6mo excessive eye rubbing- should i intervene?

[pulapula]

DS aged 6.5mo has been swaddled since birth, but I am trying to wean him off the swaddle as its a bit of a prop really and time to let him sleep freely/independently.

He has slept without the swaddle, but sometimes if i put him down he rubs and rubs his eyes and then gets angry as he just wants to sleep. I try holding his hands still, but in the end i give in and swaddle his arms, and off he goes to sleep. The more i swaddle, the more he needs it, so its a vicious circle.

So my question is will he eventually learn to stop rubbing his eyes and drop off? Anyone got any eye-rubbers? He's got a comforter which i try to get him to hold but he prefers to have that next to his face.

Why not swaddle him quite loosely, so that he has the comfort of the swaddle but can wriggle out of it in the night if he wants to be a wriggler?

Or you could put one arm in the swaddle and then put the comforter in the other hand, gives the comfort of the swaddle but the freedom of an arm.

Im afraid you can't do much about the eye rubbing apart from swaddling or tucking his arms tightly into a blanket. He probably will grow out of it..but maybe he needs the comfort of his swaddle for a bit longer.

He will get himself out of his swaddle eventually..then you will know he has had enough.

Jenna

Thanks Jenna,

Yes, I have started to swaddle a bit looser for daytime naps, and he generally prefers to keep his arms down by his side anyway.

However, at night he often escapes the swaddle, and I worry that he is dependent on me going in to reswaddle in order to fall back asleep. I don't mind too much as it is a quick job and he settles himself afterwards, but I guess it would be even better if he could go back off on his own!