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Sleep

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Original poster

what happens when you stop swaddling?

15 replies

Maenad · 29/12/2008 15:35

My 11-week-old is currently sleeping really well, swaddled in her moses basket. But she'll soon be too big for the miracle blanket and the basket, and I'm worried in case stopping swaddling will throw her sleep. What happens when you stop swaddling? It seems like a big transition. When have other people stopped doing it and what happened?

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PuzzleRocks · 29/12/2008 16:58

bump

katch · 29/12/2008 17:10

What do you mean by 'miracle blanket?' Is it a new marketing ploy to make us buy a specially made item we could cobble together ourselves by wrapping a normal blanket in a certain way?

Maybe not - but I used to put a cardie on my DD over her babygro, which seemed to pre-empt her waking up cold.

stirlingstar · 29/12/2008 17:15

We stopped at maybe 3 months ish (DS now 22 months so can't remember exactly) - but it did cause some probs with him getting off to sleep. Most prob seemed to be with his arms jerking and waking him - he was less bothered about his legs. You can try tucking a large muslin snuggly around her top half once she's laid in the cot, kind of like a wide strap. That worked for us - he'd be wriggled out of it after a while, but it worked for him to get off to sleep.

After a while he just got to a new stage of maturity and the jerking limbs stuff stopped and he didn't need the swaddle - and as soon as he was able, he chose to turn on to his side to sleep.

compo · 29/12/2008 17:16

we used a grobag

gagarin · 29/12/2008 17:30

You can swaddle in a cot sheet - which come in various sizes. Not sure what a "miracle balnket" is I'm afraid - but if it's small then just move to a small sheet and fold it to the right size for your baby.

SpecialOffer · 29/12/2008 18:44

We moved to a grobag at about 8 weeks I think, never had any problems.

Original poster

Maenad · 29/12/2008 21:51

thanks... s'pose we'll just have to try a grobag out one night and see what happens.

(The 'miracle blanket', btw, is a fab invention which makes it easy for incompetents like me to swaddle a baby and stop it wriggling loose. I never managed it properly with my first baby, but this is fantastic - and lets you change the nappy without undoing the swaddle)

I think I'm especially nervous about screwing up her lovely sleeping, as my first was such a disastrous sleeper and I am still amazed at the fact that DD2 will sleep long stretches at night. I may be attributing too much to the swaddling, as this is the big difference between what we did with the two DDs.

OP posts:

jocie · 29/12/2008 22:59

second stirlingstar bout the wide strap thing, ds2 is nearly 5 months and has been in a grobag since bout 2/3 months but have always used a thin sheet tucked in firmly over arms and trunk as he has very movey arms.

dinkystinkyclaus · 30/12/2008 09:11

Maenad - we finally stopped swadding DS at around 6 months (started phasing it out at 4 months). We got a large muslin square (about a metre square) and used it to swaddle him with one arm out and then two arms out (using a 0.5 tog grobag underneath) and then moved to just wrapping it around his waist and then stopped with no problems - as was phased out he got used to just the grobag gradually. Did tuck him under a light sheet as he liked the security though.

OblomovOYeFaithful · 30/12/2008 09:51

Move onto a bigger blanket !
Or a small sheet.
And also half swaddle, i.e under the arms not fully.
Then move onto a grobag.

How soon can you use growbags ? I want to get ds2 into one asap and can't remember when I starting using one with ds1.

dinkystinkyclaus · 30/12/2008 21:04

Oblomov - I think they can go into grobags from 8lbs? We started using a light tog one with DS from around 4 months when we were phasing out the swaddling...

waitinggirl · 03/01/2009 01:33

can i ask... we have a 8 day old baby - do you use the miracle blanket every night? have used it once and it worked, but can;'t get it on a screaming crying baby with flailing arms. shd i do it every night time?

Pearlnz · 03/01/2009 21:04

agree with the othres that you could look for a bigger swaddling blanket. If baby sleeps well swaddled, why stop?
We used a miracle blanket until my boy kept gettig out of it, (about 6months I suppose) then put him into a peke moe sleep sack and that worked great for him.
waitinggirl- I would definitely recommend to do the swaddling for EVERY nap especially if baby slept better. You will get faster and quicker doing it, you sometimes need to hold babies arms down quite firmly and wrap quite fast!! all the best!

MiniMarmite · 12/01/2009 20:19

we went cold turkey onto a grobag and it was fine after a few difficult nights...

dinkystinky · 12/01/2009 21:45

Waitinggirl - it was around then that we started swaddling DS (for every sleep) and it made a huge difference. Try calming little one down (singing, shushing, bouncing on exercise ball, going for a walk in the fresh air etc) before you put her into the swaddle and she should be a little bit easier to swaddle (that was my experience with DS who was quite high maintenance for the first couple of months and then suddenly morphed into an easy to deal with baby... it does get easier, honest).

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