My DS is 6 months old and we still swaddle him every night and for every nap.
He began escaping the swaddle very early on (the traditional method), so we found a video on youtube showing us how to do what they called a "double swaddle" where they wrap each arm down to his side and then under his legs and up and around his body (serious straight jacket style). It worked! He never escaped again, and his sleep improved.
He really dislikes the actual process of being swaddled and I feel really bad about him needing to be cinched down so tight all the time. I really want to stop swaddling. He seems too old for it.
The problem is, he has never fallen asleep without it. He never falls asleep after nursing or in the stroller or in the car or in my arms or any other way. The only thing that works is to swaddle him super tight with his arms pinned to his sides and then put him in his bouncy chair and sit and bounce him in there till he falls asleep.
This process is not horrible, but I don't want to do it forever. Besides, he's going to outgrow the swaddle and the chair pretty soon.
So, I am basically looking for:
1. How/when to stop swaddling
2. Other ways to get him to sleep without the bouncy chair
I've tried just laying him down without the swaddle when he's really really tired and he'll start to drift off but then his hands will start flying around and he'll hit himself in the face. I've given it a lot of time and trials and he just gets more and more upset that he can't fall asleep.
Please help - any ideas would be much appreciated!
He began escaping the swaddle very early on (the traditional method), so we found a video on youtube showing us how to do what they called a "double swaddle" where they wrap each arm down to his side and then under his legs and up and around his body (serious straight jacket style). It worked! He never escaped again, and his sleep improved.
He really dislikes the actual process of being swaddled and I feel really bad about him needing to be cinched down so tight all the time. I really want to stop swaddling. He seems too old for it.
The problem is, he has never fallen asleep without it. He never falls asleep after nursing or in the stroller or in the car or in my arms or any other way. The only thing that works is to swaddle him super tight with his arms pinned to his sides and then put him in his bouncy chair and sit and bounce him in there till he falls asleep.
This process is not horrible, but I don't want to do it forever. Besides, he's going to outgrow the swaddle and the chair pretty soon.
So, I am basically looking for:
1. How/when to stop swaddling
2. Other ways to get him to sleep without the bouncy chair
I've tried just laying him down without the swaddle when he's really really tired and he'll start to drift off but then his hands will start flying around and he'll hit himself in the face. I've given it a lot of time and trials and he just gets more and more upset that he can't fall asleep.
Please help - any ideas would be much appreciated!
If we try to lower him into the crib without his being wrapped, he frantically kicks his legs and wakes up. When he sleeps in our bed (from about midnight until the morning) he is unswaddled and cuddles up in our blankets, and usually my husband sleeps with one arm over his body.
