The dreaded day has come...

KristynLee15 · March 2016

...to stop swaddling

I havent been encourageing LO to roll over, mostly because she sleeps so well swaddled and i knew id have to stop when she did.
Well...shes done it! Now i k ow that this is a good thing. And i am truly happy about her development but i am terrifi2of getting less sleep than i have been.
She is a very wiggly sleeper and will wake herself up if not swaddled...tightly.
Now that i have to stop, does anyone have any suggestions..or is it basically a grin and bear it and hope she learns quickly?

basdenjn6 · March 2016

I began this battle last Friday! My LO is/was a super wiggly sleeper as well. We had a good sleep routine established: sleeping in his crib, bedtime between 7 and 8, bottle and quick rock before I'd lay him down. He was up to sleeping 6-8 he stretches like that. So last Friday I began the first night with one arm out. He didn't do too badly but woke once more than normal. The next night I did cold turkey- both arms out and just swaddled his chest for comfort. I won't lie to you. The next two nights were awful- up every 20 min to 2 hrs at a time and constantly waking himself. But over the past few nights it's getting much easier. I rock a little longer- maybe 30 min. But put him down while holding his arms to his sides so he doesn't startle himself when I first put him down. If he wakes after that I comfort without picking him up if I can help it- though I've given in and rocked a couple of times. But it's been less than a week and I'm already seeing progress. He's even woken up and put himself to sleep a couple of times on his own. My advice- it's not that bad after a couple of days- just see the light at the end of the tunnel and push on! Good luck

KristynLee15 · April 2016

Well...that was no where near what i expected. I started to implement the sleep easy solution tonight. I figured if were going to go through hell lets go all the way through.
I wouldnt normally follow any of those fads but my best friend recommended it as she used it with her son.
After 28 mins....baby girl is asleep! On her own, with no swaddle and no pacifier!! I will admit that was the longest 28 mins of my life.
I might possibly be a believer. According to the theory, each night the crying will get shorter and she'll sleep longer. Lets see how this goes!

momma2char · April 2016

I had to Unswaddle at 3 months when she rolled for the first time and just did it cold turkey. It took about a week for her to get used to sleeping with all of the extra space- but I think it took that long because she still had quite a strong startle reflex! Now she sleeps so much better without a swaddle (she's in a halo sleep sack with arms out like wearing a blanket) and she can easily get into comfy positions to sleep in

KristynLee15 · April 2016

Last night wasnt soooo bad. Not anyworse than it has been for the last week or so. She was able to get heself to sleep. Still woke up at 2am and it took about an hour of periodic crying to settle herself. But overall, not near as bad as i prepared myself for!!

guerrerotwin · April 2016

My LO wiggles alot too until we bought a memory foam topper.best thing ever!! First night she cried for about 10 min and knocked out for 6 hrs!. It's been well over a month and she loves her bed!. We have a routine - bath, read, and rock her to bed. She's breast & supposibly they wake up more, not her. She's out by 8pm and up around 2-3am for feeding. Final wake up call at 6:30am. But I'm an early riser, so I'm ok with that. Good luck

amwright33 · April 2016

I stopped swaddling my little one at 3 months because she unswaddled herself anyways. Actually started sleeping longer too. She never took a pacifier. I always did the night rountine. Now our routine is solid feed, then bath/ story time, massage/pjs, top off feeding then bed. Goes down without crying. Naps are a whole other story though.

smnewby · April 2016

Lurking from November boards...I had great success using merlins magic sleep suit as a swaddle transition.

KristynLee15 · April 2016

Well last night was terrible. Lo Went down fairly easy in 4 min. But then every hour was awake. I dont know what to do. I know they say the first few nights are rough but i feel like a huge failure
Whoever thinks any type of crying method is easy is soo wrong. There is nothing easy about sitting at LO door on the floor crying and just begging God to help her sleep.
Im aure im seeing it waaay worse than it was because im tired. All in all according to my charts LO spent maybe an hour totaly crying, throughout the night.
I dont know if this is good or if i givenuo now. Maybe it just wont work for her. I think im going to try again tonight but maybe add in a sleep sack?
Does anyone have any suggestions?

(Of course to make this whole process even mooore fun im basically playing songle mom and doing it myself since DH has moved to try to get us set up to move and when i talk to him this morning he says "well im going to lay back down, im tired " i wanted to jump through the phone and kick him)

Sorry for the long rant, very frustrated right now.

Christa410 · April 2016

We struggled when we dropped the swaddle. We just recently got a dockatot - and it's kinda amazing. Will usually get a 5-6 hour first stretch but then still short stretches after that. They are expensive but it's worth it for some sleep. I bought it in a moment of weakness at 2am with Amazon two day shipping.

waltersmom83 · April 2016

We started by keeping one arm in, then left both out but keep her in her velcro swaddle. I've found she always rolls to one direction, so we started putting her in her crib up against the side that she rolls to. This stops her from rolling over and waking up pissed. She's really a side sleeper, but would roll over trying to get onto her side. We bought the netting that goes around the crib so she won't suffocate and her arms and legs aren't getting stuck. Hope this helps!

