Swaddlers! How and when did you stop and what happened?

[theprecious]

I swaddle ds (4mths) and he sleeps well at night and well in the day if he's swaddled.

So I am worried about when to stop as he's outgrowing the swaddle blanket we have. Also he's beginning to suck his fingers so I am wondering if we should leave one arm out?

How have other people stopped the swaddling? What happened?

we were worried about this too, and found that gradually during the day, we removed the swaddle blanket, and finally he went to bed quite happily at night without it. HOWEVER, because his startle reflex was still active (around 6 months), he would keep waking himself up. So we found that he slept wonderfully if we turned him to sleep on his stomach - the weight of his body worked to control the reflex, and he didn't wake himself up. This was, of course, when he could turn over, so we worried less about SIDS - we also have one of those breathing monitors for peace of mind.

Good luck, if you start gradual withdrawal during the day, the nights should follow.

Our story isn't quite as smooth as Phd's. DD loved her swaddle so, and became upset whenever she got unswaddled.
We went cold turkey on both this and the dummy at 6mths. There was crying for 2 nights, then never more than a few minutes crying at bedtime (mostly none!) after than. But it was easier than we expected and I think in a few days DD had forgotten she was ever swaddled.

Ds always loved being swaddled. It was a sign that it was bedtime and helped him get to sleep and stay asleep. We swaddled him until he was big and strong enough to unwrap himself! So he gave it up himself (at about 5 months I think).

I really think there's no need for you to set a particular time to stop - as with loads of other things, you can just leave it to the baby to decide when she's ready!

Oops sorry when he's ready, not she.

i stopped swaddling my ds at 14 weeks (this is what is said to do on miracle blanket packet!) and remember dreading it thinking he would never get to sleep.. but he just did! OK he had a dummy sometimes (and still has) but i was surprised that he was suddenly able to cope with the flailing hands. Hope it goes ok

thanks for the replies...the thing that worries me is that if I don't swaddle ds for daytime naps then he'll sleep for 20mins, but if swaddled then it's 1hr 45mins!

I think i will postpone the decision if people have swaddled till 6months. We have a miracle blanket so I will use that until he grows out of it, maybe trying one arm out to see if he wants to suck his fingers.