2 month old breaking out of the swaddle and rolling on his side

[Anonymous]

My two month old hates bring swaddled and usually fights it, but it's the only way he will sleep for extended periods of time. He can now break out of pretty much any swaddle that he tolerates. He hates the miracle blanket and cries and kicks his legs hysterically when we have tried it, so that isn't an option. He still has a strong Moro reflex and he scratches himself and wakes himself up when he breaks free. I know it's time to stop swaddling but he isn't ready to sleep hands free. Any suggestions on how to ease this transition??

[Anonymous]

STOP SWADDLING NOW - rolling on his side is an indication that he can roll over on this stomach. You know he can suffocate if he rolls over on his stomach and has no way to push his face off the mattress.

I hate swaddling. It has always seemed unnatural to me. Anyway, we swaddled for less than a month and then switched to the Magic Suit. It kept the baby on his back until he was old enough to safely sleep on his side.

[Anonymous]

Try the halo sleep sack with a swaddle. It's the only one my kids could ever tolerate. You will need to drop the swaddle in a month or so because it's not safe when they can roll. My three week old can roll on to her side though and we still swaddle her.

[Anonymous]

I could have written your post exactly. My tiny NICU baby started busting out of even nurse-made swaddles by the end of his 1st week!

I basically had to wait out the month or so between month 2 and his moro reflex calming down. It calmed down a lot by 3 months- it was a rough month of nights!

The only one he could deal with was the halo sleepsack with velcro swaddle. But if he really consistently rolls to his side, I'd say you are like me and in for a bit of sleeplessness before that relfex calms down. I stopped swaddling by 2- 2.5 months all together.

By 4 months he was rolling all over his crib at night even though he was taking more effort and concentration to roll like that while awake. So that becomes a whole new thing that will wake him up if he's an earlier roller. By 6 months I'm finding he doesn't wake up as easily from rolling around.

The light at the end of the tunnel is coming! But I'd say halo with velcro swaddle or just deal with stopping.

[Anonymous]

eh, you've only got a few more weeks of swaddling, tops, before baby can roll over and you HAVE to drop it. but it would be nice to have it for couple more weeks, i know.

maybe try dropping it for naps first? and i second the halo sleep sack with swaddle wings. some people transition by first leaving one arm out, then both. we found it worked best just to drop it altogether. (which we did around 3 months)