How Do I Stop the Swaddle

Hey J. - there is a great book out there called The Happiest Baby on the Block. This MD highly recommends swaddling. He also gives advice on weaning the child out of the swaddle. I love this book. I now give it at all the baby showers I attend (& since I gave it to my cousin when she had her baby, she does the same). Good luck! :)

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Swaddling is great! Don't feel bad about it. Some babies will cry endlessly and all they need is to be swaddled and they calm right down. It's a very comforting thing for babies to be swaddled.

Your baby is very young, I personally don't ever try to stop the swaddle. I swaddle until the baby is done. Mine have been closer to six months when they stop. They do it themselves. One might have been closer to nine months (hard to remember!). But, when they aren't interested in being swaddled anymore, they pull their arms out or refuse to let you wrap them up. It is a transition to not be swaddled anymore. But I find it's a lot more helpful when they are older and not doing the baby-arm-flinging-out-because-they-think-they-are-falling thing because that will keep waking them up.

Anyway, so my suggestion is to keep swaddling. Enjoy the nice sleep for now. He will let you know when he refuses to be swaddled. Regardless of whether he's swaddled or not, babies start having worse periods of sleep starting around 7 months due to learning and development. I find the first six months to be much better sleep typically;-)

Good luck!

We switched to one arm in, one arm out. Then, after a bit we switched to a sleeveless Halo sleep sack, which she still sometimes sleeps in.

I agree that a switch to the sleep sack is a good idea. The longer he's in a swaddle as he's getting older and his body is growing/maturing/changing from newborn to infant to toddler, swaddling too long can actually be detrimental to both the hip and shoulder/arm mobility. But swaddling in and of itself has been a Godsend in my house for newborns!

I swaddled both of my kids until they were almost 3 months and then moved them into the sleep sack. Perhaps you could ease into it during daytime naps so that he gets used to it and then after a couple days of that, start doing it at night. He will eventually adjust to all the new freedoms that come with having arms and legs able to move. Kids love new things and he might get a little distracted at first by being able to play with his hands, but that will eventually lose it's newness and he'll revert to proper sleeping. (I did also tuck a blanket nice and tight--so it wouldn't come undone--across my kids' chests to kind of mimic the tightness of a swaddle and eventually got rid of that as they adjusted to the sleep sack)

Good luck!

I agree with Steph...try leaving his arms out...and possibly you could make the blanket progressively LESS restricting and tight...so that he gradually gets used to the freedom of not being swaddled. My grandson just simply "outgrew it" and didn't want to be swaddled anymore!! Let your son be your guide.

I had this same question with my son. You can try to take one arm out at a time and see if that makes the transition easier. Or you can just leave his arms out but legs in. That's what we did, and eventually I just took it away completely. But my son was still waking up at night as it was. You may have to deal with a transition of him waking up for a little bit, but you gotta do what you gotta do, know what I mean ;) We didn't use a swaddle blanket with our oldest, just a regular blanket and he would scoot himself up in the crib so the blanket was down by his feet until we took it away. This baby was scooting down, so I figured a true swaddle blanket was safer for him since he couldn't really scoot down into that like he could a blanket - I was afraid of him getting tangled in a regular blanket, but not the swaddler.
Good luck!

I don't know if this will work, with the explanation of how he is acting when not swaddled. We were guilty of using a swaddle blanket for too long , also. We transitioned to a sleep sack . It seemed a little more comforting for him.

I agree with Teresa, enjoy it while you can. My son was 6 months and got to big for the swaddle, it couldn't find one in a bigger size and then realized they dont make them for babies big enough to be turning over. But my little guy wasn't turning over yet and the startle reflex would wake him. I kept the swaddle on him with the the part that goes around the arms put around his chest with arms out to help him feel secure. We co-slept and I would hold him close holding his arms lightly so he wouldn't startle awake. Then he got used to it and I switched to the sleep sak. Shortly after I found that true womb goes up one more size than the rest, I ordered it and tried it but to late, he didn't want to be swaddled anymore. He was six or seven months and he wriggled his arms over his head so the swaddle was over his face...scary! So bye bye swaddle!

He is still young, I swaddled till they either escapes out of it usually around five months, when they start rolling over the need for swaddling ends. I didn't use a swaddling blanket. I used the stetchy waffle baby blankets. Don't weipert about the need for exploring, they get plenty of that when awake. Your doing the right thing. Bed is for sleeping! Congratulations getting your little one sleeping so young. You have created a good sleeping routine that will carie over as he grows! Mama of 4 boys

I would transition to a sleep sac which is the safest. Everything is a phase, he will get used to it...even if he has a couple of rough nights...he will be a good sleeper again:)

What about swaddling him to get him to sleep and then loosening a bit later? My daughter hated being swaddled so we didn't swaddle her very early on.

I am a BIG believer in swaddling. I didn't do it with #1, but it made a huge difference with my second son and now my daughter. I used a Miracle Blanket. It says it shouldn't be used past 4mos, but it depends on the size of the baby. I think my son was about 5mos old when he was getting out of it several times a night. My daughter (now 4.5mos) was getting too long for it at 3mos. I tried to transition both of them by using a blanket under their bodies to keep the arms tucked, but it never worked. In general, I tend to go the cold turkey route -- with pacifiers, giving up bottles at 1yr old, etc -- so I just went from the swaddler to a sleep sack. It will be rough for a few nights. It was about 3 nights with this baby, and the first night is definitely the worst b/c she just had such a hard time falling to sleep and still had a startle reflex. Hang in there, though, you just have to get past those rough patches, and he'll adjust soon enough. Good luck!

I remember a tough transition with my twins. I think it was only about two or three rough nights, though, and they were fine falling asleep without the swaddle. Good luck!

swaddle until he gets himself out of it consistently... I swaddle as old as a year

You should not say you wish you never swaddled - you did a GREAT thing for your child!!

Hi J.,
With each of my 3 kids I would start by leaving 1 arm out. It seemed to work for us maybe it will also help your little guy.
Best Wishes!