Decided to stop swaddling...

We had their 5 month visit and told the ped that we still swaddle. He said that is a big no, no! It scared us so much that we stopped swaddling all together that day! I was terrified that they would have such a hard time adjusting, but are surprisingly doing well. Not great, but not worse either. Our dd woke up only twice last night, which she hasn't done in weeks and our ds three times. It was a good night. Just wanted to share.

 

Congrats on a good night!

 

Glad the night went well. We didn't stop swaddling until they were 7 months old, but we always had their arms out. Then we used a sleep sack and still do.

 

Can I ask why the dr said it was a nono? Our boys are almost 3 months and they're busting out of their swaddle every night lately. The problem is, they wake up! They just discovered their hands but they haven't mastered control of them yet and they're always hitting themselves and getting upset. I hope this phase doesn't last too long. I was thinking of trying to swaddle with hands free. What do you think?
Amy

 

Yikes! We are still swaddling. Did your pedi say WHY it was such a big problem? Is it just a bad habit, or does it limit their physical development etc.?

This is very bad news for us . Ben's been sleeping through the night this week (which means BOTH babies have been going from 7pm to 5am). I thought I'd died and gone to heaven (LOL) and now this, you say...

 

Try putting them in sleep positioners instead of swaddling. This should help them some.

 

I think your ped scared you unnecessarily, but since you have to stop sometime (before their first birthday ), congrats on being over the hump already!

Our first two nights were the only ones that we had more wakeups -- after that they were just fine.

We swaddled until 5 months for Amy (Sarah just stopped needing it at 3.5 months). We pinned her arms down really tightly -- swaddling with arms free would have defeated the purpose -- and it doesn't seem to have done her any harm.

 

what 'age' are you meant to stop swaddling? It also helps our girls to sleep too....

 

The reason our ped told us to stop is because it increases the risk of crib death. It took us by surprise because I thought it decreased the risk. I believe swaddling is safe up until the age of 3 months.

Our doctor is a pretty carefree type of doctor, which is why we are taking him so seriously. He is a huge advocate of breastfeeding (wife is a lactation consultant), doesn't even mention why we haven't started shots, etc... He is there to guide us. I really like him and trust his opinion on this. I'm sure other physicians have different opinions on this, but I'm really happy we finally stopped. My husband has been wanting to stop for a few weeks now anyway.

 

I was also really worried about their arms moving around and waking themselves up, especially our ds, he startles himself easily. To our surprise, they are napping and sleeping at night pretty darn well. They are both napping right now without being swaddled- our dd for 2 hours and ds for an hour. I really think they learn how to adjust. Maybe there is some validity in the statement, "babies sleep when they are ready." Swaddling helps but isn't the only reason for sleeping through, kwim?

 

We still swaddle one of our boys, while the other sleeps with his arms stretched out like a "T"!! They are two and a half months and we've tried our "swaddler" in just the sleep positioner, but he wakes himself up. After reading these posts, I think I'll try not swaddling him again. Thanks!

 

I don't mean to scare many of you! Please talk to your pediatrician, he/she may have a different opinion on the matter. We value our pediatrician's opinion and decided to adhere to his suggestion.

 

No worries at all! I appreciate the info!