Swaddle question

[solongtogo]

I swaddle my daughter still at 4 months old, last night she had completely flip flopped positions and her head was at the place where her feet were when I put her down, she did all of that swaddled. We use a miracle blanket. I was thinking of using a blanket sleeper and keeping her arms in the blanket instead of putting them in the arm holes. I tried keeping one arm out about a month ago and she woke up crying several times. How will I know when she's done with being swaddled?

[cynder]

We had the same problem. At 4 months he started flip flopping while swaddled which was so weird to me. I don't know if your idea will work but it's a shot. I remember posting about this at the time and got responses from people that swaddled well past 4,6, months which surprised me. Does she take naps unswaddled? If so that might be a good sign.

After consulting with our ped., we decided to cut the Miracle Blanket cold turkey. The thought of doing this sounded PAINFUL to DH and I b/c we adored the Miracle Blanket and how well it worked for us. But we had hated depending on this piece of cloth to put our child to slepp. It took us 2-3 nights and we had some minor relapses but overall DS handled it well and we can now lay hiim in the crib after his last bottle and he'll go to sleep on his own. If at 4 months you had told me that he would eventually do this, I would have thought you are off your rocker.

Best of luck. Hope you find something that works. Cute baby!

[newyorkgirl]

We used a regular swaddling blanket to swaddle, and we knew we were done with it when DS's arms were out of it within a couple hours and he wanted to soothe himself in other ways, e.g. sucking his thumb. This was probably around 4+ months. It really depends on when your baby loses the reflex that makes their arms shoot out (as if they're falling).

[LeslieR]

solongtogo, I'm right there with you. We use the SwaddleMe, though. DS can get his arms out and his feet out (not both at the same time, though). He also sometimes flips himself around in the crib. He HATES being swaddled, but it's the only way I can lay him down in the crib asleep without him waking up (he will not go to sleep on his own). I've considered doing the same thing with a blanket sleeper and keeping his arms in. If you try it, make sure to post if it works or not!:p

[maggieb]

Marisa is still swaddled for naps and bedtime and she's almost 6 mos old. She still relies on it and to be honest, I'm in no hurry to break her of it. I keep telling myself that she won't go to college needing to be swaddled at night. ;)

[jh124]

Am I a terrible mother if I know that daycare will break us of the swaddling habit?

OTOH, I can't get my kid to nap. Nighttimes are breeze (relatively speaking), but I can't get him to nap at home during the day.

[emschwar]

IIRC, the miracle blanket advises this method of weaning off the blanket:
Put the child to bed without the miracle blanket. When they wake back up, put them back in it. Eventually, they'll sleep longer and longer without it and won't need it.

That said, we went cold turkey on our MB. It wasn't too bad.

[AirForceLove]

We bought our Miracle Blanket from our Doula so our first son could use it. After 3 weeks he didn't want to use it anymore. Now, our second DH is totally oppisite. He loves to be swaddled and he is 6 months old today. He has outgrown his Miracle Blanket so we just use a towel. We don't swaddle his legs though. I am in no rush to wean him. When he is ready to wean he will let us know. But, to answer your question, I think your DD will let you know. If she is waking up and getting out of her swaddle and goes back to sleep on her own. I would say she is ready.

P.S. Your DD is very cute!

[cynder]

Am I a terrible mother if I know that daycare will break us of the swaddling habit?

No! That's what really made the decision to go cold turkey with the Miracle Blanket.

[rancherswife]

I had to finally stop swaddling my son at 6mos. he was far too long for the swaddler and he was able to worm his way out of it w/ ease if he even remotely woke up. Which would then completely wake him up and he'd start fussing. We went cold turkey. BUT, for the first week or so, I kept him in bed w/ us. I'm not sure how you feel about co-sleeping??? But, it worked for us. He slept in our bed sans swaddler for about a week, then went into the pnp or his crib (we're still making that transition) w/ no problem. Just a thought. But, definately cold turkey, that's really the only way you can do it.

[solongtogo]

Thanks for the advice (and the compliments on the cuteness of my kid :)).
I think tonight I'm going to try just a normal blanket instead of miracle, and I'm sure she'll break out of that. We'll see what happens! She's not being swaddled at daycare during the day, and she's sleeping fine, so here's hoping she won't wake tonight!

[solongtogo]

Last night we put DD in a sleep sack and very loosely swaddled with a blanket, knowing she'd break out. She only woke up one time crying, and went back to sleep almost immediately! Success!

[AirForceLove]

YEA!!! You know I almost wonder if the little ones just like the feeling of being "wrapped up". Not neccessarliy swaddled tightly just having something around them. KWIM??

