Stop swaddling?

O.k. I planned on not swaddling a few months ago but eventually just stuck with it. DD1 is swaddled with 1 arm in and 1 arm out and DD2 has both arms swaddled and always breaks out of it at night and sleeps on her tummy. DD1 alot of times sleeps on her side. Well, for the past few weeks they have been waking at 4-5 in the morning and talking, sometimes going back to sleep until 6-7 and sometimes working into a full blown scream. We then go in re-swaddle and paci. They rarely wake up during the night for anything. We also at times have to go in there right after we put them to bed because they start screaming, rolling all over and won't settle down. So my ? is I know that we need to quit swaddling and probably give them a blankie but do you find it is easier to quit when they are older such as the age of mine? I so would like a night of sleep from 830 until 730 or 8 am without waking at 4 or 5 or 6 etc. etc. So a little confusing but let me tell ya it's been a long day.

Thanks for reading and would love all your input!

 

We stopped swaddling around 6 months. They were breaking free. And both of mine did really well with it. They went to sleep just fine without the swaddles.
Good luck!

 

Are you sure they need the swaddling at this point? We stopped around 3-4 months when they were breaking out of the swaddle during the night anyway. Especially if they are rolling over on their bellies I would think they wouldn't need it. In fact I've enjoyed watching how my babies are able to have more control over their position now that they're not swaddled. Also, when mine started rolling over during naps/sleep around 5 months we had terrible napping/bedtime for about 3 or 4 days until they decided they liked sleeping on their bellies. So it may take a bit of adjustment with the swaddling too but I would think they'll be better off without it. Good luck! Any kind of change is hard

 

We are starting to wean from swaddling at 7.5 months; swaddling has been a Godsend for us, so we have dragged our heels about taking it away! AJ now sleeps without his swaddle; his transition was very, very easy. Ben, on the other hand, still startles easily when he sleeps, and wakes himself up. We hope to have him out of the swaddle (miracle blanket) by this weekend, though. The boys have been wiggling while they sleep, and pulling their legs out of the pouch, so that the wrap could end up around their necks. We obviously want them swaddle-free before that occurs!

 

It was a rough transition for us, I used to say they were swaddle addicts!! We ended up using the swing, sleep postioners and co-sleeping during the transition. it wasn't that they really needed the swaddlign anymore, they just weren't used to having the freedom
But if it is workign for you, I would wait until it isn't any more!!!!

 

There is no rush not to swaddle! If it works, I say use it! But perhaps you could try one or two nights or a nap or two without and see how it goes. I know several people on here who have gone cold turkey and it worked really well. We stopped swaddling around 4mnth - my dd would scream everytime we swaddled her before naps or bedtime, so we figured it was time to stop swaddling. And so we decided to stop at the same time with ds, and he adjusted with relatively little fuss. So, I guess they were just really ready to stop.
Good luck! It probably won't be as bad as you are imagining!

 

I was afraid to stop swaddling too due to the fact that my babies were sleeping really well. I transitioned them to the Sleep Sacks. It has been a couple of weeks (my babes are almost 6 months old) and it is going well. They do sometimes knock the paci out with their hands which is probably the biggest change and causes the most disturbance. I started to become concerned with their upper body strength since they were essentially swaddled pretty tightly for 12 hours a day. I'm not sure if this is a legitimate concern or not but I recommend trying the sleep sacks and see how they do.

 

I'd say try it and see.

We're doing the one arm swaddled thing right now. When they were six months old, we tried no swaddling, and they were just up and down all night long for several nights. We reswaddled, and they were fine.

Mine can bust out of it pretty easy, it's just more of a reminder for them, but a reminder they still seem to need.

Funny story--this morning, I came in and my DS was unswaddled, and he was grabbing at the velcro to set his sister free, too.

 

I stopped swaddling Ryan first at 5 months. Sorry to say for us it didn't go too well. He started not STTN for a few weeks. So we waited another month to stop swaddling Jack. It didn't affect him in the least. So...I guess it's different for every baby!

 

We swaddled until 7 months too. They started escaping the miracle blanket, so one day I stopped cold turkey. They adjusted within a day or two - but they are pretty good sleepers, thankfully.