unswaddling?

Breezy8407

We had our 4 month well checks yesterday. Our NP wants to see us start transitioning to swaddle free sleep as well as doing a Ferber like CIO sleep training. Thinking about starting CIO right now makes me want to faint, so I thought I would start with unswaddling first and tackle CIO when we have mastered the no swaddle.

Both sleep in halo sleep sack swaddles currently and are not rolling over yet, but are getting close. I have heard some people will start with one arm out for a few nights, then both arms out, then no swaddle at all. Any advice/experience? 

I am nervous about having to go in to soothe constantly and waking the other one up if he/she is sleeping okay.

Missa_g

No advice on deswaddling since my boys came home from the NICU hating to be swaddled.

CIO at 4months seems extreme to me, especially when your kids were born at 37w (I know it's full term and awesome for twins, but it's still early).  Also, I feel like sleep is a parenting issue and not a medical concern.  As long as your babies are thriving there is no need to listen to their advice on sleep training if it makes you uncomfortable. 

Ourfamilyof5

With DS, we stopped swaddling him when he started breaking out of it (we used the Miracle Blanket) every night on his own (around 5 months). We knew he could obviously sleep without out since he stayed asleep when he broke out, but he still seemed to need it when settling down to sleep for the night. We did what you already mentioned...started with one arm out for a night or two, then both arms out, then got rid of it all together. It was a surprisingly easy transition! 

We did CIO at 4 months with DS. Now he was a full term (40w1d) singleton so the situation is a bit different, but we felt ready to do it at that time and our pediatrician was totally OK with it and in support of the decision as she did the same with her children. DS did not sleep AT ALL (up every hour) for the first 4 months of his life and all of his needs were met so it was just time for us to do it. It took only 3 nights for us before he was sleeping 8 hour stretches and then they got longer and longer from there. The crying was HARD to listen to and broke my heart (the longest it ever took him was 20 minutes, but it was the longest 20 minutes of my life), but it was obviously worth it in the end. Especially because he's had an easy time going to sleep ever since then. That being said, we were very ready to do it. I agree with the previous poster... if the thought alone bothers you, then you don't have to do it yet! You'd be fine to try it in another month or two when they're older...or heck, you don't have to try it at all. Trust your instinct because you know what's best for your little ones. GL! 

mrsjami

We deswaddled at 6 months, my son just loved it (and still loves to be snuggled in a blanket). We did it over a week, 1 arm at naps then 2  then the whole thing. I think it was harder for us than him:) CIO we waited until 8 months, but I think we could have done it earlier. I think the pacifer was our issue, b/c everytime he lost it he woke up. In any case, tackle 1 thing at a time.

MrsLnt

Whether or not your NP wants your babies out of the swaddle has nothing to do with whether or not they are ready for it, KWIM? We were swaddle-free somewhere around 4.5 months, I think, and mine were born at 37w as well. We HAD to do it for DS, not because he was rolling, but because he was hulking out of the swaddle and it was getting dangerous. We tried one arm out, then arms out, with one pinned down by a receiving blanket behind his back (kind of like the inner part of the miracle blanket) and with the swaddle blanket from the waist down. It was a process and it's not something that you can do until the baby is ready and by, ready, I mean outgrown the moro reflex. 

We didn't do CIO until 8.5 months. We were big on good habits but, I don't think any of us was ready before then. I think 4 months is on the early side, and, in my experience, sleep stuff works on an adjusted age timeline, even for full term babies. Until around 9 months old, their sleep development and "wonder week" type stuff was always about 3 weeks behind.

For a long time we would go in to soothe the fussy one and sometimes it would wake the other, sometimes it wouldn't. We probably should have let them CIO a little before we did (maybe more like 6-7 months) but since they would go down easily and it was night wakings, it didn't seem like as big of a problem until DS became unable to soothe himself at all overnight and all hell was breaking loose. But, I suspect that it wouldn't have made too much of a difference because nobody was ready yet. 

Listen to your mommy instincts. They know more than the books and sometimes, the doctors. 

mars724

I did exactly what u said around 10w. One arm, hen both arms. Now they're still in the swaddle sleep sack, I just don't use the swaddle part. 

Breezy8407

Thank you all for the reassurance. You're right - I need to trust my instincts!

They haven't outgrown their sleep sacks yet, but lengthwise are getting close. Neither have rolled over yet and I was going to wait until they had started really rolling before taking them out. I just ordered sleep sacks without the swaddle for the next phase - when we are ready

Sleep wise, they go down easily at night while swaddled and for the most part stay asleep from 9-5. DS has been waking up around 2 and mostly talking, so we haven't gone in and he will fall back asleep.  Naps have been a challenge. They don't sleep in their cribs swaddled or not.

I think I knew the answer to all this, but have been so overwhelmed lately. Working overtime, nanny starting Monday, H going back to school Monday, and refinancing our house, I think I am losing my reasoning skills

tootlebug

We went through this when my twins were just about four months bc they were rolling. I was very nervous bc they slept great swaddled.
We went full throttle....put them straight into the halo sacks and did some minor CIO. And it worked great. We had a few nights where they wud wake up again but that's it. We also did this for naps. They sleep great now....we can put them down drowsy and they will sleep. They have also found their thumbs. We didn't do full on CIO bc we didn't need to. In the beginning they cried for maybe 1015 minutes. Then they would stop. Sometimes they wud start again then they would stop for good. One of the twins will cry/fuss when she goes down at night for like a half hour. I just usually check on her a couple times and she is okay. It's just what she does esp when she is really tired. It isn't a wailing cry, just a tired, fussy, whiny cry. They are 5 months now and take two or three 1 to 3 hour naps and sleep 10 to 12 hours at night. Good luck, getting over that swaddling is hard but for us it was ultimately better.