5 month old can’t sleep without swaddle

[Rachel1210]

As title suggests my 5 month old cant sleep unless he’s swaddled. He’s a very very active baby (verging on being hyperactive!) when he’s awake he’s constantly moving - kicking and waving his arms around. He’s been like this since birth - hence the need to swaddle. However recently he’s been rolling over onto his tummy at night and can’t roll back into his back so I think we need to ditch the swaddle. He also uses a dummy at night so I thought by having his hands free and unswaddled he could self soothe by finding his thumb because at the moment he’s waking every 2 hours when his dummy drops out. We’ve tried unswaddling him but he literally waves and kicks for HOURS and just won’t sleep. Any advice? I use the love to dream swaddles if that helps. I’m wondering whether to just keep him swaddled or whether to persevere?

I could have wrote this post a few months ago, our little girl was swaddled until about 4 and a half/five months and then we absolutely had to stop. We tried one arm out and it just never worked. Went cold turkey and had a couple of restless nights but then she was fine. My thoughts were we aren’t sleeping anyway so might as well persevere. Is he swaddled for naps?

Yes he’s swaddled for naps...the fact that he waves his arms and legs so much I’m not sure if that’s an indication that his reflexes are still quite strong so perhaps he isn’t ready to be Unswaddled? Was your little girl quite hyper?!

Yes, she still is. Doesn’t keep still from the second her eyes are open, won’t sit has to be rolling, jumping etc. It is very strange for them for a while having their arms waving about. Maybe start with day time naps to get him use to it? I had to go cold turkey as I couldn’t handle it anymore

When mine all outgrew the swaddle as such, what i used to do was use a grobag, and also a very thin cotton sheet. I would pop baby in the grobag, then pull the sheet over babies arms, below the shoulders and tuck the sheet in tight. That way baby would fall asleep like they are swaddled but as they slept, they gradually worked their arms out without actually waking. This worked for all four of mine but was ten years ago now!

We have just weaned mine out of his swaddle at 16 weeks. We did two nights with one arm out of the swaddle then last night was his first night in a gro bag. He was very restless and woke a few times more than normal but we left him in the crib and he fell asleep again without crying. I’m hoping he’ll be a bit more settled once he gets used to it!

If yours is normally swaddled in a Love 2 Dream one with arms up, they do a transition swaddle where you can unzip their arms once they’re asleep so they get used go it gradually, might be worth a try!

www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Dream-Swaddle-Medium-6-8-5/dp/B0081GIZ52/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?keywords=love+to+dream+swaddle&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1552919501&sr=8-3

This might be a long shot since this thread was posted a while ago. @Rachel1210 how did you manage the transition ? My baby is exactly the same since birth, plus he constantly “eats” his hands. I’m petrified of dropping the swaddle but I know we have to.

This is me 😢 5 months and use love to dream swaddle since little. Tried the tommee Tippee tonight without arms and she just thrashes and cries after one sleep cycle. She does a good 4 hours in her swaddle bag. I can’t really afford the translation bag and can’t see it working when her arms are out anyway. Any help 😣

@Sisi21

This is me 😢 5 months and use love to dream swaddle since little. Tried the tommee Tippee tonight without arms and she just thrashes and cries after one sleep cycle. She does a good 4 hours in her swaddle bag. I can’t really afford the translation bag and can’t see it working when her arms are out anyway. Any help 😣

I used a normal flat cot sheet to swaddle with. Cheap as chips, about £2. You don't need anything fancy. Then when transitioning out, you can just swaddle looser than usual and control the transition that way

We are now almost 7 months. Tried one arm then two arms out. Didn’t quite work so went cold Turkey. Not gonna lie, putting him to bed became a whole new challenge and it continues...

When we swaddled it was just a matter of seconds: swaddle, 10 secs rocking, bed, baby asleep.

Now, baby’s motor skills kick in, what mostly keeps him from falling asleep and wakes him up at night which is only natural.

How we dealt with it ?

Rocking whilst holding his both hands on his chest. When his “eyes are going” it’s the time to put him down, still holding his hands. Once in his cot, still holding my hand with his hands on his chest then gently rocking him side to side so that his head slightly rocks. He has one doudou on either side of his face, slightly touching his cheeks, his face rocks into them. Continue for 1-2 minutes. Then put his hands gently to his sides but still holding it down then gently rocking his chest. Next step to let go of his hands, stop rocking but still have my hand on his chest. When there is no sign of movement, run !!!!

This can take 1-3 minutes on a good day or 10 minutes on another day.

Sleep regression also came to us around 6 months so it was not easy but you got this !

Ye I’ve just gone cold turkey. She falls asleep okay but wakes herself up thrashing and can’t self settle when her out are out. She can in her swaddle bag but not the TT swaddle gro bag without arms :( xx

We had the same problem- used love to dream swaddle, tried one arm out and he hated it. BUT we put a mitten on, and he slept fine! Then transitioned to both hands out, both hands in mittens. he is 7 months now and still sleeping in mittens but it's not really an issue

We also bought the 'soothe-me swaddle' and he loved it straight away- this is safe for rolling babies :)

Bless him he’s just getting used to having his limbs back at night lol. Just ditch the swaddle cold turkey - he will eventually realise his hands aren’t that exciting and fall sleep.

We are about to try sleep without a swaddle for the first time (3 month old). He seems to reply on it. Any suggestions?

Patience 🙈

My 4 month old screams unless he is swaddled. He is starting to rock from side to side and im worried about him rolling over while we are sleeping. Any suggestions? Ive tried the sleep sacks, ive tried to magic sleep suit. He messes with his face and screams. I let him scream for 3 hours one night before swaddling him. Ive also tried the one arm out at a time with no luck. Please help!