What age should I de-swaddle and how?

[Bumperrlicious]

Dd2 is 4.5 months & basically been swaddled to sleep since birth. She sleeps unswaddled in the car seat or on me but if I try and move her when not swaddled she wakes up. She mostly feeds to sleep.

On a few occasions I have tried to put her down awake but not swaddled or in the night if I put her down after a feed and she has managed to get an arm free she either startles awake or if she is already awake just gets distracted or frustrated by her hands. She doesn't seem bothered being swaddled to go to sleep, until she wake up, when I think she gets frustrated.

When should I be stopping and how? Do I just have to go through a period of crap until she is used to it or will it just be easier when she is ready?

you don't need to stop, she will start wiggling herself free at some point, and there's your cue

agree she'll let you know
dd1 was swaddled until 6 mo when she was rolling properly - she loved it
dd2 kept breaking free at 13weeks, despite my best efforts. turns out she wanted to suck her fingers, which dd1 never did.

DS was swaddled from birth, and at about 7 weeks or so we started putting him in a half swaddle so his arms are free - he was getting really wriggly and frustrated being fully wrapped, but wasn't strong enough to wriggle himself out.

Dd is 6 mo and breaks out of her swaddle, but won't lie down to sleep without it! She sees her cot as a great playground, can be fast asleep in arms, lay into cot, little.arms up and wahey! Nightmare, not sure what to do for her.

I stopped swaddling at about 4 months after dd kept breaking free and sounded like she was struggling to get out on the occasions when she couldn't break free. I started off by still swaddling but leaving one arm
out. Started with naps only and moved on to nightime sleep. Then left both arms out and just swaddled body. She managed the transition much better than I thought she would and the whole thing was done in a week. She's sucking her thumb now and I think most of the struggling was an attempt to get her hands to her mouth. Thumbsucking has proved very succesful as she now self settles very well, definitely worth getting rid of the swaddle for us!

Still swaddling DD (nearly 7 months) as she cannot get to sleep with her arms waving around - and NOT waving them around just isn't an option for her. Was panicked by an artcile on babycentre (yes, I know it serves me right for looking) which said swaddling had to stop at one month otherwise development would be impaired. Is that a load of old hokum?

tcob, yes, hokum indeed.
i think that advice relates to when babies were swaddled day and night, awake or asleep, in Ye Olden Dayes, which might have slowed learning to roll, or find fingers etc.

dd1 was swaddled until 6mo and is now nearly 4, and showing no signs of any problems.

I swaddled until about 4.5/5 months, suddenly realised that DD had lost her "startle reflex" when I was putting her down (which is why I had started swaddling in the first place at about 8 weeks), so put her into sleeping bag instead and we haven't looked back.... (now 10.5 months)

Both of my ds's were swaddled for ages. I think DS2 may have been swaddled for about a year or so. I only stopped when they were breaking free and getting cold from lack of covers.

Each ds has had their own hand-knitted blankets which I used to swaddle them in. They are packed away in their memory boxes and I have a moment everytime I see them