hi moms!
i have a almost 5 mo baby boy who sleeps so well when he is in his "miracle blanket," which is a swaddler. well, not he is out growing it and i know, swaddling is only for babies up to 3 mo, but he sleeps so well in it! he flings his arms and legs so much when he isn't swaddled that he wakes himself up. so this is to all the moms whose child is like mine: flings arms and legs alot when putting down to sleep; sleeps well when swaddled, and; wakes himself up when not swaddled or held.
here are my questions:
- i heard there's a bunting or something of that kind that you use after swaddling that keeps the baby's arm in place. does anyone know of anything like that?
- when did your child stop to fling his/her arms/legs to fall asleep/while asleep?
- how did you transition when swaddle became difficult?
i'm thinking if tucking in will work... but not sure. i think he'll come loose from flinging his amrs and legs so much. sigh.
thanks for all your info, moms!
one sleepless mommy
I've never heard that swaddling is only for up to 3 months. I would swaddle until he no longer wants it.
You have to check out the woombie swaddle! www.thewoombie.com I used it for my second son and he slept swaddled until close to 9 months. It was the only way he'd sleep without flailing his arms and waking himself, my pediatricians assured me that it was absolutely fine to continue to swaddle him that long...he preferred it. He is now a super healthy, active 18 month old who sleeps through the night. They make the woombie in 3 different sizes, 5-13lbs, 14-19lbs, and 20-25lbs...it's so easy to use to because it has a two way zipper, so you just put him in and zip it up. I had two and just washed them as needed. Good luck!
We swaddled my little girl until she started rolling over. We found that once she started rolling over in her sleep being on her tummy would stop her from flinging her arms and waking herself up. There was still a little transition period where she got used to staying asleep without the swaddle but after a couple of nights she was fine. If your baby isn't rolling over, I say keep on swaddling if he takes comfort from it. If he is rolling over, try a night without it and see how he does- he might surprise himself and his mommy :)
Good luck!!!
They make swaddle blankets in larger sizes now. Check your BabiesRUs or BRU online. Get the kind with velcro and you will be good to go.
I would avoid using any kind of blankets to "tuck him in" since that is a huge SIDS risk factor.
Hey there!
Have no fear....my daughter who is 2 now slept in a swaddle till she was 7 montsh old. I never wanted to take her out of it because she slept so well. I only dicontinued using it when I would go up in the morning and she would have one or both arms out. I started with putting her down with one arm out and then the other and lastly the feet. I have to be honest for about 2 weeks I would have to stay up there with her and hold down her hands to help her fall asleep, but she got the hang of it. I would also rock her until she was almost alseep. I don't know if that is part of your routine but calming her down before hand really helped. She is still a great sleeper. Just keep in mind it won't be easy at first but he will get it, but if he doesn't seem to mind the swaddle then I wouldn't worry about it either. The most important thing is that he is sleeping well and not cranky in the morning.
Our first slept swaddled until she was almost 9 mos old, but it turned out that she had some neurological issues--and wanting to be swaddled longer than usual should have been a little red flag that something might be wrong... although our pediatrician supported swaddling for as long as possible. So, for our first, we wanted him out of the swaddle within a reasonable amount of time. Yes, he loved being swaddled too. The woombie (available on diapers.com) worked well for us as a transition, because he could still get used to the idea of wiggling around but would not startle himself awake. Then I think we swaddled him loosely for a while with one arm out... then swaddled with both arms out with the blanket under his arm pits. Around that time he was starting to roll over too, so we wanted to encourage him to roll over and sleep on his side or stomach, and by that point it wasn't too big a transition to move him into a standard sleep sack (I like the Aiden and Anais ones). Good luck!
Our little guy likes to move a lot in his sleep. We call him Mr. Migration because he's like a migratory bird. For us, its less about keeping his arms and legs contained (which he can't stand) and more about keeping him warm. We take a receiving blanket, fold it in thirds, wrap it around his midsection, and safety pin it together at the small of his back. This way we can be assured that he's got some sort of cover with him all night long.
My 3rd was like that. I did not know what to do either. Finally I found what the PPer mentioned - the wombie. It comes in larger sizes called big baby and mega baby up to 19 lbs. I just looked at it on Amazon and it looks like Summer Infant makes a similar one (not sure how big they go) that's a little cheaper.
I only used it for a month or so because he finally grew out of the flailing about. It was great while I needed it.
My first baby loved to be swaddled and I did so until he was 5 mos. He had pretty bad colic, and swaddling was the only thing that helped. I guess it was around this time (5-6mos) that he stopped flailing so much in his sleep. Once he started breaking out of it all the time, I went to a sleep sack. Still felt soft and cuddly around him, but allowed him motion of his arms. You can use a light, large blanket to swaddle, and they do make large size swaddle blankets which you can buy at BabiesRUs. As long as he isn't trying to roll over yet, then keep on swaddling if that's what works.
Mommy,
Do what works. Swaddle? Age is just a number. some kids need it through 12 months and more.
Baby will do what baby needs: flinging arms, etc. Your baby is your baby - do what he needs : )
Remember: it is only a short period of time until he won't want any of this at all.
You're doing great!
good luck,
M.
I used the Summer Infant Kiddopotamus swaddler. The large is for babies up to 22 lbs. I also worried about the transition, but eventually my son could roll himself over in the swaddle, so I stopped using it because he would roll over and then get stuck and cry in the middle of the night. When we took it off he slept fine on his own. I'm not sure if we could have taken it off sooner, but once he could roll over he preferred to sleep on his stomach and the flailing seemed to be gone. His pediatrician said that it was fine as long as he was rolling himself over, and really what was I going to do about it, go in and roll him back over every hour through the night?
