For those who don't swaddle anymore

My babies keep busting out of their swaddle (and I do them very very snug with the velcro swaddle blankets). I fear our swaddle days are nearing an end and I just get a feelign it's gonna be hell for a few days/weeks till they get use to it. I'll keep trying to swaddle until the latest possible, but I have to go in their rooms 2x a night to reswaddle because they got their arms free and are happily chewing on their hands rather than sleeping...that is what I fear...they won't go to sleep, but will chew and babble away.

So, my question if for those who use to swaddle and stopped...how rough was it really?? (It's gonna be rough isn't it?)

 

I switched to the wearable blankets at 6 months old and mine had no problem with it.

 

We stopped swaddling at 4 months (before that they were always swaddled it seemed like). It was bad for two days. I thought it was going to be a lot worse!

 

Mine started busting out around 4 months actual,1.5 months adjusted. One night I decided to swaddle them with one arm out and they still slept through the night. The next night I decided oh what the heck. I put them in their footie jammies then inside a halo sleep sack and they still slept through the night. They might occasionally wake here and ther some nights babble or chew on their hand but it's never enough to wake me and they obviously go back to sleep on their own. So it was an easy transition for us.

 

we are actually going through this right now. my boys turned 5 months and i just had enough with the swaddle. it has been almost a week, and they fall asleep much easier than before and thankfully take longer naps! Night time though is a little different. I notice that when they wake up in the middle of the night, especially after sleeping a few hours, it is hard to get them to go back to sleep. One of my LO's woke up at 11:30 last night and finally fell asleep about 1:45am!!! I don't know if this has to do with the swaddle or if they are just going through some sleep problems.

But just wanted to wish you good luck!! It has to be done eventually!!!!!

 

We started it during the day for naps. They were busting out as well & I figure when that happens, they are telling you it's time. Once they got back to sleeping at naps (3 days or so) then we did it at night.

It's really not so bad- they are more likely to fall asleep from an awake state now (they don't always need to nurse to fall asleep) & it's easier to put them in a sleep sack for middle of the night diaper changes.

Good luck!

 

We tried it one night and gave up the next night and swaddled them right back up :blush: it was THAT bad for us. Good luck!!!

 

I think quite often when they start getting out of the swaddle on their own, it isn't that much of a problem to stop swaddling altogether. You might start by just taking out their arms & then move on to completely unswaddled. They might surprise you with how easy it is!

 

When my guys started busting out I did the same thing, go in and re-swaddle, but then I got tired of that, so I Figured I would just see what they would do and eventually they fell back to sleep, so I would swaddle before bed, and then they would wiggle out, but then Id just let them sooth themselfs and after a few nights it was fine now we dont swaddle at all, ( well I use the sleeping bags that look like a dress because their feet hang out the sides of the crib, but their arms are free

 

When our boys were really little we did a full swaddle, then when they were about 3 months we started leaving 1 arm out, and then 2 arms out. Then we got to where we only swaddled if they were being difficult. I bought a miracle blanket around the time they were 4 months old for that reason, though it was used very little (but its an excellent swaddle blanket if ever there was one). Then our boys went unswaddled for a month or so, but when they started being little rolly pollies in their crib and flipping on to their back waking themselves up, we started swaddling their lower-halves again. Of course, that had zero effect on keeping them on their tummies, sigh. But since it is winter we still swaddle their lower halves anyway since we don't have any fleece halo sleep sacks. Well last night Colin was being a pain at 3am and would NOT go back to sleep even after a little snack bottle. Exasperated I finally swaddled him up super tight and put him in the minicrib in our room on his back (and they never sleep on their backs)...and he went right to sleep! It shocked me. Anyway, swaddles can be wonderful, but I think your babies will sleep fine if you start slowly unswaddling arms now. I hope that is the case for you anyway!

 

I feared the end of swaddling, but when I switched to sleepsacks they actually slept a bit better. We had the same situation where they would bust out and wake up so My DH and I now think that the swaddle was waking them at the end.

 

We tried over a pedioud of two months (5-6 months) and kept on going back to swaddling because babies would be terrible. Then we stopped for the nights and still swaddled for the naps, then we phased out our son first.... Going back to your question, yes it was nighmare for us and it was blind leading the boing because we had no clue what we were doing. I think just keep on trying and if it's bad, swaddle and try in a week again. Good luck ;-)

 

DS started busting out of his swaddle sleep sack at about 3.5 months, so we just decided to leave them both completely unswaddled at that time. Never had any issues, they actually slept better because they didn't have to spend so much time trying to bust out.

 

Unfortunatelly the same thing happen here, it was horrible! I think we will give it a another try next month.

 

I am dreading losing the swaddle. So much so that when they started busting out of their Kiddopotamus velcro swaddle blankets at 3 months I bought a couple Miracle blankets (they keep their arms in more effectively). When they started kicking their legs out of the bottom of the MBlankets I hauled out the Kiddopotamus blankets again and started double swaddling. Now neither arms nor legs can bust free!! It is working so far, but alas I know our days of swaddling are coming to a rapid end. They are almost turning over from back to belly and once that happens the swaddle will have to go the way of the dodo. :cry:

I have prepared myself for that inevitable day and have ordered two Halo sleep sacks which I hope will do the trick. So we must all be strong Marlena and bid adieu to the swaddle sooner or later!! God help us all. Best of luck!! :friends:

Edited for errant close brackets.