Weaning off the Swaddle

My babies both love to be swaddled. My son stopped wanting to be swaddled around 18 months on his own. I always swaddled him with his arms out because he loves to feel his hair until he falls asleep. My daughter needed to be swaddled arms down or she would wake herself up until she was about five months. Now I swaddle her arms out and only arms down if she is crying hard, it really calms her. When my son who is almost two was sick I swaddled him and it comforted him. I don't feel that it is something they really need to wean from. I understand that it would be disruptive to sleep if he cried for you to fix his blanket every time he unwrapped it. I think you should try wrapping him arms out and see if he adjusts well, that way he will still have the familiar comfort of being wrapped in a blanket that he has always known. I hope it goes well for you.
A.

I just had to comment on the teaching your son to suck his thumb. As a former thumb-sucker myself, who also spent three years in painful braces from the damage I did to my mouth sucking my thumb, I wouldn't recommend encouraging it. My teeth were perfect except for my top 4 front teeth that were bucked out, and the bottom 4 teeth that were pushed in. I also had trouble with warts on my thumb. I may be the exception, but if your son doesn't want to suck his thumb, why teach him to?

I can't remember when we weaned my daughter off the swaddle-me but it wasn't until she started coming out of it during the night (like your son). Once she did that, I started putting her in a sleepsack or wearable blanket. It has arm holes but I started her by just keeping her arms inside the sleepsack instead of putting them out the arm holes. I think it was enough like the swaddle so she could fall asleep and she usually didn't end up with her arms out the holes. After a few weeks of that she got used to it so I started putting her arms out to sleep and she was fine. Don't worry, there was no weaning off the sleepsack:) She went right to sleeping with just jammies once it was summer.

Try one of those sleep positioners. My son did really well with that when we put him in it, we didnt have to use it for long after we started.

My kids are older now, but we only swaddled them for a few weeks. I don't even know what a SwaddleMe is. I just know that I LOVE to sleep with a heavy afghan on my bed, it's comforting. Maybe try a small but heavy blanket. Occupational therapists have weighted blankets they use for kids with sensory issues, but I'm sure those are expensive. Deep pressure is calming, comforting. That's why most of us love hugs. :)

Funny- my 7 month old LOVES the swaddle as well and I have been trying to ween him off of it as well.

During the day I do not swaddle if he sleeps while we are out and about, and at night I am trying not to re-swaddle if he gets out of it. Some nights it works, other times I am up A LOT! Good luck.

Just like being rocked or learning to sleep in their own bed a swaddler may just have to learn how to sleep like other babies. As hard as it may be to hear them cry your best bet is to check on him every 5-10 minutes and make sure he is ok. You'll just have to let him get the hang of it. Maybe give him his swaddler as a blankie next to him since it is obviously a comfort to him. Maybe he will sooner or later just hold it and sleep just as well. But just remember to be careful of too many loose blankets in the crib. Make sure it is a breathable material. Good Luck and hang in there.

My older son was swaddled until he was about 6 months old. I am pretty sure I just stopped doing it because it was summer, he was too warm, and he was starting to wiggle out. I did then end up rocking and nursing him to sleep until he was just over a year. If he woke at night, I would rock and nurse him again. Sometimes I brought him to bed with me.

I don't believe in letting them cry, it seems a horrible way to fall asleep to me. I have chosen to rock my children to sleep until they are old enough to understand that we are there for them and they can fall asleep on their own. My older son is now two and sleeps like a champ, goes to bed easy, and naps great most days. Of course there are nights that aren't perfect, but that will happen no matter what sleep method you use.

Something also to note, I remember thinking my son would NEVER fall asleep on his own, would never sleep though the night, etc. But now, a year later, all those things are distant memories. They are only little for a very short period of time, and as long as you do what works for you, your family will be happy.