[shortcake]

Hey there! Anyone who has broken their child of the Miracle Blanket addiction want to get rid of it (the blanket, not the child!) I am looking to buy one secondhand...(I'm having a boy, so I guess anything but pink).

[rochacha]

I am realizing that I need to start weaning my 3 month old DS off his swaddle blanket. He gets his hands up near his mouth and sucks on his hands to self sooth, but the blanket is in the way. Sometimes he can get his hands and arms out completely. I think this is his way of telling me it is time to move on and out of the blanket.

For those of you who have stopped using the swaddle blankets, what do you put you child in to sleep? We live in the Northeast and it being wintertime I am want to make sure he is warm enough. Right now I put him in a onsie with a fleecey sleepsack (long sleeves) over that and in his fleecey swaddle blanket. I am afraind is I put down with his onsie and sleep sack, he'll get cold. Should I put a blanket on him too? How do I make sure it doesn't get up and over his head? Should I put him in a footed blanket sleeper and then in his sleep sack? So many questions.

[AirForceLove]

rochacha We live in MI and the nights have been cold here lately! We put our DS is a onsie and put him in a fleece footed sleeper. He seemsto be fine in that. DS doesn't like blankets so I can't help you there.

P.S. Did you get lots of snow?

[emschwar]

We're in MD, but our house is cold at night. Noah won't keep blankets on, so he sleeps in a pair of long cotton jammies and a fleece sleeper.

[Sebski]

DS is 3.5 months old and still being swaddled in the Miracle Blanket. We transitioned him from his bassinet last week and, despite the swaddle and a sleep positioner, every morning we wake up to him in the most bizarre positions. He's able to get his feet out of the blanket, but not arms. Does this mean it's time to lose the miracle blanket? I tried a few weeks ago to put him down w/out it, but it was a disaster and we reverted. :o He takes all of his naps in it as well during the day. His little arms still flail, waking him up... will a sleep sack help somewhat?

[nancy drew]

sebski my son (4.5 months) can break free of the miracle blanket at night, so i have to wrap him in it then wrap another giant piece of fabric around him. sort of a double swaddle. there is no way he can sleep without being swaddled. no way at all. does it wake your son up when he gets his feet out of the MB? if not, then i say keep doing it. i know that as soon as my son gets even one arm free he wakes up. i have a feeling i will be going away to college with him and swaddling him ;)

[ihearttx]

sebski my son (4.5 months) can break free of the miracle blanket at night, so i have to wrap him in it then wrap another giant piece of fabric around him. sort of a double swaddle. there is no way he can sleep without being swaddled. no way at all. does it wake your son up when he gets his feet out of the MB? if not, then i say keep doing it. i know that as soon as my son gets even one arm free he wakes up. i have a feeling i will be going away to college with him and swaddling him ;)

I feel your pain, only my DD is almost 6 months and still DOESN'T break free! We have had her feet out of the bottom for months now, but she still won't sleep without the MB. I don't know what else to do. She will only sleep after being wrapped and shushed.

My ped says it's fine and she will show signs when she's ready to be done with it, but I'm not so sure. It's getting old fast!

[nancy drew]

I feel your pain, only my DD is almost 6 months and still DOESN'T break free! We have had her feet out of the bottom for months now, but she still won't sleep without the MB. I don't know what else to do. She will only sleep after being wrapped and shushed.

My ped says it's fine and she will show signs when she's ready to be done with it, but I'm not so sure. It's getting old fast!
i am genuinely curious about the signs of being done with the swaddle. genuinely. i mean, he breaks free from it, youd think that was a sign, right? but he wakes himself up every time he gets out. so im thinking that isnt a sign. i know that i (and you) will *just know* when those signs are there, but right now i cannot even fathom what they will be or how i will ever get him to sleep without it.

dont get me wrong, for now i am ALL about the swaddle. i LOVE it. it has saved my sanity and i would not trade this method of putting him down for anything else. i just wonder how its going to end. just curious. i feel like my post is coming out in a complainy way and i dont mean that, im just thinking aloud i guess.

[ihearttx]

I totally agree with you..I can't complain because she sleeps so well, but it's just annoying because I feel like I can't leave her with anyone else because they don't know how to swaddle her correctly. Plus, I am envious of these babies that just fall asleep wherever, whenever, because DD will not and can not sleep without the MB.

Same problem here, though..I have no idea how I will know when she's ready because she too wakes up if her arms escape. Sigh.

