Swaddling

Just wondering how long your babies were swaddled? One of our twins is done, has been, because she sucks her fingers and plays with her lovey to go to sleep. The other, however, would not go to sleep tonight until she was swaddled. She often works her arms out of it, and I tried to put her down tonight without it because I was afraid she'd be too hot. She screamed and screamed each time we laid her down, until finally we swaddled her....she got this HUGE grin, and then went right to sleep. Go figure! Do we just keep swaddling her until she gives it up? Any reason not to swaddle? Thanks!

 

I stopped swaddling at about 6 months or so when my girls could break out of it. It took a couple days for them to adjust to being free, but it wasn't too long. Good Luck!

 

Same here. :good: I swaddled my dd until around 6 months. She was getting out of it at this point (both arms and legs) and then we took it off and it took her a few days. I think if she still wants it, there isn't any harm in it.

 

just curious...what would you do during those 1st few nights if she woke up frequently? I don't mean to hyjack the OP thread, I'm considering trying to stop swaddling as well and previously when we did, the 1 night we tired it, they woke up freqently until i re-swaddled at 2am..

 

In my crazy sleep deprived state, I did away with Binkies and Swaddling at the same time!! :crazy: When they would wake up, I would give them a few minutes to try and sooth themselves. If that was unsuccessful, I would rub their heads or backs softly and kind of hold their hands back gently from their face. The first night they were up A LOT, and it tapered off quickly after that. They were also much happier because they could roll over and sleep on their tummies since they were no longer bound to a swaddle.

 

I think it's okay if she still wants the swaddle. We just stopped swaddling a couple of weeks ago here. DS did fine. He sleeps better unswaddled. DD took a few nights to adjust. I like it since I'm not worried about them being overheated.

 

I just bought bigger swaddlers last week because I tried no swaddling when they outgrew receiving blankets, yeah, it worked until about 4 am every night, and then they were up every hour until they got up around 9-10 am!! So I say if she's happy being swaddled, go for it!

As for how to wean, I've read doing one arm at a time works good for a few nights, then both arms, and then completely swaddle free. But some babes do great on cold turkey so it's more a matter of figuring out how your babes will do with either method!

 

We stopped at 5mths when both girls were constantly waking trying to break free. We weaned them off gradually. If she is happy in the swaddle i would leave her be, she will let your know when the time is right to stop.

 

We stopped swaddling a few weeks ago when it got too hot at night (we don't have air conditioning). We had been swaddling with both arms out, we started with just one. I think that helped. The first couple nights they were up more than usual, but now they're great!

 

We stopped swaddling around 4 months, when mine started getting out of the swaddles. We then moved on to sleep sacks and I was very lucky that mine did not miss the swaddle at all. I say if they still want to be swaddled for sleep, go for it!

 

I'm in the minority, I only swaddled mine for a few weeks. :blush: They didn't seem to care so ardon:

 

Same here! They were constantly trying to break free, so we just left their arms out and they were fine. Now we use sleep sacks.