Did switching to arms-out swaddling cause your LO's sleep to regress?

ljhans

My baby is 3 months old. I'm still swaddling with arms in, but think it might be time to do arms out. He's such a good sleeper so far! I'm wondering if anyone started seeing regression in their LO's sleep once you switched to arms out or stopped swaddling altogether. Just want to know what other moms out there have done and how that has gone for you! Thanks!

jasmineluke

I'm curious about this too for my 3 month old. Thinking to start doing naps during day without swaddle to transition her out of it eventually but i notice she sleeps better with a tighter arms in swaddle ... Especially at night !

klpie

My little one has never liked her arms swaddled in. We tried the weekend before Christmas swaddle free, and she continued to sleep on her same schedule- either through the night or up once. So we've graduated from using any swaddle for naps or nighttime.
But- fortunately she's always been an easy sleeper so...
Good luck!

jen83mn

We've always had baby in an arms-out sleep sack because he's hated having his alarms confined since day one. It's actually helped now that he's discovered his hands because he sucks on them to help soothe himself back to sleep

ElleMF728

DS2 has hated the swaddle since about 3 weeks so no help there.  DS1 was swaddled until 3.5 or 4 months and he needed it.  He did have some sleep problems associated with removing the swaddle but was rolling over so it had to be done. It can be hard to transition some babies especially if their startle reflex is a little slow to go away. 

Bellarose212

I'm still swaddling with arms in for naps, but started using the merlin's magic sleep suit for night. He's doing pretty well with the sleep suit, but I've noticed that he wakes up a little more often. He cries because his pacifier fell out around 5am, 6am, and 7am. He goes right back to sleep once the paci is back in. When he was using the swaddle, he was sleeping uninterrupted till 8am. So I do notice a difference. It hasn't been that bad, but it does take me a while to fall back to sleep once I get up.

dmbfan46835

We went from full swaddle to no swaddle cold turkey at about 12 weeks with no issues. Dude loves his hands so I wanted him to be able to self soothe bs k to sleep. He also started rolling to his side about that time too so I wanted him to be able to have access to his hands for that too. He's 17 weeks now and I haven't really seen any sleep regression at all. Hoping we dodged that bullet.

adadrian910

We just did the switch cold turkey three nights ago, no issues at night, sleeps fine. He's 16 weeks tomorrow. Naps, he won't sleep unswaddled yet, not sure why he does it perfectly fine at night but not wanting to sleep out of the swaddle for nap. Anyone else having that issue? For now, I'm letting him nap swaddled and in a sleeper at night.

BrittnieMariee

My LO always hated arms in. So even when he was born we made sure his hands were near his face. By the time he was a month old he started screaming if I tried swaddling him at all. So he's been in a wearable blanket since then. He usually sleeps from 9:30-6:30 or 7. Although we just moved him from his glider to the pack n play and he's been waking every 4 hours. Hopefully he adjusts soon.
Good luck making the transition though! (:

missliz53

We slowly transitioned out of a swaddle and haven't noticed any difference. We did 1 arm for a few weeks, then both arms out for about a month, and now at 4 months, she is completely unswaddled. We put her in fleece pj's at night now where before she was sleeping in a cotton sleeper when she was swaddled. 

akg629

I'm slowly weening off the swaddle. I never swaddled for naps but always at night. I have her sleeping through the night with one arm out and she always seems to wiggle her other arm out anyway. Someone suggested the Merlin Magic Suit (?) special for weening off the swaddle. I haven't tried it yet because I think I can ween her on my own.

nicolelynn915

My lo had some trouble with dropping the swaddle. She loved the swaddle and loves being held and cuddled. Sometimes I think she wakes up during the day and cries just because she wants to be held. But when we dropped the swaddle she Went from waking up once to up 2-3 times. But she was also going through a leap and went from the bassinet to the pack n play. So it could've been combination thing. But after about 5 days she started doing better. Now we're up about once a night so I can't really complain about that.

buckleyk

It did with DS1 and it was ugly! He probably wishes he could still be swaddled! Hahaha! But it was a long couple of weeks until he got used it to and went right back to being an awesome sleeper!

DD 2 is still swaddled at night it's going stay that way for as long as I can get away with it!

buckleyk

And I tried the sleep suit for my first- major fail! He hated it and just laid with his arms out screaming. Luckily Amazon has a great return policy and we go our money back. I know some people swear by it but it didn't work for us. Plus, just like the swaddle, it's another sleep aide you'll have to ween off one day so you're just prolonging the inevitable .

chelseajeanene

Noah never let me fully swaddle him with his arms in. I use the Velcro swaddle sacks now but he's now too tall to even try to have his arms inside it

awells189

We did a week with 1 arm out than both. Took some getting used to for LO but he sleeps better now.

imsoexcited915

We swaddled early on but dropped it because she loves her hands up by her face and ears to sleep. It was not an issue at all and when we transitioned to crib she was perfect from the get go without any type of swaddle. I think having her hands up in that position is her own self soothing method.

cmmiller7

We just transitioned from swaddle to no swaddle at 4 moths and my lo'S hands get so cold at night. Any suggestions?

nanako0

I transitioned LO from a full (sometimes double, depending on cold weather) swaddle to a sleeper & a sleep sack between 10- 11 weeks. We had a few relatively tough nights where she was restless and would startle herself awake probably 4- 5 times. Each time she cried for more than a minute or so, I would pick her up and soothe/ comfort nurse until she relaxed, and just put her back down. It was hard because she's been such a great nighttime sleeper, usually sleeping for 11-12 hours with one 20-30minute nursing session somewhere around 4- 7am, so I worried about messing that up. She's 13 weeks now & is currently back to being a great sleeper. Although we haven't gotten to the dreaded 4 month regression, so I guess we'll see! She's a terrible napper & will only sleep on my chest or her babysitters during the daytime, so I really count on the good night time stretches in her crib to get anything done!

As far as her hands go @cmmiller7 I prefer to use sleepers with the built in "mittens" but will stick socks on her hands if they don't have them. I tuck the elastic under the arm of her sleep sack,so they don't fall off. Sometimes her hands will still get a little cold at night, but when she wakes me up I always check & warm them up before putting her back down. I also keep the room warm enough that they don't get too bad.

Eta: sorry for the novel!!

yellowbean15

We are doing this now (2 nights in) and it's been terrible!! He's been up every 1-2 hours all night long. My mom bought him a zipadee zip transition sleep sack but I'm considering trying tonight without it. Maybe that's part of our problem. I don't know. But if it's this bad with it we might as well just go cold turkey and be done with that kind of sleep aid all together. But I wish you good luck and hope it goes better than it did for us!

Dot30324

If it gets bad try the swaddle up or Merlin suit. Both designed to help with swaddle transition

TabulaRasa25

I don't swaddle for daytime naps, but still do at night. Hoping to make the transition easier for when he's rolling over.