When Should I Stop Swaddling My Baby?

I know how you feel... the longer you wait the harder it will be to break the habit. The best way to do it is gradually. Let her sleep with one arm out until she is okay with that. Then loose the swaddler. It will probably be rough for a night or two, but putting it off will only make it harder later. And my Izzy, who was totally reliant on the swaddler, is now the best sleeper ever- she goes to sleep completely on her own and meerly LETS me rock her for a few minutes.

I swaddled my daughter in some form or other until she was about 12 months. We started off when she was young with it wrapped tightly and as she grew older we were able to loosen it slightly, put 1 or both arms outside or both legs. We just played with it until we found what she wanted at that time in her development. After awhile, we fastened it under her arms and between her legs to add more warmth. The deep pressure provided by the swaddling was very comforting to her. I have heard that it might cause hip problems if you do it tightly for too long but I don't know if that's true or not.
:)

I don't know what other mom's have said but we stopped swaddling when our daughter indicated she was ready. ( kicking to get her legs out,etc ) I was never really good at swaddling in the first place ( my husband was great at it...weird! ) Anyways...I believe she was about 6 or 7 mos...do you use those sleepers at all? The ones that act like swaddling?? I think their called swaddlers?? Maybe transition her into one of those if you're concerned about her having a hard time adjusting? If she's uncomfortable then maybe she isn't ready. Try it at nap time and see what happens?? She won't want to be swaddled forever so I wouldn't worry too much. ( yeah, I need to take my own advice!! HA!! ) Our baby girl was also a great sleeper and we didn't have any trouble at all. Good luck!!

stop worrying about it. she'll let you know. if you're swaddling and she likes it, then keep doing it.

Hi B.,

We swaddled my 18 month old son until he was between 8 and 9 months and would work himself out of it anyway. We still wrap him up in a blanket before he goes to sleep, especially on nights he's not feeling good, but he always moves around a bunch before going to sleep. I worried about the same with him, but he kinda led the situation. When he could go to sleep without being swaddled, that's when we stopped making it a necessity. Hope this helps.

Hi B.-
We swaddled our son until he was about 7 or 8 months old. He was born in April, so even in the summer he wanted to be saddled. If we didnt, for fear he was to hot, he would wake up crying, until we wrapped him up again. When it was time to stop, he gave us obvious signs that he didnt want it any more.
Enjoy your baby!!

Okay, my first daughter I could not get the hang of it. But when we moved to California she had some really difficult time adjusting and sometimes would throw terrible fits, I know that with children with behavioral problems it works so I swaddled my two year old in a huge sheet. It worked! So I say if she sleeps great and isn't struggling to free herself do it. It mimics the feel of the womb. With my son, I got bigger blankets and we worked it out! When on vacation out of the country I swaddled him to get him on their schedule. Be happy she likes it.

I swaddled my daugther until she was 18 months old. When she was done she was done. We have a large quilt that we used as she got older and she loved it. We never had any problems from swaddling her. She is now 2 1/2 and she loves to have "snuggle bugs" before bed. We take the same quilt we used to swaddle her with and tuck it tightly around her before she goes to sleep.

My older daguther never liked to be swaddled beyond 4 months but we did do the snuggle bug thing with her when she went into a big girl bed. She loved it and we did it everynight until she was about 3 1/2 and now on really cold night she still likes even though she is 8.

If you are worried about her being to big to swaddle in the tradtional or even over sized receiving blankets you can always make her a larger one or a quilt. I made all my blankets for my girls and they are 1 1/2 yards by 1 1/4 yards. For thin ones I used one layer of flannel and used bias tape to sew up the edges. I also made one with two layers of flannel for warmer days and her quilt is 100% cotton with thicker batting in between.

My oldest had to be swaddled. We swaddled him until he started rolling around in the crib basicly.
We slowly let him decide it was time to stop. We'd swaddle him when when we put him down, he'd kick it off in the night, when he woke up I'd feed him/change diaper etc then swaddle him back up again until the next time he woke up when he'd have kicked it off again himself.
The transition was slow and he didn't mind as I guess it was on his terms.
Once we had to remove the sleep positioner and he rolled around the crib on his own is when we stopped and by then he was ready for it.
We also started keeping the blanket a bit looser and only under his armpits, he was a thumb sucker so he had to get to them LOL That way it can be kicked of naturally and not be do tight as to bother them. We never used those new special swaddling blankets as they weren't around with my oldest, they were brand new when my second was born but he wasn't a swaddler so we never tried them. I don't know if you have the diversity of how to put them on with those and I don't know if you're using them. If you are I would maybe suggest going to regular blankets to be able to slowly transition away from them.

Hi B.,

We swaddled our baby girl until about six months old (she's now 18 months). She started letting us know that she didn't want it anymore by wriggling her arms out of the top of the swaddle -- no matter how tight we got it! Just follow your baby's cues. It won't be uncomfortable for her when you remove the swaddle if you let her tell you that she doesn't need it anymore.

Hi - we swaddled out baby girl until she was about 6 months. She was sleeping through the night when swaddled & was not sleeping as well when she wasn't, so we figured why mess with it. She started breaking out at about 6 months. On the advice of others, we didn't stop cold-turkey, but started her with one arm out for a week or so & then both arms out with her lower body still swaddled. After a few weeks, she was used to being "free" & continues to sleep well. She's 9 months now. To be honest, I don't know if we would have even stopped swaddling her that early if she hadn't started breaking free on her own. Hope this helps! :o)

I swaddled my daughter for 4.5 months... she CLEARLY let me know when she was done with it. I heard her moaning and groaning and grunting through the monitor but every time I'd go in her room, she was asleep. I assumed she was just struggling to get a poop out, finally when it got quiet, I went in to check on her again and see if she needed changed and she was completely out of her swaddle, on her belly, and fast asleep! I was like, oh, ok, she's done being swaddled. From that night on, we stopped swaddling, she continued to sleep through the night no problem. So I say keep swaddling, but look for those little signs. She will let you know when she's ready!

Hi B.! My name is M.. I'm a mother of 3 boys ranging in the ages of 12yrs. to 10 mos. Pretty much all their sleeping patterns have been the same considering I too swaddled them for a number of months after they were born. After 2-3 months of age, I started taking one arm out of the swaddle and then proceeded to both arms out. It took less than a week for all of them to fall asleep without being swaddled. Try that to see if it works, Im sure it will. My sons also let me know when they were out of the swaddling stage by kicking themselves free! It looked like a one man wrestling match...but with their eyes closed!!!