Goodbye swaddle

[Loft653]

So our 4.5mth daughter started rolling over yesterday which means it is time to stop swaddling her at night.
She so isn't ready to stop being swaddled!
We are trying right arm out for 3 nights, left arm out 3 nights, both arms out 3nights then sleeping bag going forward.

Last night was night 1. She went to bed after a bottle at 8, after holding her for 30mins my husband got her in the cot and she lasted for 2hrs before waking up (her loose arm going like a fruit machine the whole time!).
The only way I can get her back to sleep is to put her on boob laying down, she fell asleep but I could not get her in the cot - I tried 3 times which took an hour, her arm just flails around straight away and eyes pop open. She ended up in our bed the rest of the night waking every 1.5-2hrs, I've had to hold down her arm for the last 2hrs.

With the swaddle she slept usually for a 6hr stretch then maybe a 3-4hr stretch.

During the day I have never managed to get her in the cot for a nap (in 4.5months!). She sleeps on me after feeding, in the sling or in the pram. It's not for lack of trying, her eyes just pop open as soon as she touches the cot then she cries. Shhh and patting don't work, she screams. She won't take a dummy and I've tried to introduce a different soother but no luck so far.

I can't see how I'm ever going to get her in the cot again or how she is going to sleep for more than 2hrs!

Any tips?!?

[Anotherdayanotherdollar]

Loose swaddle? Ds is 17 months and still loves his arms tucked in. He's well able to "break free" when rolling.

[Loft653]

We use the swaddleme blanket with Velcro, she often can bend her arms and get her hands in her mouth but can't get them totally out of the swaddle. If she rolled over in the night she'd be stuck face down with no arms - the swaddleme blankets say do not use after they can roll as there is a risk of suffocation.

[FATEdestiny]

Whilst we started the process of dropping the swaddle from about the same age, my DD was still swaddled for several more months.

Could you swap to just a normal, old fashioned swaddle sheet? I have always used a cot sheet that was cut in half along the short edge to create two very long, thin rectangles. These are good swaddles because it keeps the legs/hips of an older baby free.

Because you are then not tied to specific Velcro points, you can gradually loosen the swaddle. A normal sheet also means that rolling undoes the swaddle and general wriggling loosens it significantly.

Another tactic, when using a swaddle sheet (which is lightweight) is to do the swaddle loosely and add a tightly tucked in blanket over the top of the swaddle. Using a cot blanket widthways across the cot means you have loads of extra material to tuck in all the way under the mattress. This effectively 'pins down' baby - good for babies who like that tight, secure feeling. Also great for the short period of time when baby can roll onto front, but not back onto their back

We used a mixture of swaddle, tightly tucked in blanket and sleeping bag through until about 8 or 9 months old, when baby settled into her sleeping bag fulltime. Nothing beats a tight swaddle and dummy to calm and sooth distressed over-tired baby, even when baby is older.