To de-swaddle or not to, that is the question

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Currently, DS sleeps in a miracle blanket (and its pink b/c someone lent me theirs, but hey, real boys wear pink ) 

He knows that the swaddle and his pinkie mean sleep and he instantly calms down once he has those.  

DH is pushing for us to end the swaddle soon - plus he's getting more active and I think rolling to the belly could be soon, so part of this is a safety issue.  

Should i start the de-swaddle process now or wait until its totally necessary?  Is there any harm in keeping him swaddled if its working?  

does everyone agree that cold turkey is the way to go?  Should i do naps first, then transition to the night?  

I'm scared to mess with a good thing!!! But I also don't want to send him to college with his pink swaddle... 

Mouseygail

i think you need to go with your gut...DS loved his swaddle..the tighter the better...I swaddled him until somewhere in the 5 month mark he suddenly started fighting it...and then we went cold turkey and he was fine (granted, he was a roller by then, so I just went straight into letting him sleep on his belly and he would tuck his little arms under his tummy (kind of swaddling himself) and go to sleep! 

I think there is no right or wrong method, just go with the flow of how your kid seems to work  

ashonkwiler09

Once Brady was breaking out of every swaddle (including the miracle blanket) we stopped swaddling cold turkey and trasitioned him in to a sleepsack. Although it took a few days for him to adjust, he eventually started flipping over to his tummy and started sleeping a lot beter. Good luck!

OrangeSmoke

Do it!  It was a LOT easier than I thought it would be... even for Alex loved his swaddle.

Dochas

How strong is his startle reflex?  Daniel could not sleep unswaddled.  His arms would fly up and wake him.  We kept him that way until almost 8 months.  He could roll by then but never liked being on his stomach and never moved when he slept.  When we stopped it I did naps first.  One arm, then two and then the same to start nights.  One thing is sure - he's not going to college that way.  Don't worry!  My son was not a great sleeper and there was no way I was messing with it.

laura1

Dochas:

How strong is his startle reflex?  Daniel could not sleep unswaddled.  His arms would fly up and wake him.  

Ditto this for my son.  We tried to get rid of it around 4 months, as he was close to rolling.  But it was a total failure.  After about 3 days of terrible sleep (he would be dozing off, then startle himself awake and cry), I finally reswaddled him at 2am one night, and he went right to sleep, totally relieved to have his swaddle back.   

We finally got rid of it at just over 6 months - but it was not easy.  I tried the one arm out, then 2 arms out, but it didn't work.  We had to get rid of the swaddle because he was busting out all night, almost every hour and waking up.  So we ended up going cold turkey with Ferber.  After 4-5 days he was swaddle free and almost STTN (one wake up a night to eat still).  

So you could give it a try, but don't worry if it doesn't work.   Just wait until he is breaking out of it and then try!  

I totally understand the worry that they will never get out of it - we used to joke about sending DS to college, and him having to ask his college room mate to swaddle him before bed  

CJ71903

We just started putting the Babies in their Halo Sleep Sacks without being swaddled.  The first time that we tried it, they didn't like it at all, but now it doesn't seem to be an issue (knock on wood).  Hopefully you will have an easier time with it than you think!  Good luck!