Sleepyhead Weaning

[MYA2016]

DS is 6 months old and is too big for his sleepyhead (shoulders are too scrunched up so not good for posture ). He's been in his sleepyhead since 9 weeks and it's literally been everywhere with us.
Last night we went cold turkey and took it away.
It did not go well. He woke up every 30 mins between 7-12 and then we bought him in our bed and he slept.
He always sleeps in a sleeping bag. I tried him on his back,side and tummy (he can roll easily ).
I've read about rolled up towels under the matress sheet but is this safe?
Can anyone share their stories of weaning off it that worked, even if you just went cold turkey how long was it bad for?
Buying the bigger one isn't an option as we are away a lot and there's no way we can take that around everywhere with us
Thanks

My SIL uses the rolled up towels to excellent effect

My DS is only 4 months but we'll do that too when he gets too big for his sleepyhead.

I took the cover off the sleepyhead and put the outer roll of foam around dd. So her feet were at the bottom of the cot, the foam from the sleepyhead was around her (like an n shape). It wasn't as snug as when she was in the actual sleepyhead, but if she reached out it was there still. Gradually over a week I moved it out further away from her, or even a little bit during the night when I went up to bed. She loves her 'big' cot now and sleeps fine without it. She has started sleeping with a blanket which she sort of cuddles so I think she just likes feeling quite snug.

This was us a couple of months ago. I tried doing a gradual removal (taking the cover off and leaving the foam more loosely around DS) but that didn't work. So we just went cold turkey. We had a couple of false starts - when I caved and put him back in it after a few hours of him waking up every 30 minutes), but finally we had to properly go for it as he was about to start childcare and I couldn't face having to cart it back and forth everyday. It was really rough the first night (regular wake ups), a little less rough the second night and I think by the third or fourth it was fine. After a week or so he was sleeping better than he used to when he was in it. This was all around 6 mo.

Good luck.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Last night I trird rolled up tiwels but it didnr work and he woukdnt even be put down. In the end i put him to sleep on his tummy and he woke twice so much better, I however barely slept a wink as I was stressing over it.
Is tummy sleeping ok for a 6mo who can roll?

We went cold turkey.

But we did put her cot alongside our bed so I could almost get in it with her. It took a few nights but she did get used to it.

Sorry for all the typos! Trying to do 15 things are once!

You could get the bigger one!

Alice - from my op. ..

"...Buying the bigger one isn't an option as we are away a lot and there's no way we can take that around everywhere with us"

Don't you just love it when people don't read the whole OP properly?

I'm watching this with interest, MYA. DS currently in the Grand but I'm still conscious that at some point I'm going to have to get him to sleep without it. He's generally not a great sleeper and in desperation I wondered if the Sleepyhead was making the problem worse so took it away for a night. MASSIVE ERROR. Caved and put him back in it at 2am.

It's annoying that something which can be a lifesaver in the early days becomes a pain in the arse later on

Mega that's interesting as DS is 4 months and not a brilliant sleeper (not dreadful either though - wakes every 3 hours). He's in the sleepyhead and I keep wondering if removing it will make a difference but I'm too chicken to try it.

Sorry - I thought I had checked the OP but massively sleep deprived too! To be honest even the little sleepyhead doesn't seem to work so well for us (evidently).
Sounds like you've had some much better advice anyway.

Oh gosh we are contemplating this too. I do not like the sound of it judging by your experiences so far.
DD is 8 months (small) and she is so reliant on it. She's slept in it since day one. I'm going to try putting her down for naps without it at first but the thought of it scares me!

I am toying with the big one despite the price but yes it's the thought of carting it around that's stopping me!

Night 3.... an hour in and he keeps waking every time I put him in the cot. My dinner is cold and I'm pissed off.

Dh keeps saying to give him the sleepyhead back. This is shit.

When you say you go away a lot, do you mean in the UK or abroad? I only ask as we took the grand to Majorca last month. We just took it apart and packed it in the suitcase. Although it's big, it's only foam and weighs nothing.

My sympathies OP - this was my son too, he'd been in the sleepyhead from 3 weeks old and when he was 6 months we tried for about 2 weeks to get him out of it. Sorry to say we caved in the end and had to put him back in! He was waking approximately hourly, sometimes on the half hour and we just needed sleep again - and it worked like magic much to my annoyance. We hadn't wanted him to be sleeping in it in a room in his own overnight, which is why we tried it when we did.

He wasn't rolling over in it at all though, just staying snuggled in on his back all night - so we risked it, and kept him in it till he was about 9 months in the end! By that point he was really big for it, had started rolling over in it, and when we tried again it took maybe 2-3 nights of him being a little unsettled till he was totally fine without it.

I think at the time I'd read a little on the company's Facebook page about the age range and they'd said the "up to 8 months" was only a suggested age based on feedback from customers about when they tended to stop using it, and were quite reassuring about using them beyond that age....which made me feel better about it at least! Felt a bit stupid having to take up a huge portion of a suitcase with it when we visited relatives overseas though!

Haribo okay thanks I'll look at it again then. Maybe the grande is for us after all.

Pixel - did you find that your DS was too big for it with his shoulders.? He is way too long for it but that's not an issue as we just opened the bottom up however looking at him lying down both shoulders are now lifting up over the bumpers.

He finally went down and is now awake again after just 30 mins. I don't know whether to go and give it back to him :(