Hi ladies. My LO just thruned 3 months old. Since when he was just born he always hated to be swaddled and because he is a pretty big baby (9lbs 9oz at birth and 16lbs 7 oz now) easily kicked out of all the swaddles. We use "sleep sack" for naps and sleep. He cries and tries to get his arms out of it but when he actually does, he flails them arounds and wakes himself up. Last night I discovered him sleeping on his stomach while swaddled with his head turned to the side. I knew he could turn to the side but never saw him turn to his stomach before. This made me nervous because he was still swaddled and I don't think would be able to turn himself back on his back. When did you stop swaddling your babies? When do they stop flailing their arms and waking themselves up? Thanks!
Mine hated to be swaddled. They were movers. By three months they were regularly rolling from back to stomach while they slept, so I am sure swaddling would have been out of the question at that stage.
We swaddled until 9 months. Her pediatrician said if it was working, why stop? But she loved the swaddle. Not all kids do.
Does he not go back to sleep after waking himself up? I suggest that because your baby doesn't like to be swaddled and he's started rolling over don't swaddle. When he wakes up, give him time to learn to put himself back to sleep. Don't respond when he wakes up.
One of my grandchildren did not like to be swaddled and thus never was. He learned to go back to sleep when he woke himself up and after a short time stopped waking up. Sleeping is a learning opportunity.
My daughter swaddled till about 6 months, my boys didn't at all. I think once they can roll your supposed to stop anyways.
It was suggested to me to stop swaddling when my son could roll over. At 4 months, he started trying to roll and I started to wean him from it. it took a while because my son was ADDICTED to his swaddle! He wouldn't flail and wake up, but he couldn't fall asleep without one. As a matter of fact, my very first mamapedia question was how to get him out of it! What worked for us was swaddling only one arm in and eventually getting the other arm out too. It took a couple of weeks to get used to it. I think I might have only started with nap time too, and then moved to night sleeping. Good luck!
I researched at what age the research says to stop swaddling. There is no firm answer but no studies showed the need to stop because they rolled over. There are NO deaths attributed to this unless there were bumpers, bedding or other soft things by the child. So as long as you keep his bed clear of obstructions you are fine.
And the size of your child is not an issue. I have swaddled children who are 20 lbs or more. You just need a big enough blanket and you roll them like a burrito.
I do not stop swaddling until they are taking perfect naps and sleeping well each night for at least 2 weeks. Then I might try stopping if they were resisting it, but if it messed up their sleep it would be right back to swaddling. Sleep is so much more important then people give it credit.
