f/u to swaddling issues. and - teething?

SanHawaii08

we decided to try to wean from the swaddle, cold turkey.  it's not going so well.

before, i'd turn on the seahorse, swaddle him, give him a few pats, and walk out of his room and close the door.  he may or may not fuss a little bit, but he'd be asleep in less than 10 minutes.  before he was busting out of the swaddle, he'd sleep for 6-7 hr straight, eat, sleep for a few more hours, eat, then sleep some more before waking for the day.  we even had a few nights 2 weeks ago where he skipped the first feeding.

tonight, he fell asleep relatively easily, but woke up wailing 45 min later.  almost fell back asleep, but then started crying harder than he's ever cried before bed, for the next hour.  nothing would soothe him except picking him up, and even then he would keep crying for a while before calming down.  as soon as I tried to put him back down, he'd start crying hysterically again.  i really don't think i've ever heard him cry like that  

we didn't swaddle him last night either, and he slept restlessly for 1.5 hours, then was up for 2 hours before finally going back to sleep.  but even then he wasn't crying hysterically.

(and jaime, to answer one of your questions - he's managed to roll onto his tummy once while still partially swaddled, but usually, no, he can't roll, and doesn't cry when swaddled)

so...i'm starting to second-guess our decision to wean from the swaddle.  why not keep swaddling for a while longer? but if it's going to be this hard to wean later, maybe we should just bite the bullet and get it over with...

also, so many ppl say their LO's love sleeping on their tummies and started doing so as soon as they could roll over.  but he obviously doesn't like it.  i don't know if he'll learn to like it?  or maybe he's just not a tummy sleeper, and we shouldn't force him to sleep that way (when he rolls over right now, we've started leaving him that way and trying to soothe him back to sleep without rolling him back to his back) 

also, how do i know if he's teething?  he's been fussy and clingy the last week, which is very atypical for him.  but no copious amounts of drool (no more than usual, anyhow, and not even that much today), and while he puts everything in his mouth to gnaw on, and even tries to gnaw on any part of my body his face comes in contact with (my shoulder, my chin, ...), it doesn't seem to be a desperate kind of gnawing.  we tried giving him a cold washcloth, he didn't seem to care for it much.  i don't see or feel anything when i look at his gums.  

if he is in pain and teething, trying to wean from the swaddle now seems like an even worse idea.  and, on top of that, we're traveling this weekend, so i worry that everything's going to get all messed up then anyway.  

ugh.  i don't know what to do  

SanHawaii08

sheez, sorry, didn't realize i just wrote a book!

mrspresley

they can be teething for a long time w/o any signs of the tooth poking through the gums... i think Miss A started teething around 4 months (excessive drool, gnawing on things) but didn't get a tooth until 10 months.

my 2 cents...if he can't roll onto his tummy then just keep swaddling him. there is no magic age where you wean them from it.....the only time you have to is when they can roll onto their bellies b/c then it becomes a risk.  i've read/seen several moms who swaddle their babies until they are much older.  and, FWIW, Miss A used to hate tummy time but once she learned how to get there on her own it was like a night and day difference and she loved sleeping on her tummy so don't count E out just yet!   once they figure it out they like to roll over onto their bellies and then tuck their legs in under them and stick their butt high up into the air - it's super cute!

redshoegirl

Both my guys do love sleeping on their tummies. HOWEVER that didn't start as soon as they could roll over - I think it was a couple of months after, actually? So rolling over doesn't automatically = tummy sleeper ASAP, if that makes you feel a bit better.

If you think he still needs to be swaddled, I don't see anything wrong with doing it for a while longer. We finally went unswaddled at 7 months, I think, and I believe Lori kept Libby swaddled for even longer (I could be wrong).

We decided to wait longer because when we tried going without, we had pretty much the EXACT same experience you're having - so I took it as a sign that although the boys could bust out of their swaddles, they simply weren't ready to actually go without them, which was when I started looking for alternate ways of swaddling.

I know I linked to it before, but I really do think that the Woombie might be beneficial to you guys - it will get him used to a little more movement while still keeping him contained, and is a good way to ease into slowly unswaddling. It can take babies a few nights to get used to though, so there may be some fussing while he becomes accustomed to being able to move his arms from his side to his chest and back.

P.S. It was much easier when we tried again 2 months later, although we still couldn't go cold turkey and instead did the one-arm--then-two-arms-out-for-a-week thing. So I do think it was a case of Will and Dash just not being ready to be unswaddled yet, and I suspect that may be your issue as well - which is fine, because as Jaime said, there's no magic time and a date that might work for one baby won't for another.

eacerna

oh no. sorry to hear the weaning from swaddling is not going well. perhaps, E is not ready yet? for us, we did not stop cold turkey for fear of what you are going through. for us, it worked that we slowly transitioned her into a sleep slack, with arms zipped inside). that way, our E still feels like she is still enclosed but not restricted. we started doing that for naps and then at night. now, about 2 weeks into it, we still zip her arms inside the sleep sack when we put her down. her arms finds its way out of the sleeve holes but she sleeps fine (on her tummy).

mrspresley:

my 2 cents...if he can't roll onto his tummy then just keep swaddling him. there is no magic age where you wean them from it.....the only time you have to is when they can roll onto their bellies b/c then it becomes a risk.  i've read/seen several moms who swaddle their babies until they are much older.  and, FWIW, Miss A used to hate tummy time but once she learned how to get there on her own it was like a night and day difference and she loved sleeping on her tummy

This is the main reason why we transitioned her into a sleep slack. She rolls over on her tummy while swaddled and i was worried that she won't be able to breath and we won't be able to hear her especially in the middle of the night. she also started out fussing when she first started rolling over to her tummy but we once we give her paci and she gets situated comfortably, she sleeps fine.

at E's daycare, they still swaddle the babies for naps. although we do not swaddle E at home anymore, we just let the DCP do their thing at day care. it looked kinda odd seeing big babies (who are almost a year old) still swaddled while napping though.  

