Hi ladies...my 5 month old daughter is nearing the end of her swaddling stage and I don't know what to do to transition her to sleeping without it. She's turning from back to front and vice versa, and last weekend, she flipped while swaddled and was face-down in the crib. My worry is that she sleeps so well throughout the night swaddled, but not so great during naps unswaddled, so I don't know how to completely eliminate the swaddle. Any tips???
My 9 month old was the same way; he couldn't sleep without being swaddled. So we went from swaddling to the sleep sacks, and he sleeps great in them! We did that for about 3 months, and then tried him without the sleep sack and now he does fine in just his PJ's. The Halo sleep sacks are great, or they can be made on your own very easily.
I wondered what to do with my son too. I wanted him to sleep but I didn't want to hamper his rolling over. We essentially were forced to stop swaddling him when the blankets stopped fitting right. He kept breaking out of them so we left it slightly looser a few nights then just stopped using it. I'd say it took about 3 nights but after that he went back to his same sleeping pattern with no problem.
We swaddled for a very long time. I am sure it was longer than recommended. I was very nervous about the transition to un-swaddling however we did great with the Halo sleep sacks. There is a light weight version for the summer that we loved. Our daughter stayed in sleep sack until she was nearly 2.
I can not wait to see more responses to this one!!! My daughter is 22 months and I still have to swaddle her or she refuses to sleep. I do not wrap up her arms though and only do her body and legs in the burrito wrap and have been doing it this way since she began to wiggle around right before she began to flip over! She still to this day sleeps 12 hours every night and takes awesome naps.... I really feel it is because I do still wrap her up and helps her to still feel secure.
I would do it slowly if you are going to transition her to no swaddling at all. Remove one arm for awhile, then the next and then loosen the body until you no longer have her swaddled at all..... BUT- really what do I know since I havent tried that yet myself! lol
Good luck and I am going to keep checking back for your advice since we are on the last blanket that fits her and that one is about to be shredded I am sure- I can completely see through her blanket!
Many blessings to you and yours!
Kelly
I just went through this with my daughter. She could not sleep without it. I started by leaving out one arm and swaddling the rest of her body. Then both arms out for a week. Then I just took it off and wrapped a blanket around her legs and then the weather turned and it was hot so I used nothing. She adapted really well. I think we had one rough night doing this. I think the swaddle is wonderful for newborns. Both of my girls loved it and slept so well swaddled.
My second daughter was a swaddling addict too until she started to outgrow it around 4 months. I just went cold turkey-- it was a rough 2 or 3 nights but she adjusted fine. But my daughter was different than the OPs-- she wasn't a big fan of the sleep sacks. Good luck!
Our daughter broke free of her swaddle early so we used halo sleepsacks beginning at 2 months and now shes 15 1/2 months and still loves em.
