I've created a swaddled addict

AKBrideinMD

Any advice from moms of older babies on how to break the swaddle? DD sleeps great swaddled, she will sometimes sleep 10-11 hours without waking, or maybe only waking once or twice to put her paci back in her mouth. But, she's rolled over swaddled a couple times so we're trying to break her of it...she has great head control (her head was to the side), and we use a Halo sleepsack swaddle so she still can move her legs, and she's not able to break out of the swaddle part so all of these things have helped me not to totally freak when she has rolled over. She can only roll back to belly, she can't roll belly to back swaddled or not. But she does.not.sleep. hardly at all when she is not swaddled. I've tried swaddling one arm out, swaddled both arms out, Halo sleep sacks (not the swaddle kinds) and she is up every 5 minutes crying for her paci. I am exhausted from trying to break her of it and normally halfway through the night I cave and swaddle her (and she hasn't rolled over) and she'll fall right asleep. I keep reading that we need to stop swaddling cold turkey once she rolls over once so that's freaking me out, but then I also hear about babies being swaddled til they are 10 months old so I'm sure they're rolling over by then. I bought the baby merlin magic sleepsuit (babymerlin.com) out of sheer desperation last night and that should come in a couple of days, it was rec on the 3-6 month board but a couple of moms, but I doubt it works b/c her hands are still free to knock the paci out of her mouth which is her biggest problem.

Any advice?!

eta: we do use a white noise machine which really helps, we have an angelcare monitor and fan on, the room temp is probably about 72 but probably a bit cooler w/ the fan

camdenfaithful

I have no advice but I'm curious to hear what other have to say.  Lucy will STTN swaddled, but unswaddled it's a total crap shoot.  Fortunately she's not rolling over at all so we don't have that to worry about. 

Have you tried something like a wubanub that is a little heavier and will help keep her paci in place?

AKBrideinMD

camdenfaithful:

I have no advice but I'm curious to hear what other have to say.  Lucy will STTN swaddled, but unswaddled it's a total crap shoot.  Fortunately she's not rolling over at all so we don't have that to worry about. 

Have you tried something like a wubanub that is a little heavier and will help keep her paci in place?

I've thought about it, but was a little uneasy with the sleeping with a semi-stuffed animal toy so close to her mouth/nose...idk...

KathrynMD

Is it bad that I can't really remember? At one point, we transitioned to swaddling DD loosely - so she could fall asleep, but could easily break out of it to move around. Honestly - last year when DD started having bad sleep probs, after a few seriously shittynights, I started swaddling her again - bigger blanket - but she slept great and now we wrap her up almost every night in a blankie - the wonder of the swaddle!!!

daisyterp

I don't remember exactly how we weaned DD off the swaddle, but she was definitely in it until the 5 month mark?  Even though at that point she could pull up if unswaddled.  i actually went out and bought bigger swaddle-sleepers. 

Also FWIW she STTN @ 6 weeks swaddled- 99% of the time. Then when unswaddled around 5.5 months she started waking once a night- just to nurse, so NBD- could also have been related to teething. 

 

SarahKate31

We started trying to wean from the swaddle around 3m. We tried one-arm swaddles for awhile and that was okay. What ended up happening was that right when we were going to go cold turkey on the swaddle, he quit STTN no matter what (swaddle or no). So since he wasn't sleeping either way, we just lost the swaddle altogether. He was over it anyway, and was well into the much-talked-about 4 month wakeful period (early). That lasted about 6 weeks I think...It's all a blur. We had him sleeping in the swing for a month because he wouldn't sleep anywhere else. But I digress.

I say, go cold turkey on swaddling and just push through. I know it sucks. GL!!

AKBrideinMD

Ugh...I know I probably have to go cold turkey, but man! lol. It'd be one  thing if she just woke up more often...but she could/will go on for hours dozing off/losing paci/crying/etc. I might try to put her to sleep swaddled and unswaddle her once she's definitely asleep, I think she'd sleep through that at least...

jcsntms06

SarahKate31:

We started trying to wean from the swaddle around 3m. We tried one-arm swaddles for awhile and that was okay. What ended up happening was that right when we were going to go cold turkey on the swaddle, he quit STTN no matter what (swaddle or no). So since he wasn't sleeping either way, we just lost the swaddle altogether. He was over it anyway, and was well into the much-talked-about 4 month wakeful period (early). That lasted about 6 weeks I think...It's all a blur. We had him sleeping in the swing for a month because he wouldn't sleep anywhere else. But I digress.

I say, go cold turkey on swaddling and just push through. I know it sucks. GL!!

Pretty much what Sarah said. We stopped swaddling DD when she was 6 months old, and OMG I thought for sure the world was going to end, because I wasn't getting enough sleep, but after about a week of not swaddling her, she sleep better, not great, but better. Just wait until you give up the paci, that was the hardest, and best days all wrapped into one. My child would cry when the paci fell out and would never self sooth, without that thing in her mouth. 

ShandaB

We just stopped swaddling last week while I was at home for the holiday.  Anderson loved the swaddle and slept great but he's consistently rolling over so it became a safety issue.  I started with leaving one arm out at naps for 2 days then I moved to both arms out for a day of naps then no swaddle at all for naps and nighttime.  It was really difficult for 2 nights but for the last 2 nights he's been sleeping great. 

You should probably prepare yourself for little to no sleep for a few days while she gets used to sleeping without it.

AKBrideinMD

Well I did one arm out last night and it wasn't horrible. Normally that's just as bad as not swaddling, but it went alright. It took her awhile to fall asleep, I held her (outside) hand for about 20 minutes and she woke up a lot for the first hour. She woke up at 10:15pm, but went back down to sleep on her own, then again at 2am and went back to sleep after I gave her the paci, then woke up a lot from 4-5 when she woke up to eat. Since swaddled she had been sleeping 7:30-6am with maybe one or two brief wake-ups obviously this isn't as good as that, but it's much better than no sleep at all which is what it felt like the night before last.

bridetobe920

DD was swaddled until she was almost 7 months old.    She just really loved it, and slept so much better.   She was started to outgrow her sleepsack/swaddle though, so we knew we needed to break her of it.  We just stopped cold turkey (side note, we also did the same thing with bottles a few months ago when she turned 1).  It was rough for about a week or so, but we have never gone back and she slept fine after that.   Good luck!

JennigoesUSA

If she is able to lift her head then I would not worry too much. If she rolls over and can't breath she WILL lift her head and cry if she can lift it. And that will wake you.

 

As far as breaking her of the swaddling... have you tried loosen the swaddle a little a week at a time? Just wrap it less tight, add a new velcro if needed (they just peel and stick) so you can swaddle looser without it opening all the way.  Until it's so loose that she can't even tell if she is swaddled or not. Just do it slowly