Swaddle to sleeping bag, night 2. When will it get better?

[AmeliaEarhart]

Baby is 24 weeks, and up until now been sleeping in a SwaddleMe at night and sometimes for naps which has worked okay. He'll soon be getting too long for the larger size, so I've decided to try switching him to a sleeping bag. Last night didn't go too well; he wouldn't go down until after 9, then was up every couple of hours and taking ages to settle again. I finally caved at 7am (when he'd been up since 5.15) and put him back in the swaddle. He smiled contentedly and went straight back to sleep until 8.30.

Tonight he woke up crying 5 minutes after going down. He's just gone back to sleep again, and I'm waiting...

Does anyone have experience of making the switch (especially this late)? How long did it take for your baby to get used to the change? Do you have any tips?

I'm a bit clueless because he usually sleeps pretty well (up once or twice a night for a feed and going straight back down after 10-15 minutes, which I can handle) so DH and I have so far taken a pretty slack laid back approach to bedtime and naps.

We did the transition gradually with DS1, which seemed to work.

First few nights, we left one arm out, rest of him swaddled.

Then for a few nights, we left both arms out, body and legs swaddled.

Then we moved him to a gro-bag.

went cold-turkey with DD at 21 weeks. Four horrendous nights - never looked back!! keep at it!

Well, he didn't seem so unhappy last night. But he has realised that he can move around now his arms are free and he spent most of the night rolling around in his cot and bashing the bars with his legs, so still not much sleep for either of us.

The few times he did settle were on lying on his side with his back to me (he's in a co-sleeper cot). In the swaddle he always slept on his back with his head turned to me - I missed his sweet little face, but it's progress I guess.

If he takes as long as your DD gummy then we're halfway there!

We have literally just done this. Dd2 is 7 months! We were using a miracle blanket with just the arms as she had grown out if it. We were worried about doing it as every time she got unswaddled she would wake up crying. But she had finally started fighting it more and more.

We started with her morning nap which is more or less guaranteed. I'd feed her laying down then leave her on the bed. Then afternoon naps. Finally putting her down in the evening then moving her to the hammock. Have also twice put her down in the hammock awake and unswaddled.

All been great. She hasn't miraculously slept better but not sleeping any worse and no tears. I was dreading doing it! We also use a White noise app to help settle her which (often) helps.

Good luck! If he's not ready then leave it a bit longer. Dd2 has literally just stopped at 7 months! Oh an no sleeping bag either as our house is v hot, so she is sleeping in just a vest. Could he be too hot?

Well, last night was marginally better. He refused to go down until 9pm, and still kept waking up, but was much easier to settle when he did. I'm a bit concerned by how mobile he is - I'm okay with him sleeping on his side, but last night he rolled onto his tummy in his sleep - fortunately I was awake so I flipped him back (he hasn't learned how to roll himself from front to back yet). Is this normal? He never rolled over in the swaddle.

Bumper, I was a bit worried about the heat. One of the reasons I wanted to switch to a sleeping bag was the clear guidelines on how to dress babies depending on room temperature whereas with the swaddle I was just guessing (first-timer with no faith in her own judgement. Can you tell? ). Fortunately it looks like it's going to cool down today. Could I be the only person in the country who's glad about this?

Good news Amelia that he was much easier to settle. I read somewhere that if babies roll over themselves in their sleep, that it doesn't matter, i.e. you don't need to turn them back. If they've got the strength to flip from back to front (even if they haven't got the strength to flip front to back), they will have the strength to lift their neck off the mattress.

DS is 14 months and we only stopped swaddling in the miracle blanket at 1 year! For the last month or so he had one arm out of the swaddle but until 12m he refused to go down unswaddled. Then like a switch was flipped he just was happy in a sleeping bag! Sometimes they just aren't ready. Good luck!

Good that it was better. I just wing it with covers really. DD is quite a sweaty betty so we err on the cool side. In fact in a fit of tightness inspiration I have started cutting off the feet of some of her baby grows which makes her a little cooler and means she can wear them for a while longer!

I wouldn't worry too much about the rolling. DD2 rolled over a couple of times in her swaddle which is bit worse as she couldn't support herself!

That's good to know about the rolling, and thanks for the support.

Unfortunately last night was horrendous. He was up every hour between going to bed at 8 and 5.30am, when I finally caved and put him back in his swaddle - which I know probably wasn't a good idea, but I was so exhausted and fed up!
He looked so happy when I was wrapping him up and he slept peacefully until 7.30 when DH woke us both up by putting radio on

I think I'll try one more night, and if there's no improvement I'll accept he's not ready. He was almost sleeping through (well, 8-5) before we started this, and the poor little chap looks so tired today - he has little dark shadows under his eyes.

ps - What's a miracle blanket? Sounds good!

this is the miracle blanket, I've used it for dd and found it to be really good. You can only use it to about 14wks though according to the blurb so don't think it would be any use for you.

Have been reading this thread with interest as am feeling a bit worried about stopping swaddling dd... good luck for tonight :)

He's now napping contentedly in his swaddle. I'm rubbish, aren't I?