Unswaddling

momma2char · January 2016

My baby girl just started rolling back to tummy at 14 weeks. We started at 13 weeks with the one arm out and that was going terrible as she still has her startle reflex (I heard this can go away between 3-5 months). She sleeps so well swaddled but I can't have her sleep like that now since she's rolling! The first night unswaddled went terrible- she was up every hour. Last night she was up every 2 hours so I can see it might be getting easier.. She used to sleep a 6 hour stretch followed by a couple of 2-3 hour stretches. Has anyone had to unswaddle cold turkey because their baby is all of the sudden rolling from back to tummy?! How long did it take baby to adjust to the drastic change? I understand her startle reflex will eventually go away, swaddled or not, but will she just learn how to sleep through her reflex?

* I've heard about the zipadee zip and merlins Magic sleep suit but don't have the funds to go buy them..

bbanv · January 2016

Nothing to contribute, just following because we are in the same boat!

AiramJ · January 2016

Have you had a look at the Love to Swaddle Up? They are not too expensive. I got it for my son a week or so ago. Since then he sleeps through the night! He used to fling his arms around like crazy.

momma2char · January 2016

The love to swaddle up would have been a great idea a couple of weeks ago when she wasn't rolling so I could have transitioned her a bit more smoothly.. Whenever I have my next LO I would definitely get this! It looks like it would still be restricting a bit right now though if she rolled from back to tummy overnight though unfortunately, and I'm in Canada so the only price I can find on one is $42.99+shipping and if I'm only using it for a month, I'm not sure it would be worth it at this point

I'm hoping it only takes a week or two, and not until her startle reflex to disappear before she's sleeping well again. We've been using a sleep sack but she's going crazy with all of the free space overnight for her to move!

MamaBear345 · January 2016

My DD sleeps awesome at night while swaddled and tbh I'm probably gonna keep swaddling her until she's crawling, or whenever she doesn't like it anymore. Lol

momma2char · January 2016

Yeah Lol I've given up unswaddling. It's probably not great what I'm doing but she's swaddled in between two receiving blankets which are rolled up under the crib sheet to try and prevent her from rolling :P her startle reflex is way too strong and she barely sleeping unswaddled which isn't good for her

have you guys seen or heard about the woombie plus swaddle + positioner? It looks like it keeps baby on their back while swaddled.. She uses a woombie right now so I'm thinking of trying that

crbpjb · January 2016

We stopped swaddling cold turkey with no big issues. Did it around 8 or 9 weeks I think.

momma2char · January 2016

Lucky you! Lol. I will try again next week

Mandy6585 · January 2016

We stopped cold turkey at around ten weeks due to rolling over and it took a couple of tough nights but got better after that.

pearlyshellz1234 · January 2016

I stopped at like 4 weeks. It was just too hot for him. He sleeps better that way.

MCraig1484 · January 2016

We've been transitioning for a week and it's been rough. We're doing it because he hates to be swaddled, not because he's rolling yet. I think the transition will be easier for you since your LO is rolling as they will eventually choose to sleep on their stomach, which will contain their limbs, put pressure on their bellies and should eventually result in longer sleep stretches. That's at least what the sleep expert said at the class I went to last week.

momma2char · January 2016

Thanks ladies this gives me some hope! Even if it's only a week of rough nights- that's what coffee and Netflix are for I suppose

I noticed her 2nd night was a bit better than her first.. I hope I didn't mess things up by swaddling her again. I have an appointment with our Dr tomorrow morning to see what she thinks too but I do think it's best and safest to have her unswaddled. Id much rather have a week of crappy nights than to have my girl roll over while swaddled and not able to get out

I'm sure my Dr won't want her to be swaddled anymore though if she's rolling, so I'll probably be back to square 1 tomorrow night!

mdandrea1436 · January 2016

I don't know if this helps but my son LOVES to be swaddled (tight like a burrito in a Halo swaddle) but my husband found him on his belly while swaddled the other day and I don't like that at all. So we tried a sleep sack and him on his back and he screamed for hours so that didn't work. Last night we tried the sack and him on his belly (which doesn't particularly make me feel safe either but to me it's a little safer than swaddled and able to roll). He slept the same as he normally does, no better. But he slept and we heard him sucking on his fingers so we are hoping eventually he will learn to self-soothe better by lying that way and him being able to get at his fingers now. Good luck!

momma2char · January 2016

I've been trying to try her on her belly but she HATES tummy time so I think she freaks out when I put her down on her belly in the crib! How do you put your LO down on his belly?! I really do want to give it a try because the doc gave us the Ok to have her sleep on her belly since she has the head strength now!

