Swaddle Transition or Large size swaddle?

[Sherilyns]

Hopefully this is the right forum... My lo has been using the Halo Swaddle Sleepsack,which is a sleepsack with a swaddle piece attached for their arms. She has almost grown out of it and I'm not sure what to do next because they don't make a larger size. (she is 6 months 18 1/2 pounds and it is max size of 18lbs). My question is, do you know of a swaddle system (not a blanket) that is for over 18lbs or do you think we should just go with a sleep sack and try to transition out of the swaddle.

Here is our situation. We swaddle her up and Dh wears her in the Moby till she is sound asleep. He puts her in our sidecarred crib and I try to sleep a bit before she wakes up about 30-60 mins later, at which point I scoot her over to me and nurse her sidelying through the night. She really likes to sleep snuggled and confined (all her naps are in a baby carrier) and I am pretty sure the swaddle is keeping her from waking automatically during that initial part when we put her in the crib. I value this 30 mins of private bed time so I can read or just stretch out from the day's work. Typically at some point in the early morning she starts to fuss and wiggle and I take her arms out of the swaddle. 

Appreciate any tips or advice!

[Lyndzies]

Our daughter is still swaddled in the Halo Sleepsack at 5 1/2 months, and is just over 18 lbs., so I'll be keeping an eye on the responses!  Mine doesn't seem ready to be unswaddled, so I'm at a loss.  For naps, we take her out of the sack part and just use the "wings" to bind her arms to her sides; I'll resort to doing this at night, too, when she (very soon) outgrows the length of the sack!

[Buzzer Beater]

We kept the "wings" also and used them on a larger size sleep sack, or whatever she ended up sleeping in. We never used the velcro tabs to keep the wings from pulling up anyway. She just started sleeping unswaddled at 10 months, but we ended up putting her to sleep on her belly, and she pretty much stays there all night, no waving arms to wake her up.

[Knitting Mama]

Well, Cecilia is still swaddled at almost a year, but it's not a traditional swaddle. What you all with bigger babies need is a Woombie swaddle-- they make big baby blankets! Those of you with 18 pounders, your baby is bigger than my tiny girl already!

Cecilia's swaddle is a very stretchy zip up swaddle with legs. She can get her arms out of the neckhole, and does often. But for her, she really only needs it to fall asleep, so it doesn't bother me that she can get her arms out. This swaddle is designed to be the transitional one; it has snaps along the arm seams so that you can let one arm out when you're ready and then the other, to wean them off of the swaddle altogether. We're not there yet, but we're getting there. But Woombie also makes less stretchy and tighter swaddles for those of you whose babies are not ready to transition yet.

The only thing I'd caution on is that the leggies one we have seems to run big. We got the "Big Baby" one, which is for 14-19 lb babies. We got it when Cecilia was 16 lbs (she is 17 now). Like I said above, it's big enough that she can get her arms out of the neck hole. I'm glad we got the bigger one now, but when we first got it I was pretty unhappy that it was so loose on her.

[JulieInChicago]

Elliot is 17.5 lb and 6 mos and we're still using a Miracle Blanket- if you don't use the foot pouch it'll be big enough for a long time.  I'm glad to see the convertable woombie though- didn't know that existed!  We might have to go that road soon.

[Monarchgrrl]

We use the SwaddleMe one. The large goes up to 22lbs. We tried the Woombie (even a size too small) but DD can move her arms up to the neck and poke her little hands out of it and onto her face. LOL! Defeats the purpose for us. We actually have to double swaddle her. She can get out of every swaddler out there. We've tried almost all of them, including the ones mentioned here. We wrap a thin woven blanket around her middle first and then put the SwaddleMe on. She stays put all night. She's only 15lbs but we moved to the Large size because the Small/Medium was getting too tight and she could inflate her chest and wiggle her arms enough to undo the velcro. LOL!

[SilverFish]

we just use a large square blanket. we have a nice big a+a muslin right now, but were using a large flannel one too. i make her into a nice tight baby burrito... she starts getting sleepy as soon as i lay her down on the folded down edge. i like the flat blanket because i can make the swaddle as tight or loose as i want. when she is fighting sleep, she needs a nice tight solid swaddle so her whole body feels that pressure. anyway, it takes a bit of practice to get used to it, but it's easy to learn and means one less piece of baby gear to buy, since i'm sure you have a big enough blanket already.

[LittleBirdy]

No time to type much but I second the Woombie.  DS is 8 months and 18.5 pounds and it has worked great.  It is a slightly looser swaddle than say a Miracle Blanket so there is a little transition time but I love our Woombie - ours is the Lil Houdini, Big Baby size (there is a Mega Baby size too). 

[Sherilyns]

Thanks for all your suggestions! We had a large size summer swaddleme that we are using. It doesn't work as well as the Halo Swaddle Sleepsack, and she gets her arm out very early in the night, but at least it works for the initial put down. She is teething now, so her sleep is all messed up anyway. I think we will get a sleepsack and try to transition her out of the swaddle.