When to stop swaddling and how?

[Dreemagurl]

My 4 month DD has been swaddled since birth pretty much. Should I stop now as I've heard that it might affect motor skills? We've tried a couple of times putting her down in a gro bag but with no success. She's a wriggly little thing and keeps herself awake with flailing arms, but surely at some point she needs to learn to sleep without it? Has anyone got any experience? How long did you swaddle yours for and how did you stop it? Any advice greatly appreciated.

I swaddled 'til about 4 months and then put DS in a grobag and a thin swaddle on top, just on his arms. Then I just did it looser and looser until we could ditch it altogether. It got so he only needed the arm-restriction when he first went down, then it was really only the ritual of being wrapped up that he needed, sort of like a 'signal' to sleep.

I swaddled my DS2 until 7 months at least, and his motor skills are just fine.

Like your DD, any earlier attempts ended up with an awake, flailing baby so we carried on for longer.

In the end I loosened the swaddle and he got out on his own accord. The first night he woke up once or twice, and then he was fine. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be!

My advice would be to carry on for a bit longer, then maybe try loosening the swaddle once a month or so, until she is ok with it. There's no rush

We swaddled till about 3 or 4 months with DDs 1 & 2 and then just put them in a grobag. No problems at all. Thinking of unswaddling DS earlier (he's just 4 weeks atm).

Good luck!

Great, thanks for all your replies, makes me feel much better about swaddling her still. Will try loosening it every so often. She looks so adorable when swaddled though, like a little caterpillar! :)