A week of NO swaddling - how it went.

kgail11

I felt the need to give a short rundown of how it went for us, considering I loved all the posts of people who did the same.. I was SO SO worried about deswaddling our DD!!!! So hearing it all went good made me more confident. I hope this post does the same to someone.

SO! Let me start by saying she was a generally crappy sleeper. The longest stretch we EVER got was like 6 hours - once or twice when she was 2 months old. A fluke. Since the beginning of August, she was doing 2-3 hours at a time. And naps were ALWAYS 30 min max. No matter what. (and, it should be noted, every time she woke up at night she had busted out of her tightly wound Miracle Blanket) 

I started last Tues/Wed with just deswaddled naps. They were a success in that they weren't a fail - meaning, she did the normal 30 min per naps. So I thought -I'll take it!   We bit the bullet Thurs night - and same deal - up about 2 or 3 times that night. Not a big deal - seeing as how we were USED to that. I was truly scared she'd be up hourly - so I was pleased.

Then the next few night slowly improved - a 4 hour stretch.. a 4.5 hour stretch..  And here's the kicker: the last two nights?? 8 hours. I .. just... I have no words. I thought she wouldn't do that til she was like.. oooohhh... 9 months old???! She still gets up about 40 min after being put down for the night, for a top-off feeding around 8:30, but I am a-ok with that. I think she likes being unswaddled... she can move around and suck on her hands and stretch out more. **We do use a SUPER cozy velboa soft Halo Sleep Sack. I think it's a GREAT transitional item to use right now.. and we'll keep buying them for as long as we think they lend to her success!!! We also put her in footie long sleeved pajamas.

I feel like I might be jinxing things.. but hopefully not. I hope anyone else debating deswaddling will be brave and bite the bullet like we did and ya just never know!! Our DD shocked the hell out of us, that is FOR SURE!

 

 

ITGurl0626

Yay to good sleep!!!  I know what you mean about jinxing yourself.  I have a good sleeper but I don't like to talk about it too much for fear of jinxing myself.  But I know it's a relief for you.

BabyBurns

Thanks for posting! I am so worried about deswaddling! Abigail sleeps from 8-6 and I just went out and bought her a bigger swaddle, lol. I have no idea when we're going to bite the bullet  

misssurly

Yay for your LO! It's reassuring to read success stories... we aren't there yet but she's one arm out still and sleeping so good I'm scared to try again. She's slept 8:30-6am for the past 2 out of 3 nights so I am hesitant to change anything out.

I know I'll have to try again but whenever I do it's like she can't calm her arms down enough to fall asleep and gets so frustrated. I guess I'll keep one arm out until the arms chill out a bit!

Twirple

I'm glad to hear it went well for you.  I'm definitely scared about deswaddling Chase.  I actually posted a couple of days ago that we were going to bite the bullet and do it since he had learned to roll over, but then we chickened out.  I realized that he can't roll while swaddled and if he does, he has good enough head and neck control to turn his head, so we'll continue to swaddle for a while.

I hope things go as smoothly for us when the time comes.

Scout05

I'm glad LO is sleeping well!

I see posts on here after one or so nights of deswaddling, and mom is (understandably, it sucks to be tired) panicked and wanting to put the swaddle back on. While I get the impulse, I also think everyone has to go into it knowing it's a big adjustment for these little ones. It is going to take more than a couple of nights.  

Everyone has to make the right call for them, and obviously they know their kid best. If they want to re-swaddle, I have no doubt their kid will be just fine. I do not believe they will have to follow them to college and swddle their nineteen year old after a kegger.

But I really do think it's just a matter of time and consistency. It took us a week as well, and we've never looked back. She STTN great (once we get her down, but we had that problem with the swaddle as well.)

virginiagirl11

That's great to hear!!  Funny how that works.  I was convinced that DS relied on the swaddle to STTN but he actually added .5-1.5 hours onto his nightly sleeps after we deswaddled him.  Plus, he seems to sleep more soundly.