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Babies: 3 - 6 Months
Sugarnear
member
wwyd-- sleep
Sugarnear
member
1ht, so please excuse my grammar!
DS is 3.5 months old and sleeps, swaddled, in his RnP. He fights the swaddle at first, but sleeps fairly well in it, and hasn't broken free yet. He has rolled twice, but not consistently. We just moved him to his own room last week, but temp and white noise are the same.
I thought we should try to get him unswaddled and sleeping in the crib before I go back to work next week, as I'd rather lose sleep now. But, it's been awful!
He is stiil in the RnP (one thing at a time!), and the last three nights I have left one arm out of the swaddle. He's been getting one 3-5 hour stretch and then is up every 45-90 minutes, and awake for the day at 6:30. He then takes a 3-hour nap-- on me, unswaddled-- from 8-11.
This can't go on! He starts daycare tomorrow for half days just to get used to it, and he obviously won't be able to sleep on the daycare lady. And, I really don't want to go to work like a zombie.
Is it too early?
Should I reswaddle him and leave him in the RnP as long as possible? I'd hat to think these last few nights were a waste.
Keep doing what I'm doing?
Any other suggestions?
Help!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: wwyd-- sleep
We tried to ween LO from the swaddle -- in part, because he broke out every night - and failed miserably at first... up every hour like you said (whether it be no swaddle or one arm out or two arms, yadayada). We bought the woombie, which he could not break out of, but also provided a little more stretch for some arm movement. I don't know if it was a transitionary step or what, but soon after, we tried leaving his arms out and he was perfectly fine. I actually think in that period he just gained better control over his arm movements and therefore was ready. Most recently, once he started rolling to his belly, we switched him to only the sleep sak, and he's been fantastic. Seemed he preferred to be able to sprawn out a bit when sleeping on his belly.
I guess my point is this -in our case, we had to follow his lead. When he was ready, we transitioned him away from the swaddle step by step. At about 3 months though, we did only use the sleep sak for naps. It meant shorter naps, but it helped get him used to being in the crib without a swaddle.
As for the daycare - the first place we sent him to had him sleep in the swing a lot.. wasn't a fan of that, since I've always been adament about him sleeping in a crib, but hey -it got him to nap. Our new daycare, which I LOVE, is having an easier time getting him to nap in the crib.
Thanks! So, I guess that's my question-- how do I know if he is ready? And would it be better to just reswaddle and try again later? We do have bigger swaddles that will allow him to move more. Maybe I'll try that tonight?
Argh. This sucks!
I'm probably not a lot of help since DS hasn't liked the swaddle since about 4 weeks and was sleeping in his crib by 6 weeks but I'd say why stop the swaddle if it works? Will the daycare not let him sleep swaddled (I know some won't, ours does)? DS has been congested for over a week now and sleeping back in the RNP in our room and I'm terrified he won't go back to his crib!
Oh and how do you know he's ready, we just followed his cues...he started breaking the swaddle and I noticed he napped really well with his hands above his head. We also got the sleep sak and he seems to like it ok but he really doesn't use it often, I bought it for daycare since they can't have blankets.
I think you are overstressing about it...if the daycare won't allow swaddling then he'll adapt to sleeping without it, I promise.
when I told my pediatrician that our LO kept breaking out a couple times a night, but would get up every hour when we tried to not swaddle him, her response was priceless: "Twice is way better than every hour". lol I had been SO focused on weening him from the swaddle, but decided at that moment to stop making such a big deal about it. We went back to the full swaddle, and then switched to the woombie maybe a week or two later. He took to that pretty well, and then when it seemed like he was getting ready to start rolling on his belly (actually, he did it once during his nap) we decided to again try not swaddling the arms, since the idea of him rolling completely swaddled scared me. He took to it fine. He was swaddled with his arms out (using the miracle blanket) for a couple weeks, until he started to flip on his belly. Once that happened, the swaddle actually seemed to bug him, so we switched to the sleep sak. happy baby ever since.
I wish I could say we saw some definite signs, but really it was just us trying it every once in a while! The most important thing, in my opinion, is to not worry too much about it; true, you don't want him fully swaddled when he starts to roll over, but chances are when he gets to that point, he'll let you leave his arms out. I do know how you feel though- it was a HUGE anxiety point for me for a while. Now i look back and realize I should have just relaxed.
first of, and please don't take this the wrong way:
I read a lot of anxiety on your reading... I know getting back to work and having LO into DC it's a hard process. been there & failed big time..
so the worst part was that I was so anxious & stressed about it that DD had a week of hell because of me. So my first recommendation would be: chill out.
I do not have any experience in swaddling, DD was never a fan. But she has learned a lot on DC, and she adapted in no time...
so don't try to adapt your schedule to his... he'll adapt, I promise...
make him feel safe..
sorry if I sounded too hard and GL!
Not too harsh-- I'm definitely anxious!
ok, sooo... back to the swaddle and good sleep, and deal with it later? or forge ahead and he'll adapt?
Our son is 4 months old and sleeps much better when swaddled. When he started day care three weeks ago we learned for the first time that they don't swaddle and I panicked. A day or two before he started we tried to go cold turkey and found that he didn't do well without it.
We've now compromised. We still swaddle him fully at night. For naps, he sleeps with a light blanket tucked in at his waist. The day care is okay with this and he seems to nap the same so it has worked well. The blankets are the Aden & Anais muslin blankets so I'm not worried about him being smothered. We've learned that he probably still needs the security of a full swaddle to make it through the night and I'm okay with that. I think by napping without it during the day, he will mature and eventually he won't need the swaddle at night.
Daycare has been really good for his sleeping overall. We find that he is more exhausted and sleeps more fully at night since he is so busy all day. There are lots of new faces to see and things to do.
I wouldn't worry about having everything fixed in time for you returning to work or day care. It's a process and they can't transition all at once. Your child will continue to grow and develop and will sleep better with time.
Why not pick one think to work on? Perhaps just napping in the crib or sleeping in the crib but keeping the swaddle?
Don't stress if you child isn't ready....it will come.
if he's sleeping well I will go back to swaddle, and let your DC know that you're trying to de-swaddle, maybe they can give some ideas and work with him while he's there.
I was afraid to move DD from our room (bassinet) to hers and then to the crib.. and one day, she just wasn't confortable sleeping in the bassinet, so I move it to her room, waiting for making a transition to her crib, like in a week or so.
Turned out, she woke up twice that night, so I took a chance and moved her to her crib that same night.. she slept peacefully in there since then...
I had more trouble in adapting that she's no longer in my room.. I miss her little noises. But she was just beyond ready.
Relax & GL!