Is their AA for Miracle Blankets? :)

[shirsty]

nancy drew I wondered the very same thing, what ARE these signs that your baby will give you when they're done with the swaddle?? For us he was breaking out so often he was waking up a lot and seemed desperate to get his hands in his mouth. But we couldn't get him to sleep without the swaddle. So we just left both arms free but wrapped under his arms and prepared for some hellish nights. It was bad for 4-5 days but then he was sleeping OK again. His sleep has gotten kind of crappy again but I can't blame the swaddle for that :rolleyes:

[Sebski]

does it wake your son up when he gets his feet out of the MB?

See, I can't really tell. He hasn't had the best night sleep patterns in a long time. And, that's where I get completely confused... wouldn't he be sleeping longer stretches if he was loving the swaddle? Right now he wakes about 3x's a night. He'll sleep for 3 hours in the first stretch and then 2 hours and 1 hour after that. I tried to break him of it by swaddling him under the arms (we called it swaddle detox ;) ), but his arms would wake him up. We went from having that not-so-great sleep schedule I posted to waking up every 45 min to an hour. So, I reverted back to full swaddle... *sigh*. Maybe we just need to stick with the detox longer? The only positive thing that came from it was that he would put himself back to sleep when his arms were free after crying for about 10 min. So, I'm confused. Is that a sign that he's ready to be rid of it - when he can put himself back to sleep w/out rather than w/? :confused:

but right now i cannot even fathom what they will be or how i will ever get him to sleep without it.

Couldn't agree more. It's not like he is going to sit up one day and say "okay people, please stop wrapping me up like a burrito, I'm soooo over the swaddle".

I'm thinking we're going to give the not-swaddling another shot. As I said before, it's not like he's getting wonderful sleep from it anyway. I'm thinking we just have to deal with his transition longer than we did before (2 nights :o ).

Eh, who am I kidding... I'm going to be teaching my future daughter in law how to swaddle this little burrito. ;)

[Sebski]

Just wanted to bump this up to say that I'm pretty sure we're swaddle free. We went cold turkey on a whim 2 nights ago and put DS to sleep in his sleep sack. He slept a 4 hour stretch. Last night was a 5 hour stretch. He let us know he was ready to be rid of the swaddle by sleeping longer for us w/out it. Amazing because we tried this only a couple of weeks ago and he screamed bloody murder. I guess he decided over the last 2w that he was ready to be rid of it. :rolleyes:

[DianeCourt]

You guys are inspiring me. DD is 4 months old & we still swaddle her. I'm ready to try NOT swaddling her, but I'm worried about her hands getting too cold! I know how to keep the rest of her warm, but what about her tiny little hands? Any ideas? Or am I making too big of a deal about it? :rolleyes:

[jh124]

Is their AA for Miracle Blankets?
HI, my name's Jill. I'm a swaddler. I've been swaddling DS since he was merely minutes old. I have purchased the miracle blanket, then larger swaddlers to accomodate this obsession with swaddling. We have been cutting back on swaddling during the day, since DS starts daycare on Monday and they will not swaddle him there. Scary days are coming, my friends.

[ihearttx]

Ok, it's me again..

I need advice..

Obviously we are still swaddling. DD is now 6 months, 1 week. We still wrap her for every nap and at night, but now at night when she wants to flip over, she cries until we come flip her as she can't roll over in the swaddle. (she sleeps on her side).

I tried yesterday putting her down with one arm out for a nap. Didn't work.

Also keep in mind that we have to sway and shush to get her to sleep in the first place. I know, I know, baadd parents.

Should we just try swaying/shushing with no swaddle? I am clueless as to what to do.

HELP!

[LeslieR]

ihearttx, DS is just a few weeks older than your DD and we still swaddle so to speak. I put him in a sleep sack and zip it up with his arms inside (he's outgrew the large SwaddleMe a while ago). He HATES it! But, I still nurse him to sleep and if I don't swaddle him, he wakes up as soon as his arms hit the mattress. I don't know how much longer I'm going to do this for. I just got "The No Cry Sleep Solution" book. Hopefully I'll have time to read it soon. I would love to be able to just put DS in the crib and say "Night night!" instead of the whole rigmarole I have to go through now. Sorry I don't have any suggestions for you-I just wanted you to know that someone was in the same boat as you.:)

[ihearttx]

Thanks Leslie! We attempted that last night..arms inside the Sleep Sack. Worked for about 2 minutes until she figured out how to get her arms out. UGH!

Then we ended up swaddling her back up again. And she went to sleep.

Sigh.

At least I'm not alone!