mdandrea1436 · January 2016

I put him in the sack this and just put him down and make sure his arms are like under him with his hands near his face..does that make sense?

mgillon · January 2016

My LO is 16 weeks and sleeps in rock and play. I didn't want to buy yet another baby contraption like zipadeezip etc. so we've been weaning her off the swaddle this week gradually.
She never liked her legs swaddled - we started one arm out for naps for 2 days. On the second day we did it at night as well. Did 2 nights with one arm in the swaddle.
Today started both arms out but swaddle still around her belly for naps, she seemed fine with it and went down fine tonight with arms out. Fingers crossed...
she Also still has the Moro reflex a bit, but is learning to control her arms better when she sleeps.

momma2char · January 2016

I wish I tried weaning her off the swaddle a bit earlier and gave it extra time with one arm out etc (she didn't handle it too well and could have used more time adjusting) but once she rolled onto her tummy, the pediatrician wanted us to immediately stop the swaddle

I also didn't want to buy another swaddle-transition thing cause they're so expensive and only used for a short time! We stopped cold turkey and were on night #4 and there's already been such an improvement from night #1! After night 1 I wanted to give up and swaddle her forever lol.. She was up every hour, sometimes twice an hour

last night she was up every 2-3 which isn't amazing but still so much better! She was sleeping 4-6 hour stretches before with the swaddle so hopefully we get back to that! Surprisingly I'm sleeping better knowing that she can't roll over unswaddled even with the shorter stretches. I hope the unswaddling goes well for you @mgillon

nianicho777 · February 2016

I'm in the same boat! My son is 17 weeks and rolling and teething all at once so I feel bad taking away the swaddle but it's too dangerous now that he can roll. Last night was the first cold turkey night them we swaddled his bottom and left his arms out in an attempt to get sleep but that was an epic fail. I put him to sleep tonight unswaddles and he flails a bit here and there but almost an hour in and he's still sleeping!

momma2char · February 2016

@nianicho777 oh my goodness isn't this the worst timing for rolling?!! Haha! My girl is teething like crazy and although it's super cool that she can roll now, I wish she could have held off a bit longer so I could help soothe her discomfort with the swaddle! I'm on night 5 right now and it's getting better!! Night 3&4 were still 1-3 hour stretches but I honestly think it's mostly due to teething pain now. For the first couple of nights when she startled herself awake, she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep on her own, but now I've noticed she's learning how to go back to sleep after startling or sleeping through her movements. I give her Tylenol an hour before bedtime which gives us her longest stretch but now I'll start giving it every 4-6 hours if she's up in that time frame to help ease pain overnight.. Hoping it helps

I hope the transition goes well for you and you can sleep again soon!!

nianicho777 · February 2016

momma2char said:

@nianicho777 oh my goodness isn't this the worst timing for rolling?!! Haha! My girl is teething like crazy and although it's super cool that she can roll now, I wish she could have held off a bit longer so I could help soothe her discomfort with the swaddle! I'm on night 5 right now and it's getting better!! Night 3&4 were still 1-3 hour stretches but I honestly think it's mostly due to teething pain now. For the first couple of nights when she startled herself awake, she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep on her own, but now I've noticed she's learning how to go back to sleep after startling or sleeping through her movements. I give her Tylenol an hour before bedtime which gives us her longest stretch but now I'll start giving it every 4-6 hours if she's up in that time frame to help ease pain overnight.. Hoping it helps I hope the transition goes well for you and you can sleep again soon!!

The Tylenol before bed is a good idea! But yeah it's the worst time because swaddling made him feel much better. A few more nights and he will hopefully be a pro. Hope it gets better for you!!!

momma2char · February 2016

We're coming up 2 weeks and she's sleeping way better at night unswaddled now than she was swaddled a couple of weeks ago! I'm so glad we did the transition earlier because last night she started rolling over onto her tummy and she won't stop now!

vamomtobe · February 2016

Last night LO rolled over while swaddled. I heard her wake up and headed to the nursery right away, and in the 2 seconds it takes me to get up and walk down the hall she had squirmed onto her belly. Needless to say, we're going swaddle-free tonight whether we are ready or not! I'm hoping it goes well, seems like there have been some positive experiences here!

momma2char · February 2016

@vamomtobe oh no!! That was my biggest fear. I'm glad you heard her wake up and caught her right away! I found it was best to start on a weekend so I suppose that was pretty good timing on your LO's behalf

the first night for us was so rough and it was so tempting to go back to the swaddle (we actually did give up after the first time we attempted cold turkey). We tried again the following week with another terrible night #1+2 but honestly it got so much better after that. I hope the transition goes well for you!

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