5 month old can't sleep unswaddled

[ml01omm]

Hi

I have a 5-month old who has been swaddled since day 1.

A few weeks ago we decided to start transitioning him ready to go in a sleeping bag and we unswaddled 1 arm. That was pretty much fine.

We decided to unswaddle both arms for day time naps, and its now day 3 and a nightmare. He just windmills around, pulls his dummy out, rubs his eyes, waves both arms around. The only way he has got any sleep, is by us holding his arms by his side and then creeping out, which kind of defeats the purpose?

Has anyone else had this problem? How long did it take before they were able to fall asleep with both arms out? (note : once asleep, he is fine with both arms out)

Have you tried a love to dream swaddle?
They allow a natural sleeping position but without the arms being restricted. It allows them to self sooth but can't scratch their head as the material doesn't stretch that far, or throw their arms around.
Bought one for my 4 month old DS last week as he has horrendous cradle cap on his forehead and he keeps clawing at it. It not only stops him doing that but he has never fell asleep so fast!!
Maybe worth a shot?!
Photo of it attached for ease of reference

Took my then 14 week old about a week. We did both arms at once though. He was up every 45 minutes and then found his thumb and learnt to self-settle and is now a much better sleeper in general, because of it. It takes time but they will get used to it.

Does your LO roll? Ours quickly started sleeping on his front after we unswaddled and things improved massively very quickly. First time I saw him on his front was terrifying though!

Just to add to what @sleepslikeababy said. If your baby is rolling over DO NOT buy the sleep suit I suggested, as it's not safe for them.
So sorry, forgot to mention that bit! 😬

@lockdownpregnancy sadly we have tried those swaddles and he really couldn't get on with them. He got so frustrated that he had movement in his hands but couldn't actually do anything, so we got rid of them.

Ah! Fair dos! At least tried and tested!
I never swaddled our DS so that's the only suggestion I had for you I'm afraid!
Hope it gets better for you soon 🤞

My 3 month old took a little over a week to get used to having her arms free. For the first 4/5 nights I held her hands for most of the night as she was constantly bringing them to her face and waking herself up. The first night it was holding both hands down and by the end I was just gently holding one hand. She is in a snüzpod so I just kept the side down and slept that way. It wasn't a fun week but she is much better now - although she still doesn't sleep as well as she did in the swaddle (unfortunately she is rolling so had to stop).

Incidentally, mine also didn't get on with the love to dream. She found it frustrating having her hands around her face but not actually being able to suck them.

I transitioned my DD into a Merlin’s baby magic sleepsuit when she didn’t want to be swaddled anymore - I got it on Amazon. It’s very thick so I keep the room cooler but it’s worked wonders. She was waking 10-15 times a night trying to escape the swaddle, the first night I put her into the Merlin sleepsuit, she slept 10 hours straight. Their arms are free but it’s quite heavy so stops the startle reflex.

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00WRM0HX4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_doTdGbA0QSZVP?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

I transitioned into a zipadee zip with my first, and it worked well. We used them for about a year for naps.