weaning from swaddle

[sarahr]

My 5 mo old is an awesome sleeper -- goes from about 7 or 8 to 6 or 7, waking once to nurse. He also sleep swaddled. I am eager to wean from the swaddle: it's really hot out and the swaddle makes him sweat a lot and because reswaddling hime at his middle of the night nursing makes him scream.

But, when I try to nurse him to sleep without the swaddle, he flails around so much that he can't settle and fall asleep. I don't know how well he'd sleep without the swaddle either (since I can't get him to sleep in the first place without it.

Any ideas? We use the miracle blanket and his feet are usually out in about two seconds, without causing any problems.

[Knitting Mama]

Can you try a different swaddle method to combat the heat? It's super hot here too (I live in the desert!) but I can't imagine not swaddling Cecilia for the reason you listed above. This kid is seriously in constant motion when she's awake, she basically never stops moving at all! So I swaddle her with a very light cotton swaddle blanket (SwaddleMe brand) and I just have her in her diaper during the day. At night she wears a onesie, because the bedroom is actually quite a bit cooler than the rest of the house (which is awesome for me because I'm always hot at night and I have Cecilia in my arms). When she outgrows the Swaddleme, I am planning on getting the aden + anais muslin swaddle blankets-- they are big and very lightweight.

[hakeber]

I recommend using a lighter swaddler, too. I use a half of a twin flat sheet with a very low thread count, but a square of 1 mt by 1 mt muslin from the fabric store could probably also do the trick.

I swaddle Emily in a diaper only. She never wakes up in discomfort.

ETA: and as you can see from my location we live in COSTA RICA and not in a mountain town either...it's seriously hot all the time here.

[P.J.]

I have an Aden&Anais muslin swaddle cloth. I got it because of this summer heat wave we're having and my baby also cannot fall asleep without a swaddle (due to excessive flailing and general hard time letting go into sleep, it comforts him to be swaddled). Personally I love the fabric, it's cool, soft and breathable, but I find it a bit hard to get a good tight swaddle in. Sometimes it works, other times not and that can be frustrating. We also ordered a SwaddleMe bamboo viscose swaddle blanket, and that is really thin and cool, but unfortunately just doesn't fit right, plus the fabric is real stretchy so he wiggles out of it pretty quickly. Anyway, point being there are plenty of swaddling options with cooler fabric if that's your only issue.

I, too have wondered about swaddle weaning as I know we'll have to eventually. I mean, he can't sleep swaddled forever! Some sources say at three months or so, other say six months, others say as soon as they can roll over on their own as they need their hands then. Our baby can roll over, but we just use little baby bumpers when he goes to sleep before us or naps alone in the bed and they work great! Anyway I've read that you can still swaddle them but just leave their hands free, or do one hand for a few days then both as a way to wean them.

I'd also be curious to know of others' experience with this. Thanks,

[Boot]

I'm in the process of swaddle weaning my 5 month old. Basically because she was getting hot and frustrated going to sleep at night (her hardest time to settle) so it wasn't helping anymore. What I'm doing at the moment is zipping her arms inside her sleepsack (light cotton) and wrapping a receiving blanket round her arms to stop them escaping. It's easy to remove the blanket once she's asleep and she usually frees her hand and rolls over during the night but it helps her to go to sleep, otherwise her hands keep her awake. She just wears a diaper underneath if it's hot. Could you try something like that?

Slightly OT but wouldn't it be a great product if you could get a sleepsack that had close-able armholes to help with the transition from swaddle to sleepsack. I guess I could just add snaps myself. hmmmm

[Llyra]

Some kids just really need it, even beyond the newborn period, and if something is working, and getting us all some sleep, I try really hard not to mess with it. My DS was swaddled at night until 13 months, and for naps until 16 months. He's 3 1/2 now and it did him no harm. Even my DD2 needed it until she was closer to 7 or 8 months.

(DD1 was the Fantastic Sleeper from Heaven, so it was never an issue with her...)

The Miracle Blanket, especially feetless, is a nice light blanket, though. If he's sweaty, just have him be naked (diapered, of course) inside the blanket, and make sure he's nursing often if he's sweating. Another idea, if the feetless thing is a problem, is to cut holes in the bottom of the blanket to let his feet protrude. Having two leg holes will keep the blanket from riding up, also.

When I did stop swaddling, we started with one arm free, then the other, and then went to lightly wrapping him in his bedsheet. He still likes to be all "tucked in" when he sleeps.

[LilaQ]

My 10 month old started to wean himself from the swaddle this week. I thought it would never happen but all the sudden he was doing everything possible to get out of the swaddle and also staying asleep once he was out. Staying asleep was the key to knowing he was ready to wean. I still loosely swaddle him around his sleep sack to fall sleep but he can easily get out when he wants to. Until this transition, we did a version of the double swaddle with a cut up sheet. It looked crude but it worked and kept him cool. He also slept in only a diaper. I think babies tend to get sweaty even when they're not esp. hot. At least my son does.

I say stick with it as long as it works--you'll know when your LO is ready to quit.

[Knitting Mama]

Originally Posted by Llyra

Some kids just really need it, even beyond the newborn period, and if something is working, and getting us all some sleep, I try really hard not to mess with it. My DS was swaddled at night until 13 months, and for naps until 16 months. He's 3 1/2 now and it did him no harm. Even my DD2 needed it until she was closer to 7 or 8 months.

I have no designs on weaning Cecilia from her swaddle until I'm positive she can sleep without it. Nap trials without indicate that she can't, so we'll keep swaddling!