So. Frustrated.

charmcity82

Our 4.5 month old is very fidgety in general, but was sleeping well at night in a Swaddle sleep sack. But he's started rolling over back-to-tummy during playtime and tonight I watched him roll almost completely over while swaddled. So we are trying to get him sleeping with his arms out and it's an absolute nightmare. Arms are flailing as soon as we lay him down. If we lay him down groggy he's immediately awake. If I nurse and rock him to sleep he stays asleep for about 2 min and then his hands are batting at his face. Even when I hold him for 15 min so he can fall into deeper sleep it's not working. I tried just one arm out and it's really no better.
We tried the baby Merlin sleep suit and I just saw him roll onto his side in that, so we also cannot use it.
I want to cry. He was sleeping for 4-hr stretches swaddled at night and now it seems like we have many sleepless nights ahead as we have to transition him fairly quickly out of what he used to do. And we only JUST got him to take good (1+ hr) crib naps this past week, but again he's always swaddled.

Have any if you had to quickly phase out swaddling? And if so, how did it go? I'm about to put a pot if coffee on because I just know this will be an all night process.

hmlynch84

I haven't experienced this for myself yet, but I've read that others who have gone through the same thing said that it took a couple days. Hang in there! LO will get used to it soon. Have you tried waiting to see if LO will fall back to sleep after a couple minutes?

VitaLuna

When I first started laying my LO in the crib (asleep), I would very gently hold her arms for a few minutes until she settled, then slowly release. I still put my hand on her back or hip when she starts to stir at night and it calms her right down usually .

ravenclaw1

We tried it a few weeks ago & it was a complete disaster. Tried again 3 nights ago & she STTN & has since. I have no idea why she changed her tune- it came out of nowhere & we did nothing different. I hope you get the same result soon!

Heffafish

We use a swaddle up, so our LO's hand are slightly restricted from hitting herself in the head all the time waking herself up, but there is still enough arm stretch and movement in the hands that it should be safe if they can roll over! Maybe try looking into that, they also do a swaddle up 50/50 so one arm is free and the other isn't to help with the transition! I think they are from 'Love to dream' the brand!

michelle7482

I would try the sleep suit again. She may roll on her side but she's not going to be able to roll over in it. At least for another month or two. I used it on DD 1 until 6.5 months. Long after she was rolling.

DaisyZH

DD loves being swaddled for naps but we are in the same boat as far as rolling over so we have been trying to transition to the regular sleeveless sleep sacks. She has always worn these at night but it can take 2-3 hours of rocking, feeding, putting her down, picking her back up, etc. to get her down for the night. Now at nap time without the swaddle she'll only go down with a paci. I guess I don't really have any advice, just sympathy and commiseration!

PumpkinMommaaa

Im so sorry you're going through this. I havent come to that issue yet but with the sleep regression and her just being a stinker the last few days, I just choose not to sleep. I think it being my choice makes it easier for me to not get frustrated. 

Tonight for example. I got LO down at 7. She used to sleep until 2 but was up at 10. I got her back down at 11:30. She woke up at 1:30 and Ive been up ever since. At 4 am I gave up, figured even if I did get her back down successfully I wouldn't be able to sleep long so I've been up since. 

At least my house is getting cleacn  

Hang in there sunshine! I got an email from pregnant chicken that said it only take three days to break a habit. So try to think about it like that. A few more days, and this too shall pass.

kgravil85

Oh we've gone (go) through this! I'd lay him down when he fell asleep after nursing and I'd have to keep one or both hands on him until he fell deep asleep, sometimes for 20 minutes. I'd use one hand to hold down one or both of his arms and the other to rub and pat him. I also have to use white noise since he is so easily distracted. It'll get better!

database6

Like PPs said, hold down LOs arms until asleep.  I had to hold my LOs legs down, and it probably took about two weeks of doing that until I could just set her in the crib.  Good luck!

MegStark

Like others, we're fans of the sleep sacks. There's also "swaddle" sleep sacks that you can velcro tight but leave the arms out. That seems to calm LO really well.

charmcity82

Hi Ladies - 

Update from today, we tried naps in the Baby Merlin Sleep Suit again.  They were not great (only about 30 min), but we put him down for the night in the suit and thus far he seems to be doing well in it.  So for now we will stick with it to see if he likes it and maybe try transitioning to the sleep sacks with no arms a bit later.  

I think I just need to be more patient, which is easy to say right now and much more challenging to believe in the middle of the night!

ravenclaw1

charmcity82 said:

I think I just need to be more patient, which is easy to say right now and much more challenging to believe in the middle of the night!

Good progress! I think what you're saying here is key. A hat a rotten night last night. H and I were both tired and begging for sleep, but we didn't get frustrated with her. She doesn't know what's going on. I think babies can sense desperation & it makes it worse.