unswaddle her but she's not happy about it at all! Her older sister had no problems when we unswaddled so I'm really not sure what to do. I tried cold turkey and now were trying one arm out but she immediately pulls her paci out and starts screaming. Even when I go in and replace it and give her a small 'my blankie' to hold she still pulls it out and screams. Monday night she cried for just over an hour, not straight I went in to calm her down, and I finally swaddled her and she went right to sleep. Any suggestions on how to make this an easier transition?

emw8910

I'm not. I didn't really think about it since I wouldn't use to swaddle part. I'll def invest in it though if it'll help!

CougFan

We couldn't do the Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit because DD is too big.  So we got the Zippity Zip for the transition.
No idea if it is helping because we unswaddled right at 4 months--when sleep often is terrible and she was probably not ready. She was rolling and we had no choice.

Some nights I am up with her every 2 hours (sometimes more). It isn't her fault she can't stay asleep and it is such a short time. Hang in there!!

poppyc8

i found the halo swaddle sleep sack a good transition since it still makes their body feel held in. you can wrap the wings tightly around the body. then we just went cold turkey and used a PJ set with a regular sleep sack over it.  the first night was rough i think he woke up every 2 hours but then the next night he went back to his normal sleep patterns so we stuck with the sleep sack.  

ashleyfrylund

I bought the Merlin's magic sleep suit and when she rolled over in that we started using a Grobag . She was awful with cold turkey too and with sleep sacks but when we started using the magic suit she slept like she was swaddled.

bibby32714

We just started using the magic sleep suit because we were in the same boat. It has been magic for us! We are still working on the getting to sleep (she is a champion fighter) but once out is out for hours!! It has been a great investment for us. We are starting sleep training to help with getting to sleep.

LexpectoPatronum

We use the Halo sleepsack, and although LO is still being swaddled, she is slowly starting to wean herself off of it.  What I did the other night, was I left one arm out, and as I rocked her in my arms to get her a little sleepy, I held her arm down by her side so she wouldnt take out the binky.  Then I laid her down, and she slept like that for a good 3-4 hours! It was a miracle!!

She didn't do it at all last night ... but we'll keep trying She is 5 months old, but doesn't really roll at all, so we aren't too worried.

We've also started not wrapping her up as tightly as before.  She pulls her arms out on her own, but usually sleeps with them out for a while before she really wakes up.

watermellens

OP I could have written your post word for work - the unswaddling, taking out the paci, crying b/c they want it, etc. We went cold turkey unswaddling and it was pretty much a nightmare until we started sleep training and took the paci away. Hang in there!

emw8910

watermellens said:

OP I could have written your post word for work - the unswaddling, taking out the paci, crying b/c they want it, etc. We went cold turkey unswaddling and it was pretty much a nightmare until we started sleep training and took the paci away. Hang in there!

What did you do to take a paci away? She's rolling while swaddled but HATES being unswaddled. We've already sleep trained once because it was taking me literally 3-4 hours to get her to sleep and then she only slept 3 hours total for 4 nights in a row. But the paci always calmed her down, if I could get rid of it though that would be fantastic!

Mireille LeBlanc

We're going through this right now too. My DD is very dependant on her swaddle. We tried cold turkey, one arm out, etc. I have swaddle me and sleep sacs, but it's not enough. It's her arms that need to be contained, so those only work when we swaddle her arms in. I heard good things about the magic sleep suit (merlin suit?), but I'm afraid it would be too warm for this time of year. So I ordered a zipadee-zip suit. I can't wait for it to get here! Hopefully it will help. You may want to check it out as there are some pretty good reviews for it as a transition suit.

watermellens

We literally just stopped giving it to him - it really didn't take that long for him to adjust since he wasn't using it much during awake times. And the day we took it away we started CIO before sleep.

VPGIRL06

we used the magic merlin sleep suit at 3.5 months and she took to it right away.  now that she's almost crawling, we're about to nix that as well. we started last week, but she started teething so I figured it would be kind of cruel to take away her sleep suit when she's in such pain. but, for the record, the couple naps she took with out it she took just fine-she woke up but then went back to sleep.

aeondrift

My daughter was addicted to her swaddle! We got a Zip-a-dee Zip a few weeks ago. The first few nights she woke up once (when she usually sleeps straight through), and after that she was back to sleeping all the way through the night. It worked so well that we ordered two more. They are expensive, but they work for her and give us peace of mind now that she's a pro at rolling over.

kimpat

We are going through this too. DS was sleeping around 8 hours without waking up at night when zipped in his woombie. Then one night last week he started rolling onto his tummy in his crib so no more woombie. We ordered a zip-a-dee zip and had really high hopes but unfortunately it didn't work for us at all. We tried for a few days but he screamed the second he was put down in the crib (just like he does when put down in just a sleeper) because his arms weren't contained enough.we are still trying and hoping his startle reflex stops waking him but he has ended up in our bed every night after hours of trying since this started. Can't wait to get him sleeping happily in his crib again!

LexpectoPatronum

So I'm eating my words now ... LO is rolling around like crazy all of a sudden so now we are in a quitting cold-turkey situation with the swaddle Does anyone know how long these crazy arms can last?! Last 2 nights we've had her in bed with us and we've fallen asleep with me just holding her arms down.  Then when she wakes us with a slap to her face (and mine) with that little hand, I just hold them down again until she sleeps (normally just a couple seconds).  I would really prefer she be in her crib with all of the rolling though ... and I'm not comfortable with CIO at this age yet. Super lame.