My LO turns 6 months next week and we still swaddle her for naps and bedtime. We have tried gradually weaning her by unswaddling one arm or leg at a time and we've tried going cold turkey. She will not fall asleep without being swaddled! If she breaks out, she wakes up and will not go back to sleep until we reswaddle her. We are lucky that she just closes her eyes and drifts off the second we wrap her arms up even before we are done wrapping but I'm afraid we will swaddle her until she is 18! Help!
Thanks so much for all of your advice! We haven't put to much emphasis on sleeping without a swaddle. We just would try for a little then just swaddle her up. Gipsy now sleeps all night without the swaddle and she is still swaddled for naps. If it helps her sleep then great! We will wait a little longer and hopefully she will just let us now she doesn't need it anymore.
HEHE LOL!
Sounds like this little girl is learning how to manipulate Mom & Dad.
But seriously, I have no advice to offer but wish you lick!
S.
babies and kids actually do most things on there own. When she outgrows it, she will be fine on her own. I would keep going until she lets you know she doesn't need it anymore. Why make her cry over something like this?
I swaddled for 5 months. When I decided to unswaddle, I put 2 sleep wedges under her crib sheet and put her on her side snuggly between the wedges. She still felt snug and slept fine. Eventually we started moving the wedges further apart and now she's all over the crib!!
I would just wait until she is ready. I swaddled my son until he was 7-8 months old and my friend is still swaddling her 8 month old daughter. :-) She will out grow it.
Best of luck!
My daughter was swaddled until about 8 months. Like your baby, mine started making her way out about 6 months. Around 7 months, we would stop swaddling during her naps(sometimes noisey)but still swaddled at night. She slept 12 hours so I figured if she woke up just long enough to be reswaddled, then I would just deal with it. She is now 4 and still sleeps 12 hours a night....and she is not swaddled! :)
N.
LoL when you figure it out let me know!! My son is 7 mos. old and ditto to everything you said. My hubby and I decided that when he grows out of it we'll have no choice but to go cold turkey but I don't know.... He just loves his snuggly! I was actually thinking of making him a larger size since the ones in the store only go up to size lg.
H.
mom to a 7 year old and a 7 month old both boys and loves of my life! Oh and a hubby too! :)
Why not just keep swaddling her? It keeps her asleep which means everyone else gets to sleep=)
Hi H..... Mine out grew the swaddling when they we able to roll around, but as hard as it might be I would stop Cold Turkey. It will be hard for the first day or so, but after that your little one will forget all about it. It's funny; these little ones are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. Mine try to out smart me everyday!
When my husband and I decided to stop doing the night time feeding, it took 2 nights of them crying and then after that they figured out that we weren't coming in their room and I am proud to say they slept from 7:00pm - 7:00am, it was sure tough those first 2 days though...
Good Luck!
Why does she need to stop being swaddled? Really, don't worry about timelines or so caled 'habits' or that your baby will want to be swaddled in college.... Look at the BIG picture....every baby is different and each have different needs for different lengths of time. Some hate swaddling from day 1, while others prefer it until they are much, much older. Let her enjoy it and she will tell you when she doesn't need it anymore. Follow your baby...she knows what she needs for a good nights rest.
I think the advice to let her cry or abruptly change what is working well is very selfish and cold to a little baby.... babies look to you for love, trust and care at this young stage in life. Save the "I'm bigger, stronger and I'll show you" attitudes that are offered on here for when you have a difficult high schooler or college kid :-) Sure, letting them cry will prove that you are bigger and can 'win' if that is what is important to you...and sure, they will settle after a while and stop calling for you night after night...but it's simply because they have been trained to know that you are not there for them at night...how sad.
Swaddling is what makes her happy, comfortable and easy going....why mess with it and make her unhappy, miserable and difficult????? Follow your instincts....
DH and I swore we were going to have to teach our son's college roommate how to swaddle him!! We finally gave up the swaddle at around 10 mos. Our son was a crappy sleeper with or without the swaddle -- just seemed a bit better when swaddled. He slept swaddled in the swing for the first 10 mos of his life (can't believe I'm admitting that!). But you know, we did what we had to do to survive!! :-)
We finally got serious and cut out the swaddle, moved him to his crib and did the "sleep lady shuffle" to get him to sleep. After about a week of hell, we had a great sleeper and (knock on wood), he's pretty much remained that way.
We swaddled my dd until about five or six months...and after worrying that she'd out grow her blanket, we swaddled a little more losely every few days. Now, she sleeps with the blanket we swaddled her with, but she's 'free'. lol
Good luck!
We had that problem... I don't know the magic solution for you, but what you are doing helped us eventually, but know that we had the same fears! Our son is just over one and he has been sleeping unswaddled for about 5 months now... It takes a few sleepless nights, but she will eventually adjust to it... Some things that helped us were the crib toys (baby neptune soothing seascapes) and 100% cotton footed pjs...
You are not alone in this!!! It will pass (and then you'll be ready for the next challenge!!! It is a labor of love even after the labor! LOL) :) Hope this helps!
I would not worry and would keep swaddling her, they go thru phases. With my baby, 14 months now, I used to be able to put her right down without any kind of routine. Right before she turned a year I rocked her for a nap and have been doing it since (with a few exceptions). She won't go down without being rocked but the way I look at it now is that I WILL NEVER HAVE THIS CHANCE WITH HER AGAIN!! My oldest I could rock but could not put down, my middle I could put down but never let me rock her. I love my rocking time with her more than anything right now ~ maybe not the same as swaddling but they grow SO FAST ~ enjoy doing this for her now!! Good luck, S.
