My 7.5-month-old still needs to be swaddled to fall asleep. Occasionally she falls asleep in her swing without being swaddled and once in awhile she will fall asleep nursing without being swaddled, but she always wakes up when I move her to her bed. Then she cries like crazy until I swaddle her and rock her back to sleep. Even when she's really tired, she will not sleep without being swaddled. It's like she needs to be held very tight in order to go to sleep. She also wakes up in the middle of the night several times to nurse.
I want to try sleep training her at 9 months, like I did with my oldest daughter, but I feel like we need to get over the swaddling issue first. Any advice on getting her to learn to sleep without being swaddled?
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I'm almost positive the nighttime nursing is just for comfort and not because she's hungry. She doesn't nurse for long. We're usually back in bed 10 minutes later.
She's definitely strong enough to sleep on her tummy. She's been holding her head up since the day she was born, and now she's practically crawling. However, it's getting her to sleep without the swaddle that's the problem. When I put her into the bed not in the swaddle but on her tummy, she gets confused and stays on her hands and knees and cries. She doesn't know that she can sleep that way.
We sleep trained at 4 months old. Been sleeping like logs ever since. Little man remained swaddled until 9 months old.
We used the book series "On becoming Babywise". Very easy to read, how to - owner's manual.
Ferber is similar and also works well.
It's normal for a 7.5 month old to still wake to nurse -- if it's happening a LOT, it may not be for hunger, but my child only ever nursed for 5 mins at a time, and took a whole feeding in that time, so the length of time doesn't necessarily reflect the amount of food, depending on how efficiently they nurse.
As for not swaddling, I'd recommend starting by swaddling with one arm out for naps and let her get adjusted to that. Then swaddle with both arms for naps and let her get adjusted to that. Then stop swaddling for naps. We did it as a gradual transition and always introduced new sleep stuff during naps before introducing it at night, and found it worked well.
Let her sleep however she's comfortable. My child did the same thing on the belly for a long time, but sometime after 1 year started belly sleeping.
If you're thinking of checking out Babywise, I'd recommend reading some about the controversy behind it and why the AAP recommends against it. http://www.ezzo.info/
I think you can sleep train regardless of the swaddling.
It's just another habit in the cycle there that you'll be breaking. Sleep training will address sleeping overall, and if your goal is for her to learn how to self soothe so that she can sleep without you, you'll need the swaddling habit to go, too.
So I would just tackle it all at once. When you start sleep training, stop swaddling.
Question-do you swaddle for naps during the day? If so, start by not swaddling for those. Just a suggestion-this is what we did with our daughter. It helped with the transition for night time without the swaddle. Also, I have a friend who swaddled her daughter until she was 10 months old because that is the way she liked to sleep-I am all for a rested family! As for the nursing at night, I always suggest what worked for me. At 9 months my daughter got up twice to nurse but it was solely for comfort. Instead, when she woke up, Dad would go to her and offer a bottle with water in it. (she had taken an occasional bottle of breast milk when we had a babysitter) That cut out one of the wake ups after one night. By the end of the week she was no longer getting up. She backtracked a few times, naturally, but we were fine with letting her cry-its whatever you can tolerate. Some people are not into crying it out, which I understand, but we were fine with it and it worked. Hoping some of this was helpful-good luck!
My advice won't be popular but I had 8 kids and 7 of those slept from birth on their stomach. I know that was in the pre SIDS day but they slept so much better on the tummy which is similar in feeling to swaddling. There is a more secure feel than being flat on the back all open to the world. I would try putting her down on her tummy for naps where you can check often and then if she is turning over, should be by now, it won't hurt her to be on her stomach or back. If there is a way to warm the sheet come before laying her down that helps too. When some of mine were babies I put a blanket on top of the sheet as it's warmer. I wouldn't do that if it concerns you though. Also I might add that by 7.5 months they know they can get you to come if they wake so that's one thing to consider and not go in when she wakes and she should learn to go back to sleep. As for the night nursing, do you give her any other food or just nurse her? My kids all slept through the night so I don't know what to tell you about that but you need to be sure she is really hungry and not just wanting you. Then either feed her some food and see if that helps or wait it out until she will go without feedings at night. I would not swaddle a child this old at all. It's more dangerous than sleeping on the tummy. The arms are tight and she can't turn over if she needed to or do much else.
Why not sleep train her in the swaddle? My 2nd and 3rd were both great sleepers (in the swaddle and with a binky). They eventually outgrew both.
My son woke for a short midnight "snack" until he was almost 1, then went right back to sleep.
I think this is all normal.
She should be rolling over now. Let her sleep on her tummy.
You want to put her in her crib slightly awake so she gets used to falling asleep on her own.
