swaddling advice!

[silver18]

I've fairly tightly swaddled my ds since birth and he's always been a good sleeper (sleeping through some nights and waking once on others). He's 16 weeks now and, although happy in swaddle still, I thought maybe it was time I stopped and got him used to his gro bag??
I have tried this for the last few nights and had little sleep! His little arms flail about all over the place and he wakes himself up with the thrashing around. Shoould I persevere or go back to swaddling?

[skidoodle]

Why is it important to have him in a bag?

Swaddling worked well with dd so we kept doing it for months. At some point we moved to just under the arms as she wanted them free.

It seems to me you are disturbing his sleep for no good reason.

[silver18]

very good point thats how I feel! Had read somehwhere that you should stop swaddle when they seemed interested in rolling so they wont roll on their tummies so that's why I thought I should get him in bag but think will have to revert as we were both happier x

[belindarose]

My 20 week old is swaddled and in a low tog grobag. During the last week or so she's started to push her arms out before she goes to sleep (always swaddled with her hands up by her face as she's a thumbsucker). She seems to have worked out for herself that she wants her arms out, but I think likes the cue of being swaddled first so she knows it's bedtime. She puts her thumb in her mouth and her other hand in the right place when she sees the swaddling blanket!

[LiegeAndLief]

My 6 month old is swaddled with one arm out over a grobag. I have tried to stop it as, like you, I thought she was getting a bit old but with disastrous results so have given up, am sure she won't still be swaddled when she's 15...

[iloveholidays]

This thread brings back memories...

I agree with skidoodle. We swaddled our DD until she was 3-4 months old, and I remember reading lots saying that they shouldnt need to be swaddled past this point and got really paranoid I was limiting her development, however every baby is different. I would say go with your instincts. On the flip side - I have often read that they shouldn't be swaddled if they roll onto their front, but no reason to worry until this happens.

I remember trying to get DD into a gro-bag but she didn't sleep, so we decided to swaddle again and try again a few weeks later (and ignored everyone else who said it would only take a few days for her to get used to it!!).

A few weeks later, we decided to put her in a gro-bag after her dream feed, as this was always the most consistent sleep and fortunately she slept through (much to our surprise). So my advise would be to let him tell you when he's ready - his arms will start coming out lots and then just try occasionally until he's happy.

Good luck!

[Jojay]

I swaddled DS2 till he was 7 months. Any attempts to stop before then were a complete disaster.

He was swaddled very tightly, with 2 layers, one pinning his arms down and another going all the way round him. It sounds barbaric but it was the only way he slept.

At 7 months I stopped using the underneath layer and he quickly got his arms out without it. We had one rough night and hten he was out of the swaddle for good.

It was much less stessful than I thought itwould be and I was DREADING taking him out of it, but don't be afraid to leave him in it for longer.

He was quite late to roll over and I wonder if this contributed to it, but at 14 months he's now happily walking so it doesn't seem to have done any lasting damage, and it gave us both many nights of blissful uninterrupted sleep!!