Transitioning Out of Swaddle

definitely not an age thing! My daughter is 11 months and sleeps in a sack AND gets lightly swaddled... she would only sleep swaddled but as she's outgrowing the blankets I knew we had to start 'weaning' her. So we wrapped her more loosely as the weeks went on. Now I can just lay the blanket over her (she likes to have one side against her face!) and she sleeps through the night.

Neither one of my daughters were swaddled after we left the hospital. They both started sleeping through the night at 5 -6 weeks. I never did sleep sacks either. They both slept in pjs all the time and I just covered them with a light blanket.

I think it is more of a need thing than an age thing. My two month old is in Sleep sacks now, as he unswaddles himself in the night.

Hi H...I'm also a first time mom. My son is now a little over 2 months. He has always hated to be swaddled..so since he was about 3 weeks old he has slept in a sleep sack and now he is in pj's with a blanky. He's a really good sleeper though. Good luck with everything.

C. :)

My little guy is 2.5 months old, and he just did not like to be swaddled after his first week. He always wiggled out of it to fall asleep. A few weeks ago, after he started sleeping longer at night, I switched to a sleep sack. It works great! He can't wiggle out of it and get too cold at night. I tried it when he was still waking up all the time during the night, and it was a bit cumbersome to use. Too much to take off and put on for a quick change in the middle of the night! Now it's great because he's sleeping through the night.

Hi H.,
I used a sleep sack with my son from very early on. He hated the swaddling blankets, so we just went right to the sleep sack. He is still using it at night and he is 11 months. On the occasions where he ends up in bed with us, I take it off though and he just has his PJ's on. I find he gets too warm then with it on. He does fine with the sack and his PJ's when he is in his crib on his own though. Good LUck.

my sil 5mo is still using one. They bought one called the Kiddopotamus. They have larger sizes. He loves his swaddle

Mine slept in a swaddle (the kidapotomous one) until he was about 5 months old... I switched him to a sleep blanket (Halo) when he just grew out of the bigger swaddler... I was afraid we'd have problems but he took right to it, no problem.

I keep him in one of the blanket sleepers for now, because I think he gets cold with out it. This was one of those transitions I was more worried about than I needed to be... hope it is for you too!

With my first daughter I swaddled her until she was 6 months old, out of fear that if I stopped, she would not sleep. It was way too long and unnecessary but as a first time Mom, I didn't know better. Nor did I have the confidence. With my second Daughter, I tried to swaddle her but she (like your little one) was a Houdini. It was more a waste of my efforts and worry than anything. When I finally threw in the towel, they both slept just fine. The one thing I have learned to be very ture is that children will adapt to most any change within 1 to 2 weeks if you are consistent. There is no middle ground for swaddling. Just try to not do it some weekend when you might be able to tolerate less than normal sleep. By the following weekend everything should be just the way you need it to be. (I'm a SAHM with a 4 1/2 year old and a 2 1/2 year old and baby #3 on the way.) Good Luck!

t.

Hi H.!
I went through the exact same thing with my daughter. I loved the miracle blanket! Around 3 mos my daughter started breaking out of her miracle blanket so I cut a bed sheet (at the suggestion of a friend of mine who was still swaddling her 7 mo old) and used a bed sheet for another month or so until I moved her into the sleep sack. The sheet worked great! The time came when she broke out of that and I moved her to the sleep sack and we had a couple of rough nights but she accepted the sleep sack and grew to love it. She is 13 mos old and I now only use the sleep sack on really cold nights, I started with giving her a blanket during naps because she was so attached to the sleep sack. Now she is not attached to the sleep sack at all and I'm sure when it warms up around here (we're in PA) I'll be packing away the sleep sack for good.

Good luck!!
~A.

My son did the same thing, he managed to wrangle the lower portion of his body out of the swaddles. That is when we moved him to the Halo sleep sacks and he still sleeps in them. He is 5 months old now. I think he likes being a bit more "free" when he sleeps. Plus I have peace of mind not worrying about a blanket in the crib. All I can say is try them. Your daughter not being able to settle down may just be her getting rid of that last bit of energy she has before falling asleep. Good Luck!

Hi. My son, now 22 months, did the same thing around 4 months. I decided to transition out of the swaddle and sleep train at the same time. I used the book, Healthy Sleep Habits; Happy Child. After two days of sleep training with out a swaddle me (babies r us)he was sleeping 12 hours straight through the night. Good luck!

Hi H.,

I would say keep your daughter swaddled as long as you can. The transition is a difficult one. I kept my son swaddled until he was 5 months old and the the transition took about a month because he couldn't sleep swaddled because he wanted to be free and couldn't sleep without being swaddled. If she is still doing well with the swaddling, I would keep doing it.

J.

