Swaddling

So my little girl keeps escaping from her swaddling blankets. And she just rolled over! So I am beginning to think about how to wean her from swaddling. The problem is that she wakes up all night long if she isn't swaddled, so I don't think she's quite ready yet. But then that just worries me BIG TIME about her sleeping once I have to stop swaddling. Is there some way to wean from swaddling? How do I get her to sleep without being swaddled?

 

We began weaning around the same time. I figured that if they were getting out of it then they really didn't want to be. So, I began putting them in sleep sacks and they did great - they were still warm but they didn't feel "Trapped" - which is what I think they didn't like in the first place.

 

I did it at 4 months. One arm out, then another, then I just switched them to a sleep sack. What would you know, they LOVE their sleep sack. They just love taking it to their mouth (the front is a bit loose) and sucking it, and it helps them fall asleep... although now they sleep on their tummy most of the time. Now I'm not sure they could sleep without it, but I'm not going to worry about it until they outgrow them all.

 

QUOTE(Fran27 @ Sep 10 2008, 09:11 PM) [snapback]974308[/snapback]
I did it at 4 months. One arm out, then another, then I just switched them to a sleep sack. What would you know, they LOVE their sleep sack. They just love taking it to their mouth (the front is a bit loose) and sucking it, and it helps them fall asleep... although now they sleep on their tummy most of the time. Now I'm not sure they could sleep without it, but I'm not going to worry about it until they outgrow them all.



So you started by swaddling with one arm out, and then the other?

 

Yes, but by then they usually woke up with their arms out anyway.

 

I decided to "wean" my girls from swaddling when they began rolling over, also. So, I just quit... cold turkey. It only took two days of "paci plugs" and no more swaddling. I was very surprised at how quickly it worked. (They were 3.5 months) FYI, those two nights involved a LOT of paci plugs, but the third... they slept right through and we never looked back.

One thought, you might want to try it on a weekend when you have some help in case it doesn't go so well. LOL!

 

I was going to wean them gradually (one arm at a time), but it ended up that they kind of weaned themselves. They kept breaking out of the swaddles, so one day we just quit. I thought that they would wake up a lot, but the first night they woke up only twice and after that they went back to sleeping through the night just fine. This was around 5 months I think