My nearly 6 1/2 month dd are still wrapped for all their sleeps and naps, and I'm starting to wonder if this is more of a hinderance or help. T1 wakes alot at night and T2 doesn't sleep for much more than 1/2 hr through the day. T2 is a bit bigger and stronger, so she often wriggles her way out anyway. I just don't know whethr to just put the wraps away completely or gradually do one arm, then the other etc. I was thinking I'd get a couple of very lightweight sleeping bags instead as we live in quite a hot climate. Thoughts?
We swaddled until it seemed like they no longer wanted or needed it, which was probably after 4 months or later. They would wake up with their arms out, seemed to hate being confined, etc. We did sleep sacks for a while before moving to PJs. It was a very fluid transition. Let them lead the way and it should go fairly easily. Good luck!
We stopped wrapping them around 2.5 months.I think they didn't like it anymore (don't remember why we stopped) instead of wrapping, we used receiving blanket cover them from armpits down, left their hand out, then tucked the blanket underneath them (their back). Its kindda wrap but not wrap. Does it make sense? They were ok with that. And enventually we got rid of doing that too. Now they have blankets for naps (still we leave their arms out), sleep sacks for night time.gl!
I did it gradually with DS and cold turkey with the girls. DS was much older (closer to 6 months) so I started with naps. I left one arm out for a week or so until he got used to it and then the next arm. After that we transitioned to a sleep sac. Once he was doing it fine for naps I did night time cold turkey and it seemed to be ok. The girls were a lot yonger when I stopped (2 months). They didn't seem to like it or need it as much as DS did so I just did it cld turkey all at once and they didn't seem to notice. I use sleep sacs for them too. Good luck!
I have one that seems to end up with 1 arm out and plays with her dummy (pacifier) and the other is a bit bigger and seems to wriggle her way out anyway. Having said that though, they seem to like being wrapped still and it is their cue that it is sleep time. i am thinking that i might just go cold turkey with a sleep bag, but it's a scary thought as they are not even close to STTN and we don't need something else that will cause less sleep. On the other hand it has to happen one day.....sigh...
We went cold turkey. For four months they slept with them for bedtime, for six months for naptime. I thought for sure they would wake all the time, etc. But it was a very easy transition. Give it a try, if it doesn't work, you could swaddle them up and leave an arm or two free, and go from there. Good luck!
We did arms out a couple nights first (but they did that on their own already), then moved to sleep sacks at 4.5 months. We had no problems.
Well I just pulled out an old sleeping bag and put t2 in out of sheer frustration as she woke up yet again after 20mins. After a few minutes she realised that she couldn't get her legs out and she was not happy!!! :woohoo: Bad mummy that I am, I was thinking, "Ha! I f you had gone to sleep, I wouldn't have to do this!" Anyway after a modified CIO session, she has eventually gone to sleep in the bag. I have no idea how long for, but I'll be happy with an hour! :lazy: I've ordered another couple and when they arrive, I think we'll just cold turkey the girls.
We just loosely wrapped until it was pointless to use the swaddle blankets as they would always wiggle out. Then we wrapped a blanket horizontally around them from the shoulders down (like they were burritos) so still wrapped them, but then gradually the "wrap" became looser and looser. Both boys love their blankies and like to chew on the edges to fall asleep so they still cuddle up with their blankets around them. Personally I vote for do it gradually and follow their cues.
I have started giving them a little blankie they were given at birth to snuggle and hopefully use as a security comfort. t2 that is wriggling out of her wrap is strong enough that she also wriggles out of blankets as well. Personally, I would rather still wrap, but they are big babies (t1 is around 9kg and t2 is prob closer to 10kg) and we live in a very hot area so I think it's prob time.
When my kids started wriggling out of the swaddle on their own we just switched to sleep sacks cold turkey. They did just fine! Part of the reason to swaddle is so the arms don't fly up and wake themselves with the startle reflex, and I think they are over that by about 4 months or so. The other benefit of ditching the swaddle was that my boys could turn themselves over when they were ready and they slept much better on their tummies.
