Switching from swaddle onto grobag... Advice needed!

[JazzieJeff]

Hi, first of all I hope you all had a lovely holiday

DS is 12 weeks tomorrow and I'm switching him into a grobag after being swaddled in his cot for the first months of his life. I know I should've done it before because of the SIDS risk but he was sleeping so well in it! But I have to go back to work soon and a sleeping bag is a far more practical option and tbh I don't want to create work for myself when he's older, he seems fairly pliable to change atm... Or so I thought!

He slept fine for his daytime naps in it today, but he went down begrudgingly tonight and then woke at 6:50pm and didn't settle again until about 7:35. This is really unusual.

He normally has a quick feed/nappy change at about 10:30ish I guess, before we go to bed anyway and then sleeps through until 7:45. Oh God I'm in for a heller of a night aren't I? Any advice? How many nights should it take him to get used to it? How long should I persevere for?

Why do you have to stop swaddling at 12 weeks?

I don't know what the 'rules' are but if he is happy then leave him maybe.

I really regret not swaddling as DS loves his arms being held by his body when I am settling him but at nearly 6months probably too old to introduce it.

I thought it was only when they could roll that it was dangerous? Also - have seen sleep sacs/woombies which are a step on from a swaddle but not quite a grobag which may help. Suggest you google as don't have any links.

I swaddled DD for ages. When I did eventually put her in a grow bag I still swaddled her in a very light wrap but left one arm out and then put her in a summer weight grow bag then after a couple of weeks I left both arms out but swaddled her body then eventually stopped swaddling her

Thanks for the replies! I heard swaddling after 6 weeks can increase SIDS risk as they can overheat??? Hence the switch. I will google woombies, thankyou x

How did it go? All my 3 swapped from swaddle to grobag between 8 - 12 weeks depending on when they grew out of the moses basket and went into the big cot and didn't really seem to notice to be honest. I would have thought that after one or two nights normality will have been restored.

I've just transitioned our LO from a swaddle to sleeping bag....at 6 months. It was only when she was showing a preference for side/stomach sleeping that I unswaddled her.

TBH, I was really worried about the transition - she'd just started sleeping through! Initially put her in a light sleeping bag and continued to swaddle over this....I think this helped establish a sleep cue with putting the sleeping bag on (whereas previously she knew it was sleep time by being swaddled). Still continued with other established sleep cues like playing her mobile music as a wind down, etc.

Then one day just went cold turkey by removing the swaddle completely, starting with the first nap of the day. Took her a while to settle (about 40 mins) but each successive sleep took less time to settle, and in a matter of a couple of days she was used to the sleeping bag and is now sleeping better than ever.

At first she did wake a few times after going off to sleep, particularly in the evening, but I just left her to self settle (which I found hard as I'd normally rush right in when she woke in the swaddle) and now she is much better at going back to sleep if she wakes.

Hope this helps....good luck

touser I've not left him to self settle tbh as I think he's a bit young, but he's not massively upset with the whole thing just more of a 'ah heh.... Aaaahhh, heh... ' etc so I've gone in with dh quietly every 5 minutes just to stroke his head and talk quietly to him. Tonight he woke up at 6:50 the same as last night after being put down at 6:30 ish but only did this for 25 minutes; yesterday it was 40 minutes so hopefully that's him getting used to it.

leonie I see what you're saying but last night he actually managed to roll over onto his front; I shudder to think if he did that in his sleep and didn't have his hands free to right himself. He probably wouldn't but I guess I don't want it to become one more issue to deal with later on.

nelly he was ok after his fuss last night, as I say it definately wasn't proper crying in any way, or I would've given in and tried a woombie thing instead. We fed him before we went to bed and I woke up just before 8am to get him for his milk.

Hopefully tonight is the same, wish I'd have seen those woombies before they look brilliant! DS was always fighting out of his swaddle Houdini style, woombies were designed by one pissed of parent! There's no fighting out of one of them lol!

I may still introduce a woombie at 6m actually. DS claws at his head and face when he is tired and trying to settle - looks a right mess with the scratches. I have to put socks on his hands as scratch mits are too small!

I think with woombies, because they do not have their arms tight against them, they can still move them a bit under the material, so if they do roll it isn't such an issue.

Yeah fifitot they looked brilliant. They have convertible ones that have poppers on the arms so when you're ready, you can just open said poppers and free alternate arms. I saw they have a sale at the moment so it might be worth taking a look? They do sizes up to 25lbs I think, or was it 25kgs? But a 25kg baby would be quite heavy... I suppose it mustve been lbs.

I will have another look. I think though they don't specify togs like grobags so not sure what they would wear under them or if you would need a blanket on top.

Not cheap either!

Hi all, if you're looking for a cheaper woombie, try the swaddle pod. Basically a no frills version of the same thing and over half the price. Amazon has them for around a tenner.

We used a Pekemoe for DS as he loved being swaddled and hated the transition to sleeping bag. He was in it until about 7 months and then was fine in sleeping bag after that. Think it was about 30 quid but well worth it.

I think you'd treat them the same as a swaddle fifi because it's not a sleeping bag. So I guess body suit, wooombie thingo and a thin sheet on top to stop them moving about the cot too much? On the website they were US$25 so what's that? About £18? I don't know what the exchange rate is. Still pricey, I guess they can ask what they want though!

missred thanks for that, I'll check them out.

Can you buy woombies anywhere else other than the website? The independent baby shop near me does branded grobags on sale atm and gives discounts to local yokels...

You can get Woombies in the UK too for around £28 I think.