My son is 20 weeks old, and he has always been a good sleeper, has been able to sooth himself to sleep since he was 12 weeks old, and has always slept swaddled. About two weeks ago, I noticed that he was beginning to roll over in his sleep. This concerned me, since his arms are all swaddled up and he could get stuck face down without being able to roll back to his back, and so I decided to wean him off swaddling using the steps recommended by "Happiest Baby on the Block" author Dr. Karp. Well, two weeks later and my husband and I are both exhausted! Every night and every nap has been a nightmare, and he has stopped soothing himself to sleep, needing to be held in order to finally drift off. After trying a number of different things (letting him cry it out, swaddling one arm in one out, etc., etc.), we have finally decided that he just isn't ready to sleep unswaddled yet (I don't blame him - I love to wrap myself up in blankets as well, and have trouble sleeping when I can't do so), but this doesn't solve the problem of him rolling over in his sleep. Any advice?
7-1-09 Well, yesterday I went to swaddle my son, and he screamed bloody murder. So I left him unswaddled, and he went to sleep just fine. But he is still only sleeping for a half-hour each day and is completely exhausted by bedtime, and then hard to get down. So I think I may have misdiagnosed the problem. Perhaps his difficulty sleeping just happened to coincide with when we were trying to wean him off swaddling? Does anyone have any ideas about why a 5-month-old would go from two 3-hour naps during the day and then falling to sleep exactly at 9 each night to two half-hour naps each day, being exhausted by 6 in the evening, but refusing to go to sleep until 10-11 each night? His pediatrician assures us he isn't teething yet.
Have you tried one of those sleeping pads. I can't remember the name of the one I had but it had triangular shaped pads that allowed my sons to sleep on their side without rolling over. Usually if they are rolling over they are usually done with the pads.
We also swaddled my son (18 months) who would only sleep like that!! Then he started to roll over and i would swaddle his body but let his arms be free for the same reason, in case he rolled over he would be able to push his face up...we did that for a few weeks then we stopped swaddling. I now put him to bed with a light blanket, something he can feel on his skin and he could snuggle up to. Good luck, I know we also had a few sleepless nights when we were stopping the swaddling.
Good morning Amanda~
I ran into this when my son was 3 months old (he is now 8). At first we started to swaddle him with his arms out but once he flipped himself over and I got the ok from our pediatrician to let him sleep on his belly (because he had good head control). We stopped swaddling and just let him flip over and sleep on his belly. Maybe your son is trying to tell you he wants to sleep on his belly. I would recommend you call your pediatrician and see what they have to say. Once he starts rolling we stopped swaddling because it was not safe for him. Now he flips over as soon as we put him down!
Good luck!
At this point of his life, he is going to be rolling and moving a lot. I suggest stop swaddling him. Put extra clothing on baby to keep him warm and tuck the blanket over baby towards the lower part of his body around the mattress... like a bed sheet. That is about all you can do. Once my boys starting rolling and sitting up, they didn't use blankets for a couple years. They would always move around in circles when sleeping and kick off their blankets. I think they started sleeping more still around 3 years old.
keep swaddling him but block him from rolling. you can purchase wedges for that purpose, or roll towels up and place on either side of hime. i always used one rolled towel from the day i brought the newborns home and alternately tipped them to their sides a little each night- swaddled on their back but a slightly to one side or the other to prevent a flat spot on the back of their heads
Can he hold his head up? I was always told that if they can hold their head up, even for a very short time, then they would be able to turn their head to breathe better even when on their tummy with their arms swaddled.
If he can move his head around and is more comfortable sleeping swaddled (I know I am) then I'd say go ahead and let him.
Hi Amanda! My daughter loved to be swaddled as well and we could not wean her from it till she was 7 months old. We used those swaddle blankets that vlecro...love them! I, too, was afraid she would roll over so we put her in a sleep positioner. I'm sure you've seen them before...they're just 2 pads that are on either side of the baby so they can't roll over. We tried weaning her of the swaddle many times and it was always a nightmare. Some moms on here gave me advice saying she would let us know when she didn't want it anymore and that was so true. All of the sudden around 6 or 7 months it was obvious she didn't want to be swaddled anymore. We started weaning her by leaving 1 arm out for a week or 2. It went pretty smoothly. So my advice is let your son continue to be swaddled if that is what he likes, he'll let you know when he's ready to transition out of it. And buy a sleep positioner so he doesn't roll. They work perfect.Good luck!!
Hmmmm, my best guess would be to try a swaddle blanket with the velcro tabs. You can swaddle his body and not his arms. Otherwise, it may be time to change your bedtime routine a little bit.
