For those who swaddled for a long time

Hi, If you swaddled for a long time did you eventually have to "break" them of it or did they "break" themselves of the need? I've tried going without a few times this week and I always end up swaddling 15 minutes into the nap because they sleep better with the swaddle. I don't need to stop if there's no trouble with it. How do you stop though?

 

We stopped at 6 mos. because no matter what we tried, they would bust out. Everyone's sleep became disrupted. Hannah we did cold turkey, but with Ben we had to wean him one limb at a time. So we started with one leg out for a couple days, then the other leg, then an arm, etc.

It was rough for a few days, just like any change in the routine. But be consistent, move forward, and they will eventually adjust to the change!

ETA: We tried to stop swaddling at 4 mos and it was a disaster. Again at 5 mos., and it was a disaster. But at 6 mos, it was a little better so we stuck with it until they were weaned!!!

 

My girls have been breaking free of the swaddle almost everytime, they like their arms free to suck on their hands, so I have been contemplating trying a few naps without and seeing what happens....

 

I, also, kept trying to get mine out and they would end up re-swaddled at like 2AM b/c NOBODY was getting any sleep ... I wanted them out b/c they HATED it and would scream when I would even get them near the swaddle blanket ... we had Meredith down to one arm out and Hannah at one arm out until I couldn't take it anymore and I would swaddle her in the middle of the night ... then we got to the point at almost 6 months when we were ready to Ferberize ... so I just cold-turkey put them in sleep sacks ... it was a rough few nights but they do great now. I don't have any great advice since we paired it with letting them cry it out (one thing I said I would never, never do ... but we were to the point where it was CIO or jump off the roof!!!). The one thing we did do, was try to "wean" by putting one arm out then swaddling armpits down ... that sort of thing. Sorry I am not much help!

 

I stopped when they learned to rool over and then they were fine as they seems to sleep on their bellys. I also hand made my swaddle blankets so they were pretty big and I could get them pretty tight all they way around them.

 

We stopped around 5 months...because they were starting to roll onto their stomachs and that is how they liked to sleep. That is also when we put them into two seperate cribs.

 

We slowly swaddled down the body. Leaving their shoulders out then part of their arms, then their arms all the way out....so on and so on. It eventually worked for us and we went to the sleep sack

 

I stopped swaddling dd when she was five months old. After that we put her in a sleeping sack. We had to stop because she was busting out of the swaddle and was still sleeping, so we figured she was done with it. I think that if your little ones are still sleeping well swaddled, let them be, they'll let you know when they've had enough. Good luck!!

 

We stopped around 5 months for the reason pp's have mentioned. No matter how we swaddled they would break free a few times a night, then SCREAM until they were reswaddled. Part of it for us had to do with the fact they were nursing alot, and that made the swaddle loose, or need to be redone by a tired, not so good swaddler in the middle of the night
For us it was a ROUGH transition. The first night or two we co-slept and kind held them tight to us to make it seem like they were swaddled, then we put them in sleep sacks with the arm holes sewed shut , lol. We did that for about a month, then removed the sewing and they were free

Goodluck

 

We stopped swaddling at 4 1/2 months, but let me tell you, I thought they would need to be swaddled until college!

Around 4 months, they were starting to wiggle out of the top of their swaddles (Miracle Blankets) and getting their arms free. Well, they needed their arms to be motionless to sleep. So I looked around on the internet and found a solution that ended up working well for the transition as well.

We took a receiving blanket and folded it in half to make a big triangle. We put the triangle into the crib with the point pointing down. The baby was then laid on the triangle with her neck right over the fold up top. Then we took the right edge of the blanket and wrapped it over her left arm and tucked it under her body. Did the same thing on the other side. They weren't rolling over yet, so their body weight held their arms in place. I started to do this with their naps. A few days later, I continued to do this with their arms, but instead of putting their bodies into the swaddle, I put them in a sleep sack (so they could get used to their body and legs being a bit more free.)

I would say 2 or 3 weeks of this, and then they were getting out of my solution blanket, but now that they were more used to the freedom, it didn't wake them up. Then it was just the sleepsack. Good luck!