Transitioning Baby Out of Swaddle

I know I am a little late on this response...but we dealt with a similar thing around here with my daughter, born Aug 26. She too used the Miracle Blanket and kept waking herself up by hitting herself in the face, etc. if I left her unswaddled. The answer = the woombie. It has been a dream. http://www.thewoombie.com/

My daughter loves it. She sleeps just as well in the woombie as she did in her Miracle Blanket...she just has greater mobility. She is able to suck her hands and fingers through the woombie. Also...she can roll forward and backward in this too. The woombie website doesn't recommend that; however, we have not had a problem with it. She can easily maneuver herself around in it. Good luck!

We did the same- one arm out at first for a few nights. When we first tried this, he woke up after a few hours so we fully swaddled again and tried again after a week or so. According to Dr. Karp (Happiest Baby) some babies need to be swaddled till 6 months or so. Also, if your son is too long for the miracle blanket but still needs swaddling, just leave his legs out totally. It's only the arms they need wrapped!

If he likes being swaddled keep it going. My experience is that babies sleep better when swaddled, in a sling or when lying on top of a parent. If you want him to have motion when he wakes, you can loosen the swaddle after he's fallen asleep. Good Luck. :)

We transitioned by not wrapping it so tightly, then letting out one arm toga style, then both arms out, and finally, just getting rid of it altogether. I think we did this around 4 months or so.

We definitely followed his lead and he continued to show signs of being 'okay' with this change.

My MIL made me some large, flannel receiving blankets. Large enough to swaddle for many, many months. Both my kids loved to be swaddled but also liked to have their hands free. With bigger receiving blankets you can do this. I swaddled and freed their hands and both were quite happy and still slept as well. Eventually they were strong enough to work themselves out of the swaddle and continued to sleep with just the blanket on them. My daughter did this sooner as she is bigger. She is 10 months old and I just tuck a couple of blankets around her, she is fine.

This has some great info:

http://pregnant.thebump.com/new-M.-new-dad/newborn-basics...

I just started letting arms out at first, then left the blanket loose. Eventually we just started using a sleep sack. It might be hard the first few nights but it should get better. Good luck!

We have a nice snug swaddle with velcro. Our daughter stayed in hers for a long time and rarely had any trouble. But our son is much more mobile in his sleep, and he started at about 3-4 months, breaking out of the swaddle, or moving his arms up to his face. But he would be stuck there because the velcro was still attached. The odd position would wake him up. So, I tried a few things, but the best transition method I came up with was to just lay his baby blanket over him and then tuck it under him from shoulders to toes. His body weight keeps it in place while he's falling asleep, but he can still reposition himself while staying asleep, without being all wrapped up in something. Now, I pretty much just lay the blanket over him, and he proceeds to flip over and turn around all night long, but at about 8 months now, he's gradually gotten better at sleeping, usually for about 10 hours.

I would not stop swaddling him. He isn't dying to rub his eyes, that is just a reaction to the light or to you being there. They make bigger sized swaddling blankets at Babies R Us you can find them. I swaddle them until they are about 8 mos old, some as old as 10 mos. They sleep so well swaddled, don't mess with it!!

We swaddled our son until he was 12 months. He just really enjoyed sleeping that way. Sometime during the night, he would get out of it, but he always wanted to be swaddled when he went to sleep. We just used a light blanket to pin his arms down and wrapped him like a baby burrito. Then at about 12 months, he was able to go to sleep unswaddled without any problems. We read a story, told him it was time to go to sleep and then layed him down in his crib with his pacifier, and he went right to sleep. I would just swaddle him for as long as he wants to be swaddled. It will work itself out later. Good luck!

I've been trying to wean my 5 month old from the swaddle. I tried over and over again when he was younger, but he kept waking himself up with his arms. Just recently, I have had a lot of luck with letting him fall back asleep unswaddled after night/early morning feedings - when he is particularly groggy. I was sitting him up to burp him and then placing him back down while he is still half asleep, but he is seeming to require a burp less and less - so, I often will just place him down on the bed after he falls asleep in my arms. No, he does not sleep as soundly unswaddled; however, the updside is that I can just let him fall asleep - so night feedings are more frequent, but shorter in duration.