HELP! How do I wean DS off his swaddle?

[Jojay]

DS2 is 5 months now and has been swaddled with great success since he was tiny.

The problem is that he can get out of his swaddle now, he's starting to roll and is getting stronger, so he gets his arms out and ends up in a right tangle.

He finds it realy hard to go to sleep without it though. I've just put him down in a Grobag and I can hear him crying up there ( it's only been a moment, don't panic) whereas when swaddled he settles himself beautifully.

I'd be happy to carry on swaddling if I could but he seems to escape and this morning was really tangled up. No commercial swaddling blankets go to his size, and he's big for his age.

Anyone have any experience of this?

He's stopped crying now. Maybe he will be able to do it on his own.

have you tried a grobag (sleeping bag), both of mine loved them until at least 2 years old!

He's in one now, and has gone quiet. I might risk a peep at him to see if he has gone off to sleep.

Yey! He's asleep! How long he'll stay asleep is another matter.....

It took him about 7 mins to setle himself - I guess that's not too horrendous.

i think it depends what blanket you use, i have a very loose-knit, hand-knitted shawl that is elastic enough for dd2 to move about in but she can't get her arms out. she HATES a gro-bag.

He was in a cotton cellular blanket which had some stretch but not much. The main problem was that he's starting to roll, so the bit that was tucked under his back was coming loose.

So far so good in the Grobag though, we'll see how it goes.

Thanks

He woke up after 20 mins. He'd usually have at least 45 mins.

Could be a long night tonight.....

Well he just went down ok, only a few minutes crying, but he's woken after 20 mins again.

It looks as if it not going to sleep, but staying asleep is our problem

Any other ideas? Bedtime tonight NOT going well.

Is getting in a tangle waking him up then? Could you use a cotton cot sheet?

I've tried using a sheet when it was a bit milder and he was fine, but that was before he started escaping, so maybe I'll try that again.

Bedtime tonight was a disaster. I started trying to put him down at about 10 to 7. After much crying and me trying every trick in the book to get him off ( feed to sleep, dummy, shush pat etc) at 7.30 I gave up and swaddled him again.

He was asleep in seconds, literally.

I think I need to concentrate on finding ways of keeping him in the swaddle rather than trying to get himused to being without it, as if tonights performance is anything to go by, he still finds it REALLY difficult to sleep without it.

Off for a large G&T to calm my frazzled nerves now.....

I think its the security they feel, and also when they are asleep their flailing arms wake them up.

I would use a cotton cot sheet to secure him, and lay a cellular blanket over the top of that for warmth.

Another thing you could try is laying the blanket over him lengthways and tucking the ends down the side of the cot (pinning him to the mattress basically).

But I agree, work on how to keep him in a swaddle rather than getting him out of it.

Hope you have a peaceful night.

Thank you

The sheet tucked into the mattress may be a good halfway house for when I'm brave enough to try without a swaddle again - the Grobag was clearly a step too far.

fingers crossed for a settled night - well as good as they ever are anyway

A is 6 months and sleeps happily in a grobag as long as he has some swaddling blankie in his hands. Once asleep it doesn't matter that he loses the blanket as the grobag keeps him warm.

All his swaddling blankets were just fleecy material bought by the metre, so you could get a large one?

hugs to you! my boy went through the same thing.. you can try things like tucking one arm in only and leaving one out for a few days so he gets used to the movement but not too much at one time.
We tried all the tricks and our boy didn't transition well, until we got a Peke Moe sleep sack for him, and that was perfect . pekemoe.co.nz but you may just find it takes him a week or so to transition into his grow bag. All the best!!

Thanks

Last night was brilliant in the end - I think he was so knackered after the drama of teh day that he slept from his dreamfeed till 5.45 am - a miracle for him!! And he stayed in the swaddle all night.

I hadn't though of fleecy material notcitrus - you don't need to hem it do you? I can't sew at all so I thought something homemade was out of the question but fleece may be the way forward.

I'll have a look at these Peke Moe sacks too Pearlnz, thanks for the recommendation

Completely unhemmed here! Goes a little curly at the edge after the wash but no problem.

He pulls it over his face when he naps which I find most endearing (just need to watch for people going'Oh no, your baby has his blanket over his face, I'll just move it... WAAAAHH!...)

How old is yours, out of interest?

isn't it weird how they love the fabric up by their faces? Our little one also did, but I felt confident with him in his peke moe sleep sack as I knew the fabric was light and breathable and would move as soon as he moved his hands. I think many babies use fabric near their face as a self-settling thing eh?

Where do you get these pekemoes?
Only from New Zealand?
Postage must be a killer! And the exchange rate? But they look fabulous!!