How do you break the swaddle habit?

pearly1

We've gotta do it, but I am scared. When we've tried to put him down without it he just makes crazy snow angels and gets all worked up.

CDMay2006

Why do you have to quit?

pearly1

He needs to be able to self-soothe himself to sleep when he wakes up in the night. Right now he uses a paci, and we have to go and replace it for him when he spits it out since his arms are pinned.

bigislandhi

We broke out of the swaddle habit during the summer heat wave so I might not be much help.  She usually uses her fingers to pacifier herself.  Maybe try introducing a sleep sack and no pacifier for a night.  to get her to sleep, I usually try to hold her arms close to her body til she falls asleep.

MrsAmyB

We didn't swaddle much (Meg hated it), but my, oh my, that picture is SO cute!

MelodyFerg

I agree that photo is ADORABLE.  Will you come to my house, dress-up my baby and take his photo

We only broke the habit because he kept busting out and now that he is flipping himself over to his tummy right away that has stopped the crazy snow angel madness that he did too!  Does J roll over yet?  If he does you could just put him on his tummy (I know they say it is a no-no but if he will do it by himself anyway...) and see if that controls the arms.  Try it at a nap first.

scarletii

Gavin would wake up everytime we put him down to sleep unswaddled.  So, we let HIM decide when he didn't want to be swaddled anymore.  I think around 10 months he decided he didn't need to be swaddled anymore.

Good Luck!

davesgirl34

I could have totally written this post Anne! Every word of it. I am actually trying to get him to nap without a swaddle today. For the past couple of weeks I have been putting him down for naps with only 1 arm swaddled. I also don't really swaddle his legs. I'm basically just experimenting and seeing what works. Hopefully I can get him in the habit of being without a swaddle during naps and then work on nighttime.

zapswife

I read this for ideas. We're contemplating getting rid of it, but with the holidays I just haven't had the energy.

Thanks for the ideas, ladies. 

chibipoe

One limb at a time. We had DD sleep a few nights with one arm out, then a few nights with both arms out, then we left her with her legs swaddled for a while longer. After a few weeks we got rid of it all together. It was actually pretty painless. Good luck!

CDMay2006

Hmm.  I guess letting him find a way to sooth himself is important.  Too bad swaddling can't last forever, eh?

braveangel2

We swaddled a bit too long IMO. She started freaking out over it, but slept great, so it was confusing...but we just did it a bit at a time, and once she could roll over, she made herself happy. That was at about 7.5 months. She was giving us hints at about 6.5 months, but we're kind of slow.

greenmtbride

We are still swaddling too...although for the last 6 weeks he's had one arm out...we might try to go swaddle free after the holidays...but when we tried to go cold turkey he screamed and it wasn't worth it.  We "fuss it out" in this house, but I can't handle any screaming. 

Jas*sGirl

What about a sleep positioner?  We had the one with the little foam arm things and it worked great.  Ads actually loved to sleep on her side so that helped with the arm thing too!  Or maybe even just a few handle towels rolled up and snugged up against him?

keri1013

Oh yes, I remember this well. We tried a few times around 4-5 months and I don't think he was ready. At about 6 months I decided it was time because he was going to be starting day care, and because I wanted him to learn to self-soothe and he was old enough to learn to fall asleep on his own. Plus he kept busting out of any kind of swaddle we put on him, and I didn't want the blanket loose in the crib. I think we did a few days with arms out and then went cold turkey. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and it was at that point that he started sucking his thumb. Good luck!

iHeartHimMore

When she was just shy of 4 months we tried to go cold turkey and failed miserably.  At that time we were still rocking her to sleep all.the.time.  And she would just wake herself up sooner with the flailing about.

When we started Ferber a few weeks ago we decided to try to break all the bad habits at once so she wouldn't have to keep relearning things.  So - no more swaddle, no more paci, no more rocking to sleep.  I'm not really sure why it was different than the first time, but we got lucky because she took to it quickly without putting up much of a fight.  And it's definitely worked - I haven't had to go into her room between about 7 pm and 7 am in almost 2 weeks!  (:::knocking madly on wood:::)

Good luck Anne! 

~Lynchie~

**says in a really tiny voice** 

Holden is still swaddled....  we leave one arm out so he can grab his binky in the middle of the night but really its what works best for us, he sleeps through the night and then some, but if his other arm gets out he is up several times.  He will be swaddled til high school. =/

pearly1

Wow Lynchie!

Whatever works, right? Do you swaddle him for naps too?

Thanks girls, I'm going to try one arm out once we get this new nap schedule down (I think he's cutting out his evening nap. everything is wacko right now.) 

davesgirl34

~Lynchie~:

**says in a really tiny voice** 

Holden is still swaddled....  we leave one arm out so he can grab his binky in the middle of the night but really its what works best for us, he sleeps through the night and then some, but if his other arm gets out he is up several times.  He will be swaddled til high school. =/

You crack me up!!!

~Lynchie~

pearly1:

Wow Lynchie!

Whatever works, right? Do you swaddle him for naps too?

Thanks girls, I'm going to try one arm out once we get this new nap schedule down (I think he's cutting out his evening nap. everything is wacko right now.) 

I dont swaddle him for naps but thats because he naps in the swing still (bad mommy!) If he were napping in his crib I would definitely need to swaddle him..  My baby is a sleep crawler/stander.  No matter how tired he is, if he's not swaddled he will be standing  or crawling the second we lay him down..  but he sleeps 14-15 hrs straight a night so I'm in no rush to break him of the swaddle.

Seattle_JiLLn

14-15 hours????   wow you're living the dream.  I'd duct tape him to the crib if that worked and got that much sleep.  Keep swaddling! 

 

Pearly - I agree - one limb at a time.  Or, try just swaddling more loosely.  We stopped when Ben just started kicking it off.  But we never swaddled his arms in.  So ours was easier to change.  I never felt a need to stop.   But Cooper is double-swaddled and straight-jacketed to sleep at night.  I should probably start trying it for naps too since now he just naps on me.  sigh....