Help needed getting rid of swaddle!!

[Sop76]

My son is nearly 6 months and still swaddled at night. I hate doing it as feel I'm restricting his movement, but if I don't swaddle him, he wakes every half and hour or so. His hands scratch and rub his face and his legs fly up in the air. I've tried just one arm in to get him used to it, but he just wakes and wakes. Should I just bite the bullet and stay up all night trying to get him to sleep without it, or just keep swaddling? Any advice appreciated!

to prevent the scratching i put socks on my bubs hands while she is asleep so she does not scratch.

Have u tried sleeping bags? Since my baby has been in them she only wakes for feeds in the night

If u want to stop swaddling u may have to endure a few sleepless nights so he learns how to slp in a different way but keep all ur other night routines the same so he knows its nightime.

oh I had this problem at the same age
dd got so big I had to swaddle her in a tablecloth!
I'm afraid cold turkey really is the only way
You could try just swaddling from under his arms for a bit, so at least the legs are under control.

Would a weighted blanket be any good as a half way measure to give him security? They are pretty expensive though

I posted about this same problem not that long ago link

We just put baby into a sleeping bag and she's been fine ever since. I still wake up all the time to look at her and check she's OK (will I ever stop doing this?!) but she's sleeping really well. And I often see her kicking her feet up inside the bag, but it doesn't disturb her so much. I still fold the ends of her sleepsuits over as scratch mitts, but she doesn't hit herself in the face so much now either.

Just go for it

Check out the Peke Moe we used it from around 4 months and was a godsend for us as our DD was a real flailer and used to keep waking herself up in sleeping bags.

Should also have said we just switched straight from swaddle to peke moe and thought it would never work but she slept straight through first night ( which she also did in a swaddle)

Thanks everyone. I had thought about a weighted blanket, but is very expensive. Peke moe looks good - maybe I'll try that, as straight to sleeping bag just isn't working. I think I may have to have a few nights of no sleep though to get him used to it - Easter is going to be tiring!!

If he's sleeping well when he is swaddled, I'm not sure what the problem is. If he's happy with his movement being restricted then why have you got a problem with that? I carried on swaddling mine with a cot sheet
If he's happy and sleeping and you are getting a full night's sleep, then I'd just carry on swaddling - why make things difficult?

my dd was swaddled for ages, and is now firmly tucked in with sheets and blankets at age 2. I don't see a probalem with swaddling if your son is happy with it tbh.

I would carry on if he likes it.

We stopped ours once on holiday, because it was so hot, there was no way we could swaddle. We went to using a muslin to bind just their arms up then nothing, and it was pretty painless.

I would continue swaddling, but he's so big and strong now, that he breaks free around 3/4am and then cannot get himself back to sleep until I re-swaddle, so I'd like to get him used to sleeping freely in the hope that he might sleep through at some point (I'm back at work part-time and knackered!) Thanks for all your answers, it's nice to know other older babies are swaddled and I'm not being mean! xx

we had that problem a bit, we used to have to swaddle tighter and tighter. Sort of plant a foot on the baby, and pull the blanket with both hands kind of thing

Dh was best at it, I was useless and they would escape. Looking back it was all rather funny, a baby screaming red faced waving one arm about. Not so much fun at the time though!