Help! Moving from swaddling to sleep bags!!!

[DuRezidal]

My little boy is 7 weeks now and has been in a really good sleep routine of 4 hourly. I have swaddled him (as I did my daughter) since day one and he go in his bed awake and fall asleep on his own. Tonight we tried him in a sleep bag (mainly because we have bought one and not used it yet) and it has been a total disaster!!!

I fed him, put him down as usual and he has spent the last 90 minutes crying and very very unsettled. I have just gone up and swaddled him (not even given him a bottle or cuddled him etc) and he is now lay very quietly in his bed, falling asleep by himself again.

How on earth do you move from swaddling to sleep bags without this real unsettled stage? Is there a sleep bag that has a swaddling effect?

Just wait and try again in a month or two.

I am just a bit worried as quite a few people have told me it is unsafe after a few weeks old...

I just stopped swaddling mine when they became old enough to roll. Think that was about 4mo.

I swaddled my first until 3 or 4 months

I swaddled until 4mo, then left one arm unawaddled for a week, then moved into a sleeping bag. 7 weeks is still really young and they go through a developmental leap at that age so can be unsettled anyway. Look up The Wonder Weeks if you haven't seen it already. And maybe try again in a month or so.

DD was swaddled for 4 months, don't sweat it, you have plenty of time.

Have you considered doing it in phases? Swaddle around the sleeping bag (a lighter TOG one). Swaddle less and less tightly so he causes it to unravel gradually in the night. He’ll settle first time cos that’s what he’s used to, but slowly get used to the loose feeling as he goes through his sleep cycles through the night?

Try him during the day with a sleeping bag, get him used to it.

DD was in a swaddle until 5.5 months! I was so worried about swapping to a sleeping bag etc, as she was such a fidget - would startle / thrash / pull her dummy out. One night her bottle leaked all over the swaddle, so we put her in a gro bag - she was fine! For a couple of weeks beforehand she’d been unsettled at times - she was actually better in the gro bag - it was like she was ready to swap. You have plenty of time, don’t worry.

Ps - she was in a sleepyhead in a snuzpod next to my bed, so couldn’t roll anywhere, so I wasn’t worried about that. I only moved her to her own room once she was out of the swaddle.

Thanks everyone... swaddled he slept 11pm to 5.30am so sticking with it for now then will do the gradual that has been suggested. Great ideas!!!

Love to Dream swaddle?

@Lemondrop99 that looks perfect!!!

11-5.30, I'm so jealous! My 6 week old boy is up at 12,3 and 6!

We used the love to dream swaddle and it was great! Definitely recommend

We also had the halo sleepsack swaddle which dd seemed to like more, and great as you can slightly loosen the wrap bit so it wasn’t a massive change

I’m also jealous- 1 year old dd is up 30 mins- hourly

Swaddled he is super... it ranges from 4 to 6 hours in his first sleep period, then drops for the next one. But with his little armies out he just would not settle.

We have also just been bought a Next2 Me projector for Christmas so he has it in tonight. I put him down wide awake in his room and he just lay watching the stars then fell asleep!