Hello ladies,
I have a 12 week old baby boy who was born 4 weeks early. In the beginning he liked to be swaddled, but then HATED it. When we tried to put him in his crib he would only last about a half hour and really disliked it. Our PED recommended that we try swaddling again (at 8 weeks) and once he was swaddled in liked the crib and only woke because he was hungry (he is a piggie, every 2 hours).
My question is this. Tonight is the first time he was able to roll over onto his belly (he looks like a little pea in a pod). He hasn't rolled back from his belly. It has been about the time he is ready to eat so I have gone and gotten him. Once a child starts to roll, is that the time to stop swaddling to make it more difficult to roll onto their belly (the whole SIDS thing). My concern is that he isn't competly finishing the roll
Your thoughts? Thanks.
I think that's about the time we stopped swaddling...now I forget. My second son rolled front to back early, like 3 weeks. But we'd put him on his back to sleep and he was 3 or 4 months before he could roll back to front. You could swaddle from the armpits down instead of trapping the arms if you're worried about it:)
Many children can roll from back or sides to stomach but not back again at early ages. Nothing to be concerned about. Raised 3 and never swaddled any of them that I recall. Bathed them, put them in their bag bottom sleepers and put them to bed in the crib. Guess their guardian angels worked overtime!
my youngest is two, so this may have changed, as things seem to change so quickly with 'safety rules' for babies. I was always told that if they can roll, they have enough muscular control to move their head into a different position to be able to breathe. None of my babies liked to be swaddled after about a month, so I don't really know when the time to stop is.
good luck
~J.
Hi Lori,
I agree with Deb. Do what you think will work best for you and baby. I swaddled my two babies for months. Can't remember how long but at least 5 maybe more because they slept way better this way. With my daughter, she started rolling over early so I still used the bassinet for a while because she was little and she couldn't roll over in that all the way. When I finally started to wean, it was a gradual process. I would start with one arm out, then two. We also used the sleep sacks, so that was a little bit of a comfort for them I think. Good luck, it will work itself out.
My boys were always very active sleepers. Swaddling didn't last very long when they were sleeping. I would put a couple outfits on them when they slept to keep them warm. There are zip sleepers that are like a sweater on the top part and the bottom part is like a wide blanket that zips closed. That way there is no fear of SIDS since the blanket cannot get wrapped around the face.
Hi Lori - get some wearable blankets in light cotton and heavier fleece from BabiesRUs. (In the blanket section.) They are blanket bags with halter sleeves that fit over their sleepers and zip up the front. They come in different sizes to account for growth. They can roll over, but the blankets don't get caught on them/can't smother them and they still stay warm enough not to awaken because they are cold. They say "Back to Sleep" on them to parents as a reminder about SIDS. I used the lighter ones when it was warmer and the heavier ones when it was cold. Make sure you dress him as you would for sleep any other time. I wouldn't recommend leaving their feet bare in them as I always noticed that because they wet themselves and that made their bottoms clammy, combined with bare feet they could get cold and have problems staying asleep between feedings. These were a Godsend and a must for my nursery. Good luck!
We swaddled all our kids until 5-6 months - they loved it and slept great (like 8 hours at a stretch from 1 week old - and nursing was great so it didn't interfere).
That's great he's rolling over on his own! It's a good milestone. Many kids roll one way long before they roll the other way (sometimes 3-4 months in between) so it probably doesn't have anything to do with swaddling. It's totally up to you... if he's comfy and sleeping well, keep going. If you stop and he's not sleepign well, continue.
Like most parenting things, there is no "right" answer... just do what feels right for you, your son and your family.
If he is starting to roll then definitely stop the swaddling. He won't be able to get himself turned over all the way and SIDS is definitely an issue.
