Stopping to swaddle

[Anonymous]

Our 5.5 mo old son started rolling over recently, and a few nights ago flipped over while swaddled. We stopped swaddling him, and have had a few really rough nights. He seems unable to sleep more than 2 hours at a time.

We had been planning on sleep training him soon anyhow, and are wondering if others have found a way to transition kids this age out of the swaddle without too many sleepless nights.

[Anonymous]

I was so ridiculously nervous about this process, and then it went much more smoothly than I had imagined.

First, we started with one arm out for 2 or 3 nights. Then, we left the other arm out for a couple of nights. The first night I left both arms out, he went to sleep fine, but then he woke up periodically throughout the night. That only lasted two nights.

My advice to you would be to make a plan and then stick to it. You won't have many sleepless nights so long as you don't go in and give him attention. I'd get some earplugs. He'll adjust very quickly if he's anything like my son, and then you'll be so pleased with the ease of the bedtime routine now that burrito-wrapping is no longer involved. (I do miss my little burrito though)

Oh, we did this at 6 mos, so very much the same time as you.

[Anonymous]

I'll be very interested in hearing others' experiences, too. My DD is 4.5 months, and currently is *double* swaddled (Miracle blanket with a Aden+Anais cloth over it, to prevent her from breaking out of it). Some of her shorter naps are in toga or half-swaddle with just the cloth, so we tried it for night-time sleep last night. Total fail - she was up every hour till midnight (went to bed at 7 PM), until midnight, when we said to hell with it and wrapped her up. So I don't know whether to continue to try to let her sleep with her hands out so she can get used to it, or if she's simply not ready. People say I'll know when she's ready because she'll keep wriggling out, but she's been doing that since she was six weeks old. So I, too, would love to know how others handled this.

[Anonymous]

My DS was also a double-swaddled little one and when he decided he was done with the swaddle at 4.5 months, we couldn't transition easily -- the half swaddle thing did not work for us.

So I tried to hang out with him while he fell asleep without the swaddle, but he just cried and cried. So that very night we started the Ferber method (I'd read up on it and had planned to do it at 5-6 months). It worked well for us. We were down to less than five minutes of crying within a week.

[Anonymous]

We switched from swaddle to sleep-sack at 16 weeks and never looked back. Are you transitioning to something like a sack? Your DC might be used to something on his legs and feels too "free" without anything there.

[Anonymous]

We were also double swaddlers until 4 months and she got out starting at 6 weeks. We were terrified to unswaddle but went straight to a sleep sack (which I considered cold turkey). Honestly, she slept better right away. In hindsight I think we may have even swaddled too long!
Miracle blanket people actually recommend going cold turkey too- I think letting them get one hand out, etc just prolongs everyones agony

[Anonymous]

This is the 20:31 poster replying to the person whose baby is double-swaddled. Mine was too until 6 mos. I used a Youtube video as my guide-- miracle blanket underneath, Kiddopotamous on top. I felt insane doing it, but you know what, it was glorious sleep.

I know it was time to deswaddle not because he was wriggling out but because he wasn't sleeping as well, so just like your baby, he had been escaping like Houdini from a very young age. That was NOT what indicated to me that he was done. It was around the holidays last year when this happened, and he was seriously crying out every two hours all night long. I had the most exhausted Christmas ever- even worse than the one the year before when I was still in the first trimester of my pregnancy! That's how I knew it was time to transition. He was just too big and too alert and too mobile.

[Anonymous]

06:14, thanks for the insight. Yeah, I'd also say that my daughter isn't ready because she does sleep a good long chunk (8 or 9 hours, most of the time) when she's double-swaddled. But did your baby wake up as soon as her hands were free? Mine does, and she doesn't put herself back to sleep. I suppose Ferber will take care of that. I'm thinking we'll do it around 5 or 6 months as well. We're going to try hands-free for her long mid-day nap. If she wakes up, should I help her get back to sleep, or let her stay awake (if she's not crying) in the crib? It's her only good nap of the day and I hate to mess with it.

[Anonymous]

all that "one arm out" bs didn't work for us. we tried to break the swaddle gently and last weekend, DS turned 6 months and we CIOed and broke swaddle same night. We used extinction method, not Ferber. I had sleep, glorious sleep after that. We got one more swaddle month out of the double swaddle al la 6:14 style. Now that my child is free, it turns out he always sleeps on his side or belly. who knew?

8:13, this might be the beginning of the end for your swaddling. My DS started waking at 4 then 2 and 4, then 11, 2, and 4, and then 9, 11, 2, and 4. Then I was sleep deprived. Then I couldnt' drive to the store on the weekend b/c I was so dizzy, and then we sleep trained. all is well now. So far.

[Anonymous]

Second the sleep sack transition, but we transitioned earlier b/c DS started flipping onto belly around 3 months. He had been wriggling one or both arms free from the start, so moving from a swaddle to a sleep sack was barely a transition at all.

[Anonymous]

I cannot understand you chicks who think it's okay to let your infants cry themselves to sleep. WTF?

[Anonymous]

Dear 12:03.
I am 11:13. since my doctoral research was based in attachment theory, i was surprised that I let my child cry himself to sleep too. however, it took 35 min when the gentle method of breaking the swaddle had him crying on and off for 90 minutes before we re-swaddled tightly and he woke 2 hours later. We CIOed and the second night, he cried for under 2 minutes. He LOVES sleep. Since CIO he's been sleeping 12 hours (7-7). So upon reflection, i think it was the better choice for him than doing what we were doing. now, like magic, I place him in his crib, hand him something to chew on, and he's asleep in less than 5 minutes. It's amazing!

[Anonymous]

I could have written this post this morning if I'd had time this morning or more than 4 hours sleep last night! I assumed that DS's recent night wakings were the "four month sleep regression" but now I'm wondering if it's more related to needing to transition from the swaddle. We've been trying the one arm out technique for a few days, but last night was terrible. Up at 10p, 2:30a, 4:30a, 6:30a!!!

I never thought I'd do CIO, but it often works in the car when he's tired and I'm driving. I think I need to read up on CIO - any book recommendations? (I know I've seen a few in previous threads, but I can't ever find anything using the search function.) TIA

[Anonymous]

@08:13- absolutely. He would wake up as soon as a hand was free, but he wasn't really breaking out of the double swaddle (and if you'd like a good method, check out this video, ha ha: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aRvmtYvtWU I feel like this woman helped save my sanity.

So, here's the sleep theory I've found most valid over the last 15 mos: babies (or at least mine) sleep better if the conditions upon falling asleep are the same as upon waking up in between sleep cycles. So if my baby started out swaddled and ended up half-swaddled, we were in for a rough night. If he started out unswaddled, he might wake up upset, but was able to get himself through it, even if it took 15 minutes of crying (which is rough in the middle of the night, but it was VERY short-lived).

I like to think about it like this: if your baby is already going 8-9 hours at a stretch, you know she has it in her. It's not like you have a baby who's only sleep 3 hours at a stretch and you're just hopeful she'll go to 8-9 hours, so don't worry. Deswaddling will NOT be the end of your full night's sleep, it just might take a few days (or a week) to get into a new groove. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

15:51:
http://weissbluthmethod.wordpress.com/
Weissbluth has a book and a blog.
His book is long but the part on "extinction" is a page. He also outlines another approach in a few pages that is Ferber more or less.