Babies: 3 - 6 Months
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When did you get rid of the swaddle?
DS is 12 weeks old and he wiggles so much at night, but in the morning it seems like he can't wait to get out of the swaddle. Also, he doesn't really fit in the swaddleme that I have for him anymore. Is it time to try to put him down without the swaddle?
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Re: When did you get rid of the swaddle?
DD will be four months on friday and I cannot find a swaddle sleep sack to fit her anywhere! We tried one night just using a blanket to swaddle her but were up three times and then I tried the swaddleme brand and she breaks out of those. So we will be swaddling her until she can roll over while swaddled.
while doing some searching I found a swaddle strap and it looks awesome!!! We are ordering one tonight. It is just a strap that keeps their arms down nicely and has little pillows for their arms on the inside. To me it looks a lot more comfortable that the swaddlers at this age.
We got rid of the swaddle at about 3 months, once DD started rolling from front to back, and it seemed that she'd soon be rolling the other way as well.
We did one arm out at a time until she was swaddle-less! She didn't have any problem with it, so I figured she was ready. You can always try one arm out for a night or two and see how it goes. If it doesn't work, you can wait until LO seems more ready.
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^^for the people who say their babies are outgrowing the swaddle, have you tried the Halo sacks? They go up to pretty large sizes.
In terms of unswaddling, watch/listen for cues from your baby. How does your LO sleep during the day for naps, swaddled or already unswaddled? Is LO still punching themself in the face, or startling themselves awake a lot during the naps? Does LO fight to get into the swaddle and is super anxious to get out of it in the morning? Are they breaking out of it often? Those are all things you should consider before unswaddling.
For me, right around 3 months we started the process of unswaddling. DS was taking naps without the swaddle and didn't seem to have a problem with scratching/startling himself, and he was starting to fight the swaddle. He looked like such a sad/mad worm kicking and inching around his crib at night! It took us a full two weeks before DS was in a sleep sack. For the first few days I unswaddled his left arm, then slowly loosened the right arm, then both free but still with the wrap part around his torso for the snug feeling, then completely unswaddled but still in the swaddle blanket. After a few more days, I then put him into the sleepsack.
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If the swaddle strap doesn't work, search on YouTube for Escape Proof Swaddle. It uses two normal size receiving blankets and works like a charm for when they are too big for the regular swaddle blankets.
We use the Halo sacks now that we are out of the swaddle (went cold turkey at 5 months), but the only Halo ones I've seen with the swaddle (not just the sack) are newborn sized and LO grew out of that quick. Have you seen Halo swaddles in larger sizes? For the record, the miracle blanket worked very well for us after the Halo swaddle was too little.
3 months and still using the swaddle here. she wiggles a lot and sometimes gets an arm out, but she can't sleep as well unswaddled yet - her arms flail too much. I've tried putting her down unswaddled and usually within a couple of hours, she wakes up and when I swaddle her at that point, she passes right out for the rest of the night.
ETA: We use the Halo sleepsacks with swaddle. She outgrew the NB size, but I found Smalls online and bought those. I love them.
LCT - 5.15.14 ~ 9lbs, 22.5 inches
They do make a size Small in the Halo swaddles. That's what we use, but I had to buy them online (Amazon), I've never seen them in the store
LCT - 5.15.14 ~ 9lbs, 22.5 inches
Yes, they make Halo swaddles bigger. Just go online. We are still using one and DD is almost 4 months old. When she wakes in the middle of the night she usually has her arms up and ready to break free. In the morning she can't wait to get out, but I am waiting a bit longer to stop swaddling.
The swaddle strap is great, and the couple who invented live up the street from me! DH never could get the swaddle blankets/halo swaddle tight enough and this strap is a no brainer, great for our nanny/babysitters too who aren't great at swaddling.
We are transitioning out of swaddling so we have it tight around their bellies and loose enough that they can take their arms out during the night.
I found my Halo swaddle in size small at BRU. (I had to dig but they were there). DS still needs to be swaddled and doesn't seem to want to escape anytime soon so I'm going to keep it up for as long as possible.
The Halo swaddles go up to 18lbs for the small size, you can get a variety of colors/types on amazon for about $20-25. Unfortunately after that, it's only a sleepsack and no swaddle options, so hopefully the kiddos will be out if it before then :-P Whew, I guess I got my poopster out of it just in time!
I had a swaddleme before the Halo, and I found the Halo to be a much better design than the swaddleme. The thing that irritated me the most about the swaddleme was that even though THEORETICALLY you could change the diaper without undoing the swaddle, it wasn't really feasible and incredibly messy. Everything bunched up so much that you would have to redo the swaddle, and many times that was the part that would wake my LO up completely. During the middle of the night, I only wanted to do a quick change/feed whenever he woke up, but having to redo the swaddle would get him worked up again (and then I would have a harder time putting him to sleep).
The design on the Halo is much much better: there is a zipper that zips UP from the feet to the neck, so you can actually change the diaper without having to undo/redo the arms-swaddle. Not having to undo/redo the swaddle = quicker changing = not as much of a disruption of the baby = baby isn't crying and goes back to sleep easier. After I used the Halo, I WISHED I had used it earlier instead of the Swaddleme, would've made nighttimes easier!
I have the same grip.... I do like the tabs/ less fabric on the swaddle me, though. LO doesn't get as hot.
I have the same grip.... I do like the tabs/ less fabric on the swaddle me, though. LO doesn't get as hot.