When to Stop Swaddling?

My youngest son was big on swaddling. It really helped him, but I worried about how I would break him of the habit eventually. It all worked out though. Gradually I just stopped doing it, for no real reason. I started wrapping him in a blanket instead and gradually did that looser. Then I just put the blanket over him and kind of tucked the sides, then I just laid the blanket loosely on top of him. He's a great sleeper and hasn't been swaddled at all since he was about 10 months.

I'm sure it depends completely on the baby. Some need it longer. I had several who really didn't like it after about 2 or 3 months--they just worked themselves out of the swaddle. But with this last baby we did it for 8 months or more. She was a very poor sleeper. It turned out that she was in a lot of discomfort which we helped greatly with cranial adjustments. In the meantime she really needed swaddled.

I've read that some babies just like to be swaddled for as long as up to a year-so I don't think there is an exact time you have to do it-however, I think for most they are not interested or want to be swaddled once they can roll over, etc.

We transitioned over a few weeks...the first week we left one arm out of the swaddle, the next week both, then we transitioned to a sleep sac until our son could roll over and started pulling himself up.

I swaddled my son until he was 7 or 8 months old...I decided to quit cold turkey when he would fight me like crazy when I would lay him down to swaddle him, and then minutes after laying him in the crib he would wriggle out of it and scream. I think it's probably good to stop when they can roll over, but aren't able to roll back yet. My son was the opposite...he had trouble rolling over at first but could very easily roll back so I didn't have to worry about him suffocating.
When I stopped swaddling him, I would lay a blanket over his chest and hold his arms down until he fell asleep. Eventually I was able to hold his arms just to calm him down and get him settled in, and while he was still awake I started to let go of his arms and stand over him and sing or rub his tummy. Then after a while I put him down and did not hold his arms. I just stood over him or sat in the rocking chair and read a book. Then after a LONG while [until about 2 months ago- he is 16 months now] I was able to give him a hug and kiss, put him down, and walk away. I have done the cry-it-out method also, and I do think it works but I am still not a big fan of it [at least for my family...But if I felt that my way was not working I would have let him cry it out]. Even though it was a lot of work, and sometimes it took forever for him to fall asleep, I think it was better for us to spend the time together and bond and for him to know that I would be there to help him. And now it is so easy, I just give him a kiss and walk away and he is secure enough to fall asleep on his own

we swaddled our little girl til about 9 months but she still didn't sleep well unless she "felt" like she was swaddled, so we are now using a sleep sack (she's now 13 mo. old). it must be a routine thing for her b/c when she's tired and we put that on, she goes right to sleep (well- ok, MOST of the time. hehehe).

We just HAD to stop at 4 months , this week, cause it is too darn hot here, and we don't have central air! Unfotunately it is still a little rough, cause he still flails his arms a bit, and bonks himself or knocks out his binkie and can't put it back and thus wakes himself....we just quit cold turkey, and we let him cry for about 10 minutes at a time,and then go in and comfort/give the binkie back every 10 min or so....it has taken about 1/3 hour of htis for him to go to sleep/stay asleep each night of the last 3 nights since we stopped the swaddle. One book I have read that promotes swaddling for new babies says you can "wean them" by first swaddling with one arm out for a while and then with both arms out, and then stopping. We tried that, but with one out he would get the other out, and then get mad and cry and get all tangled up in the blanket, so it worried me so we just got rid of it altogether, and it is so hot now, he is just in a diaper/onesie, when winter comes, it will be footie PJs or a sleep sack.

Good luck!

Jessie

With my kids I always completely swaddled them until they were 3 months old and then I swaddled them with one arm out for awhile before swaddling them with both arms out. It worked well with both our girls and I just started swaddling our son (he's 10 weeks old) with one arm out and he's doing great with it.

I stopped swaddling when my kids were able to break out of the swaddling. I think it was around 5-6 months. I switched to using a sleep sack instead.

Hi H.,
my little guy is almost 5 months as well.... we heard it's about the time we are supposed to stop swaddling him. He is fussy and won't fall asleep unless swaddled. We came up with a slow transition idea. Instead of completely swaddling him, we wrap the blanket around him loosely and hold his hands down ( his hands under the blanket and ours over). he will fuss and wiggle for a few minutes, but it has been slowly working and its been getting better everyday. You can also try the sleep sack ( I've heard great things about it, but have not tried it). Good Luck!

We stopped swaddling at 9 months - it was an awful transition for us. At 6 months we tried one arm out, then we tried going cold turkey and just toughing it out. After a week of no sleep we decided he wasn't ready and I would give him another month. Month 7, then 8, then 9 passed. We had tried everything and we were all just miserable. And I certain I was stunting his development by allowing him to remain swaddled for so long (probably not). But desperate to get him off his habit I finally tried something taboo. I put my son down for his nap unswaddled but on his stomach. I know, this is against the SIDS rules, but I knew he was mobile enough not to suffocate. He SLEPT LIKE A ROCK and has bee on his belly ever since. I don't want to promote putting a child down on their stomach because I know it goes against expert recommendation... but I also know how desperate I was. This worked for us and so I wanted to offer this solution to anyone else who had already tried everything else.