Sometimes it’s overwhelming to see what can happen when someone asks for advice on the internet because everyone has an opinion and can easily turn to absolute chaos. However, despite my reservations, I am going to actually ask for advice now.
Breanna is pretty much outgrowing the the Miracle Blanket by leaps and bounds (Amy, I guess I’ll have to be sending it back to you soon, wah!). I no longer try to restrain her arms because she likes to have her hands free now and she doesn’t startle anymore. At this point I’m just keeping her legs inside the pouch, but she kicks free so easily that I have to try to gently keep her still while she’s falling asleep.
For those of you who swaddled your babies, how did you transition out of it? Breanna’s sleep is in shorter spurts these days and I think it’s because she kicks her legs and wakes herself up. I’ve been wondering if one of those sleep sacks would work or maybe the “nightgowns” that are little sakcs as well (I don’t even know if they make them big enough for her), or if I just have to patiently (hahaha!) wait for her to get used to sleeping freely and wait for her to start doing longer stretches again.
You would think this is something I wouldn’t need to ask about since this is my second baby and all, but I never had to transition from swaddling to non-swaddling because Hayley hated it from day one. Even when the nurses wrapped her up tightly she would free herself by flailing angrily until she was loose. People will say “all babies love to be swaddled!” but no one ever told Hayley that; it was like she came out and thought, “well thank GOD I’m out of that confined space now, HEY, get that blanket away from me, bitch!” so she just pretty much always slept freely. She wouldn’t even tolerate a blanket lightly covering her until she was almost two years old.
Okay. Suggest away, tell me how you handled it.
You could try swaddling with one arm out. Or maybe just from the waist down like a half burrito. We used a flannel blanket (homemade by my nieces but I bet you could find one) that’s sort of stiff. I know the books tell you to do the one arm thing and then two arms and then no swaddle at all.
We also used a chip clip to secure the blanket, so maybe you could try that to keep it on her? We used the gowns and stuff but they’re no match for a kicky feet baby.
I wish I had better advice, since my son was a huge swaddle fan.
I went from full swaddle to half swaddle – from the arms down. Sam kicks a lot so I made sure I wrapped it around and put the ends underneath him to keep him from getting out. Also, I put socks on his hands (he keeps slicing his face no matter how much I trim the nails) and this seems to distract him from playing with them when he should be sleeping.
I then went to the baby sleeping bag and I love them! Sam can now kick all he wants and I don’t have to worry about him getting cold during the night because he can’t kick it off. Also, the bag fits pretty snuggly around the shoulders and arms so he likes the feel of it as opposed to a blanket. In addition, he associates the sleeping bag with night time sleep, which is very helpful in distinguishing it from just a nap.
Hope this helps!
Don’t feel bad not knowing after two babies, I’m on my fifth and I’ve never transitioned swaddling to no swaddling. I guess I was fortunate in that none of my babies seem to be bothered by kicking themselves free. Daniel loved being swaddling and I kept him like that until he outgrew the receiving blankets. He never seemed to startle himself awake and if he did I think I just took it as a natural transition of different sleep patterns.
good luck with that. I bet she settles down soon to a good sleeping pattern. If she’s teething like you said, that’s bound to have something to do with shorter sleeps!
neither of mine cared much for the whole swaddling deal either, it’s not just hayley 🙂
when they were both small they had sleeping bag things during the winter. we’re only starting to get into colder weather with abigail for the second time so we haven’t had to decide what to do yet. when stephanie was about 1, i made one of those sleeping bag things for her myself. i just had two big rectangles of fabric and at one end cut so that it formed a neck and arm holes, then sewed the sides and bottom together. i used velcro at the top to join it up closed over the shoulders so that it stayed on. that seemed to work well.
i should mention that the reason i made one myself is because they didn’t seem to have them that big in the stores.
we went cold turkey on the swaddling, as he would FREAK OUT if his arm got free and then he’d startle awake, and I’d have to go in and soothe and reswaddle about 6-8 times a night. It got exhausting. So we went cold turkey, and he did NOT enjoy it… I didn’t either, but after 2-3 days of having a hard time settling down, he figured it out. I wish I knew of a better way, I am hoping that by the time baby #2 gets here in september, I’ll have read soemthing somewhere that will make life a little easier this time around. good luck.
I’m trying to remember what we did, but I think I may have blocked it out. I’m pretty sure we took the swaddle away around 4 or 5 months; I didn’t want her to get to where she would only sleep all wrapped up. I do remember trying to helop her use her fingers/thumb to soothe herself, but that never really took. If I rememberwhat we did, I’ll e-mail you.
I suppose I’m a bit different because my child Did Not Sleep unless she was swaddled, and even when she was swaddled she rarely slept more than 2 hours at a time, so there was no way in hell I was going to stop swaddling her as long as it worked. We tried it every once in awhile, but she would kick herself awake constantly and it was too miserable for words. Anyway, once she got big, I cut a flat cotton sheet in a jersey knit (twin bed size) in half and used those as swaddle cloths. It worked well because it was summer by then, and I’d just swaddle her over her diaper. It was light, but stretchy, and I got the sheet on clearance at Bed, Bath & Beyond for like 5 bucks. She always worked her arms free- it was just the legs that really were a problem by then. We stopped swaddling when she was 10 months old, when she didn’t seem to need it anymore. And then, there was no transition. She just didn’t need it anymore, and that was that.