Sleep tips when swaddle comes off

[iloveicelollies]

My baby boy has slept in tommee tippee swaddle wrap things since birth. He's in the 2.5 tog one now. He is currently 13 weeks and usually sleeping from 8pm till about 5ish, sometimes beyond. He's been doing this for weeks. I can't believe our luck. He's in his Moses basket next to me and will sometimes wake in middle of night needing dummy popped back in and that and a bit of white noise and he's straight back off.

I'm starting to get nervous about sleep because I know that soon I'll have to stop the swaddle wrap (because he will soon be rolling over, he's showing signs) and because he's getting big for basket. We have a next to me crib for next step and a ton of sleep sacs we've been given. Whenever I try to nap him unswaddled in basket he wakes himself up quickly either rubbing at his face or because of his strong starter reflex. I dont see how he is going to be able to sleep without swaddle and I'm hoping for some tips to help the transition. I thought unswaddled nap would do it but he just ends up overtired when I try. He does sleep fine unswaddled in my arms, the car and the Pram (as long as we are moving).

So, as I said, any tips? Any wonder sleeping bag type products that will help? I need his bags to be at least 2.5 togs as house gets cold at night and he def likes to be on the snuggly warm side. Do I try unswaddling one arm first? Do I just stop worrying about it till he rolls over?

Big thank you in advance.

I didn’t worry about it til my baby actually rolled though that’s not the official guidance and for you to gauge the risk you’re comfortable with... I kept the swaddle for naps a lot longer than at night, until 6 months, because I was always watching her so the risk wasn’t there as it was at night. But in hindsight I wonder if I’d bitten the bullet and got rid sooner whether she’d have been a better sleeper... I’ll never know I guess! We did one arm out for a bit then the whole hog. She sleeps better now than she did in it but it took some adjusting. Good luck to you either way

Thank you. Perhaps I'm worrying prematurely. When he's tired his hands always go to his face and he knocks his dummy out. Hence why swaddle works. But perhaps he will suck on his hands if they are free. Who knows. Will definitely try one arm first but will leave it for now until the roll has been properly achieved. Feel bad for dreading a milestone and half of me not wanting it to happen

Don't rush to get rid of the swaddle- it will be especially helpful through the 4 month sleep regression.

To transition out, I'd swap to the next to me, keeping the swaddle, first. So do that soonish. Then you could swap swaddle for a very tightly tucked in sheet.

Have a look at Love to Dream. They have some good transition products but also just to give you ideas of not changing too many things at once.

Thank you. Good advice

There’s a Tommee Tippee transitional gro snuggle that is really good and has poppers on the arms so it can be used as a swaddle or regular sleeping bag and it does come in 2.5 tog.

I always thought it’s really dangerous to swaddle after 8 weeks because you don’t want to risk the first time they roll being in bed at night so you need to stop well before they are likely to roll. At least that’s the standard advice given in the US where we lived when my first was a baby. Maybe the sleep advice there is more cautious since PP are saying they swaddled for much longer. Anyway, I found the transition out of the swaddle tough for a couple of nights and they get used to it. You just have to ride it out.

I've just transitioned from swaddling to sleeping bag with my son - he was 16 weeks when we started as he could roll from front to back and almost from back to front. He was also growing out of his swaddling wraps so I didn't have much choice.

I was dreading it but it's actually not been too bad, although some nights are worse than others. Even with swaddling he was up a couple of times through the night for a feed, and not much changed once he was in his sleeping bag. I tried to transition gradually by leaving one arm out when I swaddled him, but to be honest it didn't work as he just wriggled until both arms were free so I just cut straight to the sleeping bag so at least he was cosy.

I feed him to sleep though so he's asleep when I put him in his cot. He's never been able to settle himself to sleep even when I swaddled him, and I've never been able to get him to take a dummy.

Without his arms by his side, he definitely takes up more space as he stretches his arms out now so you'll likely need to transition him to the next to me cot when you stop swaddling.

I would also put an extra layer on baby's arms when going to the sleeping bag, particularly if your room gets cold overnight. Swaddling seems to keep their while body so cosy, whereas now sometimes my son wakes up and he's got freezing hands and arms. Some nights I put a wee knitted cardi on under the sleeping bag and I think it helps keep him warm and sleep better.

Hope it goes ok!

I quit swaddling my baby cold turkey and it was actually fine, I had been totally dreading it though. For me the risk of them rolling will be there, there is a first time for everything and I didn’t want that first time to happen while she was swaddled at night.

the first few times I put her in the cot I held her arms gently for a few seconds to stop any flailing that might wake her up.

I transitioned her to sleeping bags which are great. Our house is very cold and I warm up the cot with a hot water bottle first.

We were terrified of moving DS out of the swaddle. He was a terror for rubbing his face, pulling his dummy out in his sleep so we liked that we could lock his arms down with the swaddle. We actually kept it until 5 months when he started rolling.

In the end it was actually fine, we took a few days to transition him. Started with one arm out for a couple of nights, then the other arm out and just bottom half swaddled and then nothing. He did great and actually I think he liked being able to move his arms around more. I don’t remember it causing him any issues with sleeping.

Update - request for more advice. Thanks for following. So he's 4 months now and I thought maybe ready to self soothe as sucks hand a bit during day (though still prefers dummy). I've also been trying to get him acquainted and fond of a little cuddle Muslin rabbit thjng so thought hands out would help him stroke that to comfort self (and take out of cot once asleep). Did transition to next to me a couple weeks ago. Went fine. Was still swaddled. Tried a couple of naps in a sleeping bag with arms out and didn't work. On Friday at nap time I did one arm out of swaddle and although he was flailing about and touching his face and pulling dummy out, with a a little help he self soothed to sleep twice in that time and napped for over 2 hours. Unusual. Successful nap yesterday with arm out. Tried him at night last night with one arm out and put him into cot awake too. He got himself to sleep and I thought I'm winning at life here. At 10 he woke up mega unsettled (last two nights he's had a new wake up at 10/11 which I don't enjoy) and tried so many times to soothe but gave in and fed. He then slept till 3am needing dummy inserting several times as pulls it out. Fed at 3am. Then slept till 5 and gave in and fed again and again at 645. He seems unable to settle self back down from 3am and is only light sleeping. His arm flails and he disturbs himself. To be fair though his sleep was deteriorating swaddled too. But not as bad.

So advice, have I unswaddled too soon, does it seem like he's not ready. He is not rolling yet.

Do I keep persevering with this?

Tricky one OP. Like I mentioned above we only stopped swaddling once DS showed definite signs of wanting to roll. We left it as long as possible because swaddling worked so well for us. So if your DS isn’t showing signs of rolling maybe leave it for now but keep going with the transition for naps? Also don’t forget about the 4 month sleep regression, that could be the reason for the unsettled sleep overnight, rather than the swaddle. I’d go back to the swaddle overnight and see how he goes.

Thanks. That was my inclination too. Keep going for naps and back to swaddle for bedtime.

@iloveicelollies hi! Sorry for jumping on this! How did you get on in the end?? Im going through this now with my 12 week old.

Hey, how did you get on? I’m starting with my 3 month old and worried!

@Pandamck

hi honestly the thought of it was way worse. We had one or two rough nights and then she just accepted it. We did the one arm in and one arm out for about 3 days and then swapped the arms for 3 days and then completely removed it and put her in a sleep bag. When it came round to the 1st night she woke up one or two times more than normal but then second night it was like back to normal. Hope you get on ok x