sleep without swaddling

tigerlynx31413 · April 2013

DD is almost 7 weeks old and will not sleep on her back without being swaddled. I know I can continue to swaddle her until she starts to roll, but with the weather getting warmer I don't want to overheat her by swaddling. The only problem is she could be sound asleep on my chest and the second her back hits a solid surface (PNP, crib, bassinet) and her eyes shoot open. Her eyes open when I put her down to swaddle her at night, but then they close once she is swaddled.

I also don't want to swaddle her for naps, but I go back to work tomorrow (my Mom is watching her) and I don't want to make my Mom hold her all day just so she'll nap. Any suggestions?

Also, how young is too young to let her cry it out?

iumegan716 · April 2013

What are you using to swaddle her? If she is just in a onesie and swaddled with a light blanket, she won't overheat. Do you have other reasons for wanting to stop swaddling? I guess I'm confused why you'd want to mess with a good thing!

I've seen CIO recommended at 4 months or older. Our pediatrician said 6 months old.

PipSqueak0313 · April 2013

Have you tried not picking her up when she wakes when you put her down?

Over the weekend, to get ds ready to transition to his crib for daytime naps until I'm comfortable with him in the crib over night, I didn't pick him up when he fussed, I just stood near his crib and patted him/gave him his pacifier/etc until he went back to sleep and repeated until he had slept for a "normal" naptime. In between fussings, I was organizing his clothes and removing the items he's outgrown already and adding the items he's grown into, so I was in the room the whole time the first day.

FWIW, I think 7 weeks is still to young for CIO.

tigerlynx31413 · April 2013

I use either a light blanket or a swaddleme blanket. I mostly don't want to use swaddling for naps. I also don't want to overheat her at night. I usually have her in a sleeper, but I will likely change to a onesie when it is really warm (65+ at night).

Annelea · April 2013

Swaddeling is the only way our little man will sleep at all right now, now that its warmer i put him in a onesie and use a carters swaddeling blanket, they are light weight and he seems fine so far. i did turn the air conditioner on this evening just to make sure he was not too hot. i m just going with what works for now, everything i have worried over he has seemed to grow out it, so i figure he will eventually sleep without being a baby burrito soon too!

juliane2004 · May 2013

Definitely keep swaddling if it's working. We didn't stop till about 5.5-6 months old for our kids (they didn't roll till later than that).

And swaddle for naps AND night. Don't mess up a good thing. If it works to get her to sleep, let her sleep swaddled any time she sleeps.

dande2129 · May 2013

juliane2004:
And swaddle for naps AND night. Don't mess up a good thing. If it works to get her to sleep, let her sleep swaddled any time she sleeps.

This! Also, keep in mind that you are generally supposed to put an extra layer on baby than you would yourself, as they feel the cold more than we do. Your body temp also lowers as you sleep, so if she has just the swaddle blanket around her, she should be okay. If you're really worried, do you have a ceiling fan or a electrical fan? You could always put it away from her, but it keep it in the room on a lower setting.

watermellens · May 2013

Nieko0423:
DD is almost 7 weeks old and will not sleep on her back without being swaddled. I know I can continue to swaddle her until she starts to roll, but with the weather getting warmer I don't want to overheat her by swaddling. The only problem is she could be sound asleep on my chest and the second her back hits a solid surface (PNP, crib, bassinet) and her eyes shoot open. Her eyes open when I put her down to swaddle her at night, but then they close once she is swaddled.
I'd continue to swaddle with a light swaddle (not heavy fleece) and just a onesie underneath. Can you keep windows open or put a fan in the room?

I also don't want to swaddle her for naps, but I go back to work tomorrow (my Mom is watching her) and I don't want to make my Mom hold her all day just so she'll nap. Any suggestions?Why don't you want to swaddle her for naps? If she'll sleep that way, you should.

Also, how young is too young to let her cry it out? 4 months at the earliest when they have the ability to self-soothe.

Mmm79 · May 2013

I agree that 7 weeks is way too early to expect baby to self soothe.

I'd keep swaddling with a light blanket (perhaps the A+A muslin swaddle blankets?) and putting her in a shortsleeved onesie. I can't think she'd overheat in that unless your room was over 75 degrees.

DS was premature, so our worry was keeping him warm enough in the beginning. We'd keep the room at 72 and swaddle in a carters blanket over a footed sleep n play with a hat! And he never overheated. Now we're down to a sleep n play and swaddle, no hat. We now keep the room at around 68 and run a fan at medium speed for white noise and circulation.

Also, if you swaddle for bed, I would keep swaddling for naps. You want the association of sleep to be consistent.

tigerlynx31413 · May 2013

Thanks so much everyone for suggestions. I am a FTM and I worry A LOT! (Not that we all don't do it often) I guess since I start back at work today and have been the one with the patterns for DD, I don't want to leave DH or my Mom with a lot of "lists" on how to care for DD. LOL! I'm going to try swaddling her for naps and see what she does. I normally do it after her morning feeding to get her back to sleep, but I'll try in the afternoons as well.

sleep without swaddling

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