XP from 3-6: Unswaddling

TaraandRichforever

I figured Id post here too since you all may have more experience with this.

My DD is 5 months old and I dont want to swaddle her for much longer because Im worried it might not be good for her after a certain point (she isnt really consistenly rolling yet and hasnt been breaking out of it). So at the end of last week I started doing one arm out and she has stopped sleeping through the night. It hasnt gotten any better and Im just wondering when and if it will and how long this process is gonna take. Is she just not ready or do I have to give it a while? Also, is there anything I can do to get her to sleep through the night unswaddled? Not CIO. She goes to sleep fine but then wakes up after a few hours. Anyone with any words of encouragement or advice?

skio

I tried the one arm out thing for two nights and it sucked, so I figured if she's going to have a hard time with that small transition, we might as well cut out the second transition and go both arms out at once. My logic was that one transition would be easier on everyone than two.

I kept swaddling her under her arms because I thought she might like the tightness around her midsection for comfort. I also put a rolled-up receiving blanket on either side of her (armpit-level downward) to keep her from rolling, because she was actively rolling onto her belly at this point. There was one night that she woke up a lot, then she was back to her usual sleeping 10+ hours straight.

When she would fuss, I would go into her room in the dark and quietly shush her with my hand on her chest to soothe her. I would place her arms at her sides if she was flailing. That's usually all it took...but I know others have had harder transitions than mine. If she was having a bad fit and really got crying, either DH or I would rock her with a pacifier until she calmed down, but she didn't need that too often.

Unfortunately, this is one of those things that must be done! Just wait until she's all de-swaddled and sleeping well again, then learns how to roll onto her belly at night and gets stuck. DD has been doing this several times a night for months and it's horrible! She rolls from tummy to back easily all day long, I don't understand why she can't figure out how to do it at night. Sheesh.

Hang in there!

walkercpa

If your LO still seems to like and be comforted by the swaddle, why mess with it? She'll let you know when she's ready to be unswaddled. I swaddled DS for almost 6 months and I transitioned to a Halo Sleep Sack when he was breaking out of the swaddle every night. I was lucky, it was an easy transition...swaddle one night, sleep sack the next, no problems. If it helps, I remember reading a post from a woman who swaddled for almost a year! As long as you're not still doing it when she's in kindergarten lol.

chardonnay24

A started rolling consistently just shy of 4 months and we swaddled until he was close to 7 months. Our pedi said it was fine to swaddle as long as we needed to. The only thing that helped A sleep without a swaddle was allowing him to sleep in his crib on his stomach.