OK ladies!! I need to vent and if anyone has any advice, I am open. My 3 month old daughter NEEDS to be swaddled tight (by tight, i mean wrapped twice) in order to fall asleep and stay asleep. I HATE it. I do it because that is what she likes but I am worried about her becoming dependant on having to be swaddled to sleep. Sometimes she falls asleep while I am in the process of swaddling her and just moments before she was hollerin' and her hands were hitting her eyes and face. Most of the time she can't even fall asleep in my arms unless she is swaddled. Its like she can't relax her limbs. Last night she did fall asleep in my arms after her 1am feeding so I put her in her bed unswaddled. 10 minutes later she was up crying. I wrapped her up and off she went into a nice sleep. What do I do?? Wait another month and see if she loses the "moro reflex" or try to ease her into sleeping unwrapped or go cold turkey? Any ideas?? Thanks, L.
this too shall pass.
It is only a stage. she will get over it.
my daughter liked to be swaddled.. my son did not.
I agree with trying the tummy sleeping. My son (2 1/2) has always been a belly sleeper. He loved to be swaddled... but he was born in the summer, and I don't have A/C! It was too dang hot to swaddle him! Thank your stars its cold out now and swaddling won't overheat her.
Another note, Once they start having control of movements and know it, they start to BE more independant. She will kick those blankets off so fast, just so she can look at her hands move till she falls asleep. You will see, it will just fall away and you won't even remember this being a fear of yours :) No worries!
You didn't really explain why you hate it so much...is it because you worry she'll become dependent on it? If that's the case, as I'm sure you know already, children become dependent on things, and then outgrow them time and time again during childhood. I wouldn't worry so much about the swaddling - she may need it a few more weeks, she may need it many more months. But she will outgrow it!
Best Wishes!
Have you tried putting her down on her tummy to sleep? I know that it is advised not to do this, but if you are okay with trying that, that usually helps with the moro reflex. Otherwise, I would not worry about her needing swaddling. My son needed it for the first few months too. I would turn the music on his mobile when I put him down swaddled, so then when I didn't swaddle him anymore, the music itself seemed to help. Then, he needed that for a while, and eventually, he didn't need that either. Just keeping trying every so often. That's all it is with babies/toddlers, try, try and try again!
