Has anyone transitioned out of the Merlin sleep suit yet?

natback

We tried to last night and it was the worst night ever. When are they ready??!

Knottie41639340

Probably not during the 4 month sleep regression is my guess. I'm not really sure though. We co-sleep...I've never swaddled of any sort since being on the hospital.

myfingerhurts

We tried one night without the Merlin sleep sack. It was a disaster!!!

I read that they can stay in it until they can roll in the suit. My guy isn't close to that yet, but was hoping to transition him soon.

ElleMF728

I've done it in pieces.  I do the occasional nap without it and sometimes I do bedtime without but will put him in it after his first MOTN feed.  It wasn't too much of an issue but I think he is getting ready to be done with it anyway. My problem is that he is quickly becoming to big for it and I really don't want to size up so we are just getting him used to sleeping without slowly.  

jwebbbber45678

Ugh. I spent forty dollars on the thing and my baby screamed bloody murder until we took him out of it! So we went back to blanket swaddling which we had to stop as well. He is doing well enough in a sleep sack. Maybe try a sleep sack with the arms out? You can wrap the Velcro part around the torso pretty tightly to give a similar effect.

babyp350

Transition out?! I just bought the damn thing yesterday

Bognes

Not yet but it's on the horizon. Baby isn't fully rolling over and Merlin hampers rolling so probably not for another month. She's 4 months now.

Sully3302

@babyp350 hahaha I bought it a week ago and she still isn't using it yet! She also just rolled tummy to back and is very small... So I plan to start soon and use for a little while

Nehouston

I did, but only bc it wasn't working.  I'm not sure if it's because it seems a little too big, but it just never worked like magic for us  I remember seeing a blog about transitioning out of it - I can't find the link but if you google I"m sure you can find it.  I think it said to use a sleep sack as the next step.  

ElleMF728

I think if LO is ready it shouldn't be too much of a transition.  They can't roll into until a bit later.  I switched DS2 out when he started unzipping and we didn't have much of a sleep change.  Maybe it takes him a minute or two longer to fall asleep if he isn't super tired because it was a sleep signal by that point but other than that it has been fine. 

annibanani0929

I'm dreading that day. He started rolling over, so when I put him in his crib without it on, he's all over the place. I plan on using it as long as possible. It definitely worked magic for us. My baby used to wake himself up and his face was covered in scratches. Now, when he sees it, it acts as signal for sleepytime.

laurapaine2003@yahoo.com

I have transitioned out of it only for naps - bedtime we have to use it, it's the only thing that helps her sleep... I'm DREADING having to give it up. Anyone know of anything that is a cross between Merlin suit and a sleep sack lol!!?

Mom2b100915

This suit has worked magic for us! We ordered the 3 to 6 month sleep suit on Amazon right at 3 months, and he slept through the night (6 hours) the 1st night he was in it!
I will be ordering the next size up 6 to 9 months soon! I will keep him in it as long as I can / safe to do so. The only downside for us is that
( I believe) the suit is hindering his ability to roll as my LO is 5 months and is not able to roll at all.
so at this point I have no plans to transition him out of it anytime soon 

Bognes

We did a week ago but I'm thinking about going back to it. She rolls over as to play when she's going to sleep and gets stuck. And her arms and legs are more wild so she pulls her paci out a lot then cries. Very unsure what to do...

lmbrandt

Anyone have a solution for transitioning out of the suit?  Our son is 5 1/2 months and started rolling in the suit last night.  He was up ALL night...we would go in and roll him back onto his back and in about a second he was back on his stomach again.  It was terrible!  Today we have been trying to use just a sleepsack and it has been a nightmare...he will not fall asleep.  He just rolls all around the crib and cries when he's on his stomach.  

We have no idea what to do!

Bognes

We transitioned out but then she would flip on her stomach and cry. So I put a pillow under the crib sheet. It prevents her from rolling. 

ElleMF728

Just my 2 cents.  The rolling and the suit are unrelated and it might be a good thing because you'll only have to deal with it once.  Rolling in the crib frequently causes a few stressful nights whether LO was originally swaddled, sleep sack, suit or just in PJs.  The suit may have put it off a bit but its something a lot of babies go through.  

It starts again when they start crawling (this was us 2 weeks ago), then when they standing, then moving to a big kid bed. All these huge things are so much fun but they can be a pain for sleep

mrsjessicaoliver

The problem with the suit (which didn't work for us) is it prohibits them from being able to reach their hands which Is what they need in order to learn to self soothe. You always hear "put them down drowsy but awake" and I can't stress how important it is. I work for a pediatrician and she gave me healthy sleep habits, happy child and mine is finally sleeping 7 hours!!! We swaddled, sleep suit, moms on call, Ferber.. We have done everything and nothing helped until now. He now sucks on his fingers to soothe himself and falls asleep on his own for naps and night time. And if he wakes at night besides to feed, he is back asleep in 5 minutes. We had him in the suit for
about 2 months and transitioned to a "nest" they created while he was hospitalized and it worked great.. We never looked back. We used to have to lug that damn suit everywhere because he wouldn't sleep without (although it never really helped,4 hours at most) and now I make a nest with a beach towel. 

CSchoFink

My LO has done really well in the sleep suit and we are about to size up! Im definitely not ready to let go of it yet since he's finally sleeping through the night. 

Kelliek327

We transitioned out of it a few weeks ago.  We had 1 night of LO waking more frequently because he was rolling over in his sleep, which he wasn't used to, but by night 2 it wasn't a problem for him anymore and he'd just go right back to sleep if he found himself on his tummy.   I should mention that he is sleep trained though so he already knew how to put himself back to sleep and I think that may have made it a little easier to transition for us.  

callistosmile

We're doing it right now since he's almost able to roll in it. Just another shitty sleep transition to tough out lol. He's napping in my arms right now because he couldn't go back to sleep after his first sleep cycle.  

irenejean

The suit works great for us, and we're at the point of deciding whether to get the next size up or to transition him out of it. Our LO is able to use his hands to self soothe while he's in the suit, but maybe not all babies can do that? While he's in the merlin, he will mess with his pacifier while it's in his mouth, and he will grab his lovey and rub his face with it. He's really great at self soothing while in the suit, so that isn't an issue for us. I'm not quite sure he's outgrown his startle reflex even though he's 6 months now. We don't use the merlin for naps and he seems to startle sometimes. 

I think we're going to try to quit the suit one weekend coming up. We tried a night without it a few weeks ago, and it didn't go well. It might just be one of those things you have to commit to over a few days. We put LO back in the merlin after that one bad night without it.