4.5 month old rolling onto tummy while swaddled! help???

[seed17]

My 4.5 month old just started rolling onto his tummy while swaddled at night...we swaddle him tightly in a swaddleme because he started breaking out of the swaddle.  If he gets his arms out they keep him awake, flailing around and banging against the side of his cosleeper.  He has been working on rolling from his back to his tummy for a few weeks now, but has only been successful while swaddled (weird). Is it safe to swaddle him if he can roll? If not, any tips on getting him to sleep with his arms out?  He has not slept more than 3 hours in a stretch for the past month, and wakes up to BF 3 or more times a night.  I don't think I can function if he starts sleeping less due to not being swaddled.

Any help and advice is greatly appreciated!

[P.J.]

We used sleep positioners when DS slept swaddled for naps, and at night he was right next to me so no danger of rolling over. I know sleep positioners get a bad rap because I think some newborns have smushed their faces into them and then suffocated, so you need to use them with caution. We had the ones with huge vents on all sides so a baby could breathe if smushed against it, and put them pretty low on hs body, like waist/hip level- nowhere near his face, plus we didn't start using them til DS was about your baby's age and had excellent head control by then so would be less likely to not move his head if he couldn't breathe. I say if you're careful and place them low they aren't so dangerous, and for us allowed DS to sleep swaddled for a couple more months after he started rolling.

[Choaners]

my pediatrician said to stop swaddling when our DD starts to roll b/c they usually cannot get themselves back in order to protect their nose and face to breathe so it can increase the risk of SIDS.  Not sure what your other options are b/c as P.J. said the positioners get a bad rap for the same reason.  sorry I can't offer any helpful suggestions...i'm looking forward to anyone who has them though b/c our DD is days away from being able to roll and the thought of not swaddling her at night gives ME night terrors.

[Hannah32]

Babies who can roll need to be able to access their hands, in case any situations arise. I wouldn't risk it. Sorry, but that's my honest opinion. It's also my honest opinion that sleep positioners are a bad idea.

I know how you feel. My baby is not a great sleeper and at about 13 weeks, we discovered the Miracle Blanket and all of a sudden, he would sleep 4-5 hours at a stretch. I was in despair when he learned to roll a week later. Interestingly enough, HE rejected swaddling after that, fussing big time until we unwrapped him, when previously, it seemed to relax him. I think babies can sense things like that. But my despair was not needed (this is the good news), because he started rolling to his tummy to sleep after that and still did the same length of sleep stretches. 

For the next one, we're bringing the Miracle Blankets with us to the hospital.

[Knitting Mama]

Well, I am the voice of dissent here, sort of. My 9 month old is still swaddled for sleeps, although we are transitioning from a tighter non-stretchy Swaddleme swaddle to a stretchier Woombie right now. Cecilia only ever napped on me or in the swing at your son's age, and at night slept in my arms, so the risk of her rolling over on her own without me noticing were basically nil. By the time she was sleeping in the bed alone (just in the last couple of months), she was clearly able to move her upper body even when swaddled.

I say watch him closely. If he can clearly lift up his upper body in his swaddle, the he will be able to turn his head in case he rolls over and is face down. If he cannot, then it's decision time-- either he needs to be unswaddled or he needs to sleep with you so that you can make sure he's not rolling over.

[SeattleRain]

Daniel was rolling over alot in his swaddle and it freaked me out. All of the sudden he only wanted to sleep on his tummy swaddled and I didn't really like that. Especially after I read an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that said that babies who are swaddled and sleep prone are  more likely to die of SIDS (The article can be found in a link near the bottom of this article). Since my baby sleeps in his crib, I couldn't control whether he slept on his tummy at night so I decided at 5.75 months to ditch the swaddle. Let me tell you, the first week was hell. I had a meltdown every night. One night he cried so hard he threw up (in my arms of course). But you know what? We're fine now. We had one bad week and now he's sleeping from 7-7 with only one stop in between to eat. I had dreaded the weaning of the swaddle for months and months and it wasn't so bad at ALL.

So my suggestion is that you try a week without the swaddle and see how things go. It might be time to give it up. One thing that helped us in the weaning was to introduce a lovey. He now has a really cute bunny blanket that he snuggles with his hands. It worked so well that two nights ago, he woke up, cried for about 30 seconds and in the time it took me to get downstairs to make a bottle he was stroking his bunny and cooing to it until he fell asleep.

[HappyMommy2]

He is the age when HBOTB recommends it is time to wean him from the swaddle.  You can start with one arm out, then two arms out, then be done altogether. 

Although since he is already rolling over, you might have to just go cold turkey.  The sleep sacks keep them warm, and their feet enclosed, but the arms are free.

[seed17]

Thanks mamas! We put him in a sleep sack last night, and as soon as I put him in his little bed he flipped onto his tummy.  He did wake up and cry quite a few times (and I cried with him) but after bfing at 1 he slept for 3 hours (a long stretch for us!).

It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, and I am fully functional today (I think I'm just so used to not sleeping at this point)

All of the advice really helps, and hearing that other mom's have conquered the same struggles and lived to tell the tale gives me great confidence.  Now if we could just get him to take a bottle.....   :)