[nancy drew]

At least I'm not alone!

youre so not alone. im pretty sure i will be teaching ds's future wife how to swaddle him some day. ;)

[Gabe's Mom]

I just went to the fabric store today so my mom can make me a new blanket that I can swaddle my 4.5 month old in!!! (He outgrew the other blankets and the swaddleme doens't get tight enough b/c he is so skinny and only 12.5 poinds. Will be swaddling my DS until he goes to college too!

[erin16nj]

Bump
Looking for more tips on weaning from the swaddle.
DS is starting to break out and seem like he wants his hands but this also means he cant stay asleep because of his hands. He's almost 4 months.

[mommydearest]

We moved to the sleep sack and used a receiving blanket to swaddle the arms in the beginning then gradually took away the receiving blanket. I like the sleep sack because she can't kick it off.

[KeliAnn]

bumping this up because I have questions

DD is 3.5 months old. She naps fine during the day without being swaddled. She has to have her "blanky" but I'm okay with that. But we use the Miracle Blanket at night. Usually, she sleeps from 8:30pm to 7:30am, but the other night, she got really frustrated when I wrapped her, so I left one arm out. And she woke up at 4:30am, so I wrapped her arm back in, and she went right back to sleep.

Do I just need to keep trying with one arm out until she sleeps longer? And then go for both arms out? Or should I just go cold turkey?

Also, I have no idea if kicking out of it wakes her up, because she wakes up "talking" around 7:30 every morning, and when I go into her room, sometimes, she's still fully swaddled and sometimes her legs are out. :shrug:

[dollface]

My DS was kicking his legs out of the MB and every other swaddling blanket. When he wasn't kicking his legs out - he could easily bust an arm out of the MB. I realized all the struggling was what was eventually waking him him up so we went cold turkey -- somewhat. We went to the sleepsack for about 10 days and then just down to his jammies. The first 3 nights in the sleepsack were a little rough but then it was fine.

[peachtree123]

I swaddled until 4 months in the Swaddle Me. Between 3.5 and 4 months DD was waking up with the swaddle in all sorts of states. She also started fighting and crying when we put her in the swaddle at night. I was at a loss as to how to fix the problem b/c I was sure she wouldn't sleep without the swaddle. I went cold turkey and within 2 night she went from being up every 3-5 hours to sleeping through the night. I just packed her swaddle away yesterday with all of the other clothes that are too small. If she hadn't shown signs of wanting out, I would not have tried to wean her.

[roberta]

DS was a hard core swaddle addict. After returning from vacation at 8 months, he started falling asleep immediately after eating his last bottle and not giving us a chance to swaddle him up. I viewed it as he was telling us he did not need the swaddle any more, so we just stopped swaddling. I wouldn't stop swaddling unless there is a problem or until your DC lets you know they don't need it any more. I kept telling my husband and friends, "He won't go to college needing to be swaddled in his dorm room." ;)

[emschwar]

bumping this up because I have questions

DD is 3.5 months old. She naps fine during the day without being swaddled. She has to have her "blanky" but I'm okay with that. But we use the Miracle Blanket at night. Usually, she sleeps from 8:30pm to 7:30am, but the other night, she got really frustrated when I wrapped her, so I left one arm out. And she woke up at 4:30am, so I wrapped her arm back in, and she went right back to sleep.

Do I just need to keep trying with one arm out until she sleeps longer? And then go for both arms out? Or should I just go cold turkey?

Also, I have no idea if kicking out of it wakes her up, because she wakes up "talking" around 7:30 every morning, and when I go into her room, sometimes, she's still fully swaddled and sometimes her legs are out. :shrug:

I think the MB instructions (or the MB instructions from 3.5 years ago) say to wean your kid off the swaddle, start the night with them not swaddled (or you could do just one arm out in your case) and when they wake up, reswaddle them. Eventually, the unswaddled stretch of the night will get longer and longer.

Of course, I can't remember how we stopped swaddling Noah, so I don't know if that works or not :)

[alliannie]

Bumping this up with a question...

DS is 2.5 months. We only swaddle at nighttime. We can nap during the day without for short periods or we nap in the swing. DS is outgrowing his swaddle(Boppy brand). We really don't want to quit swaddling as night sleep is awesome but I can't decide if maybe he is ready to be out of it. So here is the situation.

He breaks out of the swaddle. He has every night for the last 5 nights. He always wakes when he gets out. I reswaddle and either rock or nurse him back to sleep(can not put himself back to sleep). Since he is breaking out should I try to get rid of the swaddle or spend the money and get a miracle blanket? He can also get is feet out. I don't want to spend that money if he can break out of it or if he doesn't need to be swaddled anymore. Also if he is to long for our swaddle will a MB be to short also?

ETA: DS turns in his sleep, would this cause him to break out of the MB?