Good luck!
J.
SAHM to 6 month old Joey and 2 year old Charlie

My daughter slept swaddled until she was around 6 - 7 mos. old. My pediatrician said that was fine. She never slept as well after we quit swaddling her until we started putting her down to sleep on her belly at around 9 mos. I think being on her belly makes her feel more secure. I know that the current medical advice is to put them down on their backs, so you'll have to decide whether putting your son on his belly feels right to you.

We pretty much went cold turkey at 5 and half months because he could get out of the swaddle within a few minutes. It also co-incided with switching him from our bed to his crib. I didn't do any partial swaddling. Basically, I would put him to bed without the swaddle and then if he couldn't go to sleep, I would try it. He learned to go to sleep without it pretty easily. The crib was harder.

My daughter was about 6 months when I decided to stop with the swaddler. I would rock her all the way to sleep and then lay her down with her arms kind of pinned by a blanket (just tucked underneath her back). She would get out easily, but she seemed to do ok. We did that for a while then I started not tucking the blanket, and she was fine with that. Then around 7 months I stopped rocking her all the way to sleep and laid her down on her own. Now she's the bet sleeper ever!

Every baby is different... I am not against letting a baby cry, but I don't really recommend that. I would just slowly modify what you're doing and your baby will adjust little by little.

OR if you don't think he's ready to give up the swaddler just yet, I would recommend a swaddler by Snug N Tug (snugandtug.com). They make swaddlers for older babies and they are really really nice and strong holding - there's practically no way your son could get out. I don't see a point in rushing the weaning if you aren't ready either.

Hope this helps!

It was my understanding that you should try to wean from the swaddle at 4 months and that soon after the reflex to twitch during sleep goes away. My daughter is 3 months old and we were using the miracle blanket at night but during the day we do not swaddle her (we never have). She has been getting out of the miracle blanket swaddle for the last month. She has a small blanket that she likes to hold and put in her mouth. She has also started to comfort herself with her hand. Another thing we did was only wrap her torso andlegs with a blanket so she could still use her hands. Also try sleeping on stomach. That may work as well. Good luck!

We swaddled our son until he was about 6 months old. We used oversized flannel swaddling blankets up until then. Around that time, he was able to squirm his way out of the blankets because of his size and strength. I had wanted to switch to a swaddle me or something of the sort, but he was too big for that too. We decided to go cold turkey on the swaddling because we found him one morning with the blanket over his face.

Around the same time, I discovered a sleep sack that had long sleeves and hand covers (our son was swaddled because along with startling, he was a face scratcher and hair puller). We started using the sleep sacks, and I rocked him all the way to sleep - until he was soundly asleep. After a week or so of that, I rocked him only until he was lightly asleep, and then laid him in his crib, and rubbed his back (after we removed the swaddle, he slept best on his side). After a week of that, I started laying him down when he was almost asleep, and then another week later, I laid him down fully awake, and rubbed his back if needed. Now, he'll celebrate his first birthday on Sunday, and he gets laid down fully awake and needs no extra soothing - he just falls asleep on his own. He does have paci's though, and I usually put four or so of them in the bed with him, and he reaches for them and holds them as he falls asleep.

We're not comfortable letting our son CIO, so this worked well for us. It took some time, but it was gentle for him, and felt right to us. When we woke during the night, I would go in, rock him to the same level of sleepiness that I was rocking him at bedtime. He no longer wakes at night, and on the off chance he does, he goes back to sleep on his own. The only reason I can tell he's woken is because his breathing changes. (He's in his own room, but we usually have the monitor turned up pretty high).

Good luck!

Have you tried a sleepsack instead? we swaddled our son til about this age too. they cant kick off the sleepsack and their arms are free. Our son liked the sleepsack but he is getting too big now for that.

My son slept swaddled until 9 or 10 months. I started with 1 arm, then 2, and finally quit altogether. He did not have a hard time with this at all, even though I worried about it. I don't think there is anything wrong with keeping them swaddled as long as they need. He may need to fuss and take a little time to figure out how to calm himself to sleep. Each child is different with this, so I'm not going to say let him cry it out or not. The only method that works for my son IS letting him cry it out and not letting him see us checking on him.

Good luck!