 

vanilla15

mrspresley:

and, FWIW, Miss A used to hate tummy time but once she learned how to get there on her own it was like a night and day difference and she loved sleeping on her tummy so don't count E out just yet!   once they figure it out they like to roll over onto their bellies and then tuck their legs in under them and stick their butt high up into the air - it's super cute!

same thing with our Miss A.  It takes all I have not to squeeze that butt when she sticks it up in the air!  It is a super cute sleep position!

SanHawaii08

thanks ladies.  Lisa - I feel much, much encouraged to hear that you went through the same thing with your boys, that they weren't immediately comfortable sleeping on their tummies (but like it now), and that unswaddling was easier later on!  That gives me a lot of hope

We went back to swaddling last night - we needed to reswaddle at 10:40 and 1:40, he woke up to eat at 3:25, then slept until morning.  So.much.better.  and no hysterical wailing, yay! 

We ordered a woombie yesterday - can't wait to try it tonight and see how it goes.

thank you!!

SanHawaii08

ack.  problem.  E can't roll over while double swaddled, but he can break out of the double swaddle.  E can't break out of the woombie, but he can roll over while in the woombie...

he has enough movement in his arms that he can lift his upper body, turn his head, etc.  he actually seems to be sleeping on his tummy more comfortably than without it, maybe b/c his arms are held tightly against his body? 

...should i be worried?  i'm afraid to go to sleep now   the woombie site says to use it for back sleeping only, of course.

redshoegirl

SanHawaii08:

ack.  problem.  E can't roll over while double swaddled, but he can break out of the double swaddle.  E can't break out of the woombie, but he can roll over while in the woombie...

he has enough movement in his arms that he can lift his upper body, turn his head, etc.  he actually seems to be sleeping on his tummy more comfortably than without it, maybe b/c his arms are held tightly against his body? 

How's his head control? Once my guys could do that, I stopped stressing so much about them sleeping on their backs. I know that's what they SHOULD be doing, but once they have a preference they just flipped right back over anyway, and because they had excellent head control I finally just gave up and let them do it. They each had at least 1 arm free by that point though...did you get the convertible woombie or the regular? I'm wondering if having one arm out of the convertible would work with E?

SanHawaii08

redshoegirl:

SanHawaii08:

ack.  problem.  E can't roll over while double swaddled, but he can break out of the double swaddle.  E can't break out of the woombie, but he can roll over while in the woombie...

he has enough movement in his arms that he can lift his upper body, turn his head, etc.  he actually seems to be sleeping on his tummy more comfortably than without it, maybe b/c his arms are held tightly against his body? 

How's his head control? Once my guys could do that, I stopped stressing so much about them sleeping on their backs. I know that's what they SHOULD be doing, but once they have a preference they just flipped right back over anyway, and because they had excellent head control I finally just gave up and let them do it. They each had at least 1 arm free by that point though...did you get the convertible woombie or the regular? I'm wondering if having one arm out of the convertible would work with E?

amazon doesn't have the convertible, so i just got the regular one (otherwise, i would have had to <gasp> go to a store!).  

his head control is great.  i actually tries loosening the woombie (unzipped it a little), and he complained.  I took his arms out, more complaining.  flipped him onto his back with his arms still out, still complained.  ...so i zipped him back in, he immediately flopped back onto his tummy, and went back to sleep.  so, i decided not to worry about it, b/c i could see him moving his head a ton, rubbing his face back and forth - he seems to like to sleep partially face-planted

...he slept until 3:50am!  he still eats once a night, so that was expected - though that's even a little later than he normally wakes to eat.  and, he's only ever slept more than 6-7 hours in a row other time, and last night was just over 10 hours  

i'm feeling very hopeful about tonight   thank you!!

redshoegirl

SanHawaii08:

amazon doesn't have the convertible, so i just got the regular one (otherwise, i would have had to <gasp> go to a store!).  

his head control is great.  i actually tries loosening the woombie (unzipped it a little), and he complained.  I took his arms out, more complaining.  flipped him onto his back with his arms still out, still complained.  ...so i zipped him back in, he immediately flopped back onto his tummy, and went back to sleep.  so, i decided not to worry about it, b/c i could see him moving his head a ton, rubbing his face back and forth - he seems to like to sleep partially face-planted

...he slept until 3:50am!  he still eats once a night, so that was expected - though that's even a little later than he normally wakes to eat.  and, he's only ever slept more than 6-7 hours in a row other time, and last night was just over 10 hours  

i'm feeling very hopeful about tonight   thank you!!

to the good sleep! Getting more rest makes you feel like a whole new person, doesn't it?

About the face planting thing - from about 8 months, Will has slept on his face like 90% of the time. When he sleeps on his stomach, he tends to smush his face directly down into the mattress, like so:

 

The first time I saw it I nearly had a heart attack because of the "OMGWTFBBQ SIDS SUFFOCATION AAAAAAAAHHHH!" voice in my head, but he was totally fine and that's his preferred way of sleeping. *shrug*