How to stop swaddling??

[Flowerface]

I swaddle my DD, four 1/2 months, BF her to sleep and then put her down asleep. I think I am treating her like a newborn, but she is actually very active and vigorous and gets herself out of the swaddle at least twice a night. I would really like to stop doing it but don't know how. She finds it very hard to sleep with her arms unrestrained - since she's stopped wearing her snowsuit she can hardly even sleep in the pushchair! How can I move forward with our sleep routine? Once she's out of the swaddle at night she lies there playing with her hands...

Any tips would be very gratefully received. I would really like to move to a proper bedtime routine that isn't just me feeding and swaddling her, and maybe even to a situation where someone else can put her down...

[1of4]

read "the no cry sleep solution" it has loads of good advice, as well as dealing with sleep problems. If your daughter is playing with her hands and not screaming then I would leave her to it - she is just learning about hands!

[olivo]

once she was able to properly get out, at around 3mo, i kept dd swaddledfrom the chest down and popped her into a sleeping bag like that. after a few nights, i removed the swaddle wrap totally and she was fine. the moro reflex will probably have gone by now.

she has stopped falling asleep at the breast and now is happy to be put down once she is full, but she is thumb sucker so i think that helps.

I second the NCSS if you struggle.

[AngelDog]

No advice, but sympathies about wanting a routine which doesn't revolve around having to feed her - the prospect of someone else being able to put DS down is equally appealing - and elusive.

I would be inclined to get a swaddle blanket for larger babies (I believe Freedom Slings shop on Ebay sell them) and work on something like the NCSS in terms of getting her to sleep without feeding to sleep. After all, someone else could swaddle her.

[AngelDog]

You could also have a look at this link where you can buy a cross between swaddle blankets & sleeping bags, to help the transition from one to the other. I've never seen one IRL so can't tell you if they're any good, but if you search the Sleep boards, there was some mention of them a while ago.

[mnistooaddictive]

I gradually moved the swadle down. started by leaving one arm out ( not always the same arm!). Once she was used to this I left both arms out and swaddles under arms. Every few days I started the swaddle slightly lower down. Once it was around her hips I just stopped. Don't try to stop swaddling and feeding to sleep at same time - do one first and then the other or it will be hell!