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I haven't read all of your responses, so I don't know if anyone has suggested this yet. My little guy is 4 months old and usually wiggles out of the blanket if I swaddle him. If I don't, he usually startles and wakes himself up. I use an infant positioner, at least I think that's the name for it. It's basically a small cloth with two wedges that connect to it with velcro. The baby lies in between the wedges so it feels like he is being held. When he startles he usually settles back down on his own. Hope this helps!

My 6 month old still gets swaddled in the Miracle Blanket and won't sleep without it. We started with one leg free and then it was an arm, now its the opposite leg/opposit arm free and he sleeps fine. Without the blanket he doesn't settle.

If she seems like she's not liking being swaddled, maybe just let her sleep in a blanket sleeper or p.j.'s and see it it works. If she doesn't like it--she will let you know and you can swaddle her up again!

We used the Miracle Blanket until my daughter was close to four months. We started weaning her off of it by wrapping her under the arms with it. And then we just stopped using it. I was so afraid that she wouldn't be able to sleep without the swaddle, but from what I recall, the sleep disruption was more in my head than in the crib! We are now swaddle free (good thing -- my daughter is 10 months!).

Good luck!

T. :)

We've been dealing with the same issue with our 7mos old twins! That's right 7mos and still swaddled. One of them just won't go down without it. We are transitioning slowly. Started by wrapping (also using a miricle blanket) with one arm out. Next we are going to just wrap their torso, hoping that just the feeling of being wrapped will make them feel good.

Good luck!

H.,

Sounds like you baby girl is ready to move into her sleep sack (or even pj;s if you want to try that. I had my son in a cradle for a while and just made a larger circle surrounding him with loose towels so he felt the closeness, but had space. Depending on how big she is she may not fit a sleep sack much longer. I would try it now especially since she seems to want to move about. My son felt constrained by the sleep sack, my friends daughter loved it. THere is only one way to find out. THe sack IS the transition to PJ's, if you wnat to look at it that way. You cant go wrong, she will let you know and give it a few nights when trying anything new. If not try again in a few weeks. Good luck.

Try the sleep sak. If she wakes up repeatedly during the night, then she's not ready and you should go back to swaddling.

We swaddled both kids up until around 3 1/2 months, swaddled on and off until after than until it seemed like the kids slept just as well not swaddled.

H.,
I'd keep her in the swaddle until 6m; many cultures around the world have done it for 1000's of years, and it works for them!
If you have any specific questions, feel free to e me directly.
smiles,
L., 39
Brianna 21m & yes! still bf'ing!
and baby
butterflylindamarie at yahoo dot com

Hi H. - we went through the same thing at about 3 months with our little guy. He was in the Miracle blanket, and like your little Houdini, would squirm free.

We went from the swaddle blanket to the sleep sack when he started to show signs of rolling over (i was afraid to have him swaddled with his arms pinned down if he rolled over at night). There was no real transition. One night he was in the swaddle blanket, the next night we tried the sleep sack and kept our fingers crossed he'd sleep through the night. We didn't have any problems. I think because he was so used to sleeping for a length of time at night (thanks to the swaddle) the transition to the sleep sack was easy. He turned 5 months today and is still using the sleep sacks at night. He does ok in pjs, but I think he likes the sleep sacks a little more since he is a little more confined.

Hope that helps - good luck!

Hi! Our little one is 5 months old and we just finished the transition out of the swaddle. She also would not settle down without it but slept 8-10hours at night with the swaddle. We did not want to give up the good sleep but as she was becoming more mobile we didn't want her trapped in the swaddle. We transitioned her slowly. At first we started swaddling her with one arm out and did that for several weeks. We then left both arms out and wrapped the swaddle blanket around her chest. And finally now she is just in a sleep sack!

Occasionally when she wouldn't settle down at night we had to revert to a full swaddle, but now after a few weeks in the sleep sack she doesn't even like the swaddle anymore and she is able to roll around in her crib freely:)

there is a swaddle thing at babies r us. Sorry I don't remember the name but it worked great for my kids. It fit them all the way to 12 months. Basically it looks like a sleeper, but instead of arm holes it has big triangles with Velcro. they have their leggs in individual leg holes and have free movement with them then you can velcro it different to have their arms out. If they don't respond well though you can readjust the sides and swaddle them again. I know my 9 month old loves it. When she is tired of being swaddled she just pushes until she gets the velcro undone and she sprawls out.

Good luck with your little one, I know night is the hardest part sometimes.

I too love the Halo sleep bag. They sell them at Babies R Us and online too. My son was a kicker, before he was born too. My sister has a daughter that was born over 10 lbs and used the same Halo sleeper for a long time too. They have different sizes. They are sleeveless and go over jammies so you can have one or two and not need to wash too often. Worth a shot I think!