Swaddling at night and during day

Just curious: how long did you keep your babies swaddled during the day? How long did they stay swaddled at night?

 

I swaddled my twins night and day for 10 months. A very long time, yes I know, but they loved being swaddled and slept great (I should add that they were 31 weekers). There was no real reason I stopped other than I felt it was time. It took 3 days of bad sleep until things were happy again. With my subsequent single babies, I swaddled for 2-3 months and the transition was much easier. Congratulations on your twins!!!!

 

We swaddled for all sleep periods till about 6 months. It worked as a great sleep cue. Getting swaddled became part of the going to sleep routine. Once they were breaking out of the swaddle we transitioned to sleep sacks. Let their legs be a bit looser - legs that are swaddled tightly, especially straight down, can cause difficulties with hip development.

 

I know it was longer than 4 months as DH's aunt met them then and told us to stop binding them & they needed their freedom. :crazy:

Dr. Harvey Karp's "The Happiest Baby On The Block" breaks down the first 3 months of babyhood really well. He manages to get screaming babies to quiet and go to sleep by mimicking the sensations of the womb. I highly recommend the video (we rented it from the library).

 

My LOs really loved their swaddles. they would sometimes fuss putting it on but then would calm right down.

ETA: both for naps and night

DD 8 months i think and DS 10 months. She was more mobile than he was.
When i stopped swaddling i wrapped them with one arm free for a while, then the other arm, then made the wrap really loose. We didn't have any problem stopping.

On a side note. i would swaddle them for bed, prop them up and read them a book. Today they sit still (mostly) and listen to their bed time story. they love their books and i think it is because of this early calming experience

 

Rachel is right about NOT swaddling with legs straight. I have heard that about their hips. When they were older i left the wrap loose around their legs.

When they were little, a PT lady told me to make sure their legs are up close to their bodies when you swaddle. (the NICU did not do this)

DS even as a preemie, would lay with his legs straight instead of bent. A strange position for a newborn. When i swaddled him i really had to push his legs up. IF the wrap wasn't really good i would find him with his legs straight at the end of the nap. And if he wasn't wrapped his legs were always straight. I would put rolls under them to encourage him to bend his knees.
Today he is not as strong in his stomach muscles and has slight developmental delays. This is probably the reason.

Although, this week he crawled for the first time and stood up within 3 days or each other, so maybe he is catching up.

 

We stopped swaddling aboutn 3 months, and now use a sleep sack instead. They started breaking out of all swaddles we used, so we figured they didn't want it.

 

I stopped swaddling my first at 4 months when he started rolling over.

I stopped swaddling the babies around 6-8 weeks because I just hate swaddling and I was done (even when using the swaddle-me velcro ones or the halo velcro flaps I hated it). They actually did really well without it. I just switched to sleep sacks after that.

Oh, I didn't swaddle the twins during the day because they napped in their swings until they were 4 months old (DS stopped at 4 months and, well, DD sometimes still finds herself in the swing on a rough day ).

 

I swaddled ODD until she was probably 6 months or so. Not sure where we gave it up during the day but it was before the 6 month mark.

These two, I never swaddled during the day because they had no problem napping and I wanted a clear signal to them that daytime sleep is different from nighttime sleep. We stopped at about 3 months (I think?) because Livie was breaking out and rolling over and Sophie was getting close.