Moving from swaddling to sleeping bag - help, no sleep!

[scottygirl5]

So, we used a swaddle pod with DD1 from when she was about 2 months till she was about 3 or 4 months, it definitely helped (though she still wasn't a 'good' sleeper). We decided to use it from the start with DD2 who has, until this week, been a better sleeper but is very long and was reaching the end of it already and by morning had worked her hands out the top of it. We switched to a sleeping bag 2 nights ago, first part of the first night she slept pretty well, hadn't napped much in the afternoon so was exhausted, but then was rousing every 10-30 minutes for the rest of the night, whole of last night was like that and I ended up having white noise on permanently to try to settle her.

Really confused about what to do, do I just go back to the swaddle pod even though it will be too small soon, or do i persist with the sleeping bag in the hope that things get better? She has slept for most of today, probably exhausted from last night! Sure tonight will be another horror :(

We had this exact problem. The following two things both worked.

1. We bought a bigger swaddle. You have to go on tinternet to find one, never stocked in shops it seems.

1. Use the smaller swaddle round his arms only over the sleeping bag (legs not in). Usually when big one was in the wash.

We tried a bigger swaddle with DD1, I remember it being huge and she was 4 months, wonder if it would be too wide for a 5 week old? She's long and thin so only growing out of length. Think she'd still fight the swaddle if just arms done.

Could you use a sheet to swaddle her?

Sounds silly but I'm not sure how! What sort of sheet and size would I need? My instinct is that she'd try to escape but it might be worth a try.

My ds was swaddled until 8months! We used a large blanket and the double swaddle method (watch it on you tube).
Once ds was able to free himself from the double swaddle we put him in a sleeping bag.

We had to swaddle for naps and sleep. We 'weaned' off by having a week with one arm out, then two arms but body still swaddled and then into sleeping bag. It he was really unsettled we just re swaddled and then tried again next nap. Took about two weeks but relatively painless. This was at 5 months.

We used a Swaddle-Up 50-50 to transition from swaddle to sleeping bag. Gave DS the chance to gradually get used to having more movement.

I feel your pain! 3 month old DD is getting too big for her swaddle pod (which has been a godsend). She startles so much that she wakes herself up. We've gone from her sleeping from 11-7 to waking up at least twice a night. I know it could be worse but once she's up, she doesn't go back down! She's really good at going to bed at bedtime

Well we've found a solution but it's not ideal! We're using white noise for most of the night which is helping her re settle ??

I had the same problem when switching dts from swaddle pods to sleeping bags (I switched at about 12 weeks.)

What worked ok for us was to put the dts in sleeping bags then swaddle their arms only until they got into a deep sleep. I used those giant muslins, folded into a triangle and put under the baby, then use the bits each side to tuck in their arms. This video shows how to do the arm swaddle thing as it's hard to explain!

White noise might be worth a shot, I haven't tried that as she is scared of my hair drier. The arm swaddle looks like it might also be worth a try. Holding onto the thought that she has to sleep eventually...doesn't she?!

I used to just use it to get her to sleep, now it's on all night :S

Anything for a quiet night!

How old is your dd? My ds is 4 months and we ditched the swaddle for nights a couple of weeks ago as he started to control his hands better. However he still has it for day sleeps as he still startles himself awake (hhe's in a lighter sleep I guess) although I leave one hand out for him to suck. I aim to gradually make it looser over the next few weeks. I think the startle reflex diminishes around now.

DS is 16m and still has white noise all night so I wouldn't worry too much. In fact I wish I'd used it earlier but didn't discover it til he was 6m.