KristynLee15 · April 2016

Weve got the netting. I got a transitional swaddle thinking maybe wrapped around her chest will help. Just tried it for a nap, no luck. So here i am with her napping on me. Which is fine, naps i can handle since she naps well at day care and always has. It just doesnt give me much hope for tonight.

oceanlove13 · April 2016

@KristynLee15 What you are doing is hard. I feel for you! I've been in your shoes with the sleep training with both of my babies and also being so tired doesn't help. I just wanted to say if you stick with it, it will get better. You have already gone through 2 nights! It probably takes 5 nights for a significant difference in sleep habits. Each night should be less crying. I do think from experience it gets worse night 2 & 3 before it gets better. Just hang in there and after mid week or so if you aren't seeing any progress maybe that method of training isn't right for your LO or it's not the right time. If you do stick with it and it works, it will be the best thing that can happen. You and your LO will be rested and you will feel like a new person! Good Luck!!

kjacks6347 · April 2016

I honestly just stopped cold turkey. It sucked. A couple of bad days. He sleeps better now that he can sleep on his stomach though. Not much advice, but you can do it! It gets easier.

KristynLee15 · April 2016

@oceanlove13 and @kjacks6347 Thank you so much for the encouragment!! I certianly didnt think it would be THIS hard. I didnt expect a walk in the park but i thought i would handle it better.
Tonight she fell asleep at 718..in 3.5 mins!!! We have had a few whimpers but i dont think she actually woke up, just adjusted.
She slept until 420!!! Its now 433 and she has been whimpering off and on but i wouldnt say "crying" just protesting a bit. Im hesitant to go in because it seems to set her off.
Ill gove her a few more.mins then go in and then maybe pat her bum a little bit. But i can say tonight was better and that is encouraging. All day i was debating whether or not it was worth it, but knowing my daughter i know this is the only way to help both of us. If there was another way that i havent tried, i would try that.
Cry it out, in any form is not for the faint of heart (also not the best time for me to be trying to lose weight since id like to sit with a pint of ben and jerrys and a bittle of wine!!)
Well its 445 and shes still awake...the bum patting only seemed to help for the time i did it. Looks like its back to letting her fuss until she falls asleep.

(This is posted late since the app would late me post. But LO went back to sleep at 540..mainly just on and off fussing but she slept until 645!!)

Thanks so much for the support! !

kjacks6347 · April 2016

So glad to hear that things are going well! We did the Ferber method and it sucked! Now things are so much easier though. He's a much happier baby now that he's getting good sleep. I'm also a much better momma lol

oceanlove13 · April 2016

@KristynLee15 Are you trying to eliminate the night feelings also? When she woke at 4:20 could she have been hungry? It sounds like she eventually went back to sleep on her own. I let my LO fuss for 20 mins in the night and if he isn't sleeping by then I feed him or check his diaper. He usually makes it from 7:30 to somewhere between 3-6 when he wakes depending on the night. I feed him if he doesn't go back to sleep and he sleeps until around 8am. Just a thought. Maybe your LO will drop the night feeding all together with your training. That would be nice! Sounds like it's going well!

KristynLee15 · April 2016

We dropped night feeing at 4mknths old with pedi okay. LO is formula fed and also on solids 2-3 times daily. We havent been doing diaper changes at night unless shes pooped, but this morningher diaper was reaaaalllly wet. So maybe that was it.
Tonight went down at 730 in 3 mins. And slept until 330. So we did a diaper change and i put her back down. She wouldnt seem to settle. So i gave pacifier and she went right to sleep.
I was trying to eliminate paci as she cant reinsert it 100%of the time. Buuuttt if it helps night wakings ill do that.

Im pretty much flying by the seat of my pants lol

oceanlove13 · April 2016

One of my friends would clip the pacifier to her babies pj at night and she learned to put it back in her mouth when she needed. She slept through the night. My babies have never taken pacifiers so I don't have much advice for you there! I don't blame you for wanting to eliminate the pacifier. Whatever you are doing is working! Babies learn fast.

KristynLee15 · April 2016

SUCCESS!!!!!
Last night LO slept from 730 to 430, stirred and i gave her thr paci then she was back out until 6am!!!
i would call that a successful night sleep!!!!

brittanispears · April 2016

We started putting Regan to bed unswaddled about 1.5 months ago when she was able to flip from stomach to back. I was nervous because I didn't want her sleeping on her stomach, plus, like so many others have said, she slept better and longer swaddled. But I wanted her to continue to develop her gross motor skills. We made sure she did tummy time an hour each day. We took one arm out the first night. And then both the second night. She woke up a lot but she's grown used to it, now.

She's doing well enough to sleep without her sleep sack and just in her fleece jammies. I'm proud of her! It'll get better -- trust! Now, we're dealing with her second tooth coming up. I think it's worse than the first. It wakes her up in the middle of the night. On to the next battle. LOL.

valolvera · April 2016

What the heck? I stopped swaddling baby when she was 1 month because it was freakin hot when she was born and she was one sweaty baby! She slept in just a onesie shirt and a light blanket.

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