My HV says I shouldn't be swaddling DS any more

[Jojay]

He's nearly 7 months old and has been swaddled from about 10 wks. He was a nightmare before that, but now he's pretty good, self settling, decent length naps and one night time wake up to feed.

DH has been wondering whether we should be carrying on, and whether it has affected his development - he has only rolled over once, though can sit up now.

HV's view was that it was a sort of sleep prop, like a dummy, and going cold turkey was the best thing to do, otherwise he'd soon wake up yelling to be 'let out'.

He's swaddled with 2 layers of fabric, one that goes over his arms and under his back, to keep his arms by his sides(similar to the Miracle blanket), then another layer all around him. It's unlikely he'll manage to 'escape' on his own for a long time yet, as it's like a strait jacket for him!

Whever I've tried to get him to sleep in the past without the swaddle, it's been a nightmare.

Does anyone know of any good reasons why I should / shouldn't carry on??

[Imoverhere]

Sorry don't know the answer but I guess I'm bumping for you (not done it before!)

[TheCrackFox]

No idea really. DS1 started escaping from his swaddling at about 3 months.

What about using one of those baby sleeping bags?

Someone will be along soon who knows what they are talking about.

[Hopefully]

I'd be amazed if it could affect his development TBH. I know someone who swaddled their baby till about 12 months, and baby was definitely walking fairly competently by then!

DS, incidentally, has not been swaddled since he was about 20 weeks, and at nearly 9 months hardly ever rolls, and certainly can't be bothered to attempt crawling.

[IwishIwasmoreorganised]

I can't see how it would affect his development - it's not as if he's swaddled 24 hours a day!

It's true that you won't want to swaddle him forever, so iiwm I'd just gradually start loosening the swaddle rather than going cold turkey.

[MiniMarmite]

I think there are various schools of thought on this one. Baby Whisperer says swaddle until around 7 months I think, GF says 4 months due to increased risk of cot death (overheating), my SIL mentioned something about research into motor development (but I haven't seen much about this myself) and a quick google shows some say it actually helps neuromuscular developement in low birth weight babies! The truth is anyone's guess by the sound of it .

We swaddled DS for as long as we could without him escaping (unfortunately only 4 months)! We did go cold turkey and put him in a grobag (after failed attempts at 1/2 swaddling to ease him into it) and he was fine after a few unsettled nights.

[Jojay]

Thanks for your comments everyone - it seems a bit of a grey area doesn't it?

I put him down in a grobag for his morning nap to see what happened - he took a bit longer to go off to sleep, but managed it without help from me after 5-10 mins of grizzling, but then woke after 20 mins. He'd normally have 45 mins - 1 hr.

It wasn't too awful though, so I think we'll persevere for the rest of the day and see how it goes.

Thanks again [smile