Addicted to the swaddle?

OhSewCrafty

Whenever I hear about weaning a baby from being swaddled, I figured it had to do with the startle reflex and all that. C is still swaddled at almost five months old and though he's totally over the startle reflex, he won't go to sleep without it. We think the swaddle tells him that its time for bed. How the heck do we break him from that?! Any unswaddling success stories?

Chick7806

I swaddle L from the waist down. Maybe try weaning him by freeing up his arms? He will still feel cozy but it will free up his range of motion some!

lulu3061

A wouldn't do the whole swaddling thing but my nephews were big swaddle babys. They just started with one arm out for a while, then two, then just the lower half of the body and then they went to sleep sacks.  It took about a month or so but worked fine.

PS - Holy crap, Charlie's almost 5 months old!??!!!  When did that happen? 

OhSewCrafty

lulu3061:

A wouldn't do the whole swaddling thing but my nephews were big swaddle babys. They just started with one arm out for a while, then two, then just the lower half of the body and then they went to sleep sacks.  It took about a month or so but worked fine.

PS - Holy crap, Charlie's almost 5 months old!??!!!  When did that happen? 

That's a good idea. We've tried just leaving his arms out, but he just lays there staring at us. The minute we swaddle his arms, he's out. Maybe I'll try the one arm thing tomorrow night and see how it goes. 

And I have NO IDEA. Seriously - he'll be 5 months old next Thursday. WTH is that about.

OhSewCrafty

Chick7806:

I swaddle L from the waist down. Maybe try weaning him by freeing up his arms? He will still feel cozy but it will free up his range of motion some!

Oh! I've got a second interview with GCSU on Friday. I reeeeeally love the job they have open. Who knows - we may be Georgia residents yet!

jax63081

Aiden has been swaddle free for 2 months now i think.  He always fought to have his arms out so I started with one arm out and then a week or so later both arms out.  He seemed to do ok with that.  We transitioned to the crib at 7.5 weeks and still did the arms out swaddle.  I don't exactly remember when he slept completely without the swaddle but now i just cover him with a blanket and he has been STTN since he was 10 weeks old.  Sorry if this isn't helpful at all.  Good luck.

BTW, I love the new picture of Charlie.  So cute in the swing.  

OhSewCrafty

jax63081:

Aiden has been swaddle free for 2 months now i think.  He always fought to have his arms out so I started with one arm out and then a week or so later both arms out.  He seemed to do ok with that.  We transitioned to the crib at 7.5 weeks and still did the arms out swaddle.  I don't exactly remember when he slept completely without the swaddle but now i just cover him with a blanket and he has been STTN since he was 10 weeks old.  Sorry if this isn't helpful at all.  Good luck.

BTW, I love the new picture of Charlie.  So cute in the swing.  

I would love to get Charlie out of the swaddle and then into his crib. He was in his crib, but has had a cold for six weeks now (thank you, daycare) and has been sleeping in his rocker seat. I'd love for him to STTN too, but at this point, I'll take his one waking at 3am and not be greedy. Haha

And thank you! There was a park near my MILs house, so we gave it a shot and he loved it! 

jax63081

Awww...poor guy.   Maybe once he feels better he will be more willing to work towards being swaddle free.  Aiden still wakes up once a night as well but i am ok with that.  Good luck and i hope Charlie feels better soon.

timark99

We went from swaddle to sleep sack. I noticed at nap time since he occasionally napped with me in our bed that he would startle and not wake himself up, so we took the swaddle away without any weaning. It sometimes takes him a little longer to fall asleep, but since he is in the sleep sack and it is dark he sleeps a lot longer stretches and this week started going 8-9 hours. BUt hey if he likes it may as well keep with it and let him tell you whenhe is ready to be free. They make those swaddlemes to fit until 22 lbs. I bought 2 and then 2 weeks later stopped swaddling....go figure.

elaforgia

We went cold turkey from the swaddle to the sleepsack.  It wasn't my plan but one night I put her swaddled in the crib while I ran to the bathroom.  I came back and she was on her side, trying to turn over.  So we decided we needed to unswaddle before we tried to move to the crib.  So she sleeps in the RnP in the sleepsack.

Um - except for tonight.  She took forever to get down last night until DH swaddled her at midnight and she finally slept.  And I was too chickensh!t to use the sleepsack tonight.  She's swaddled again.

And 5 months??? Really?! Wow!

babyonthebrain2010

charlie cannot be 5 months old.  just. can. not. be.

 

and yeah, I agree doing it one little step at a time.  we sorta went cold turkey the other night and it didn't go great, but my pedi scared me.. she said I needed to do it now because the longer you wait the harder.  waahhhh!!

janneann1127

G is the same way. He falls asleep practically as we're swaddling him. Let us know how weaning goes!

msualum96

So our problem isn't exactly the swaddle, but LO LOVES to have the blanket by his face, like you said, as a signal that its time to sleep.  He can fall asleep anywhere when he's tired...Boppy (I KNOW), bouncy, carseat in a restaurant...as long as there's a blanket by his face.  We of course swaddle him for sleeping in his crib, but I'm not sure the swaddle is what is really working...Any suggestions about this?

[Deleted User]

I asked the pedi about when to stop swaddling, because I thought it was related to the startle reflex too!  She said stop when they hate it, and don't worry about it. 

I do like the suggestions of stages though.  Great suggestion!

--halo--

We need help un-swaddling Jackson as well.    Our problem is that when he is falling asleep he munches on his hands and 'talks' and keeps himself awake.  The second I swaddle him and he can't get to his hands he's out.  So I don't think doing it in stages will work for us.

lindseybell3

I was just thinking of this! Just thinking I never want to wean T. from the swaddle! What if he never sleeps again? He naps unswaddled and only sleeps in 30 min stretches unless he's in his swing.

slwprincess

with ds, pedi told us not to worry about it, he would let us know when he was done.  the kid was still swaddled at 6 mos!!!  Then one night, he fell asleep in the carseat and I just moved him straight to the crib without swaddling and he did just fine.  After that, I think we just swaddled with his arms out for another few nights and then that was the end of it.  DD is equally as addicted to it so I imagine she will also be swaddled for a very long time.