I need some advice. I have a beautiful 6 month old little girl that I still have to swaddle for naps and bed. She sleeps great swaddled and goes to bed at 7pm, wakes to eat around 4-6am and goes back to sleep until 6:30-8:00. She uses the velcro wrap for naps and the miracle swaddle at night. She has rolled onto her side and has rolled from her stomach to her back. She does not like tummy time so will not roll from her back to her belly. She sits up with some assistance. I am just worried that by swaddling her I may be slowing down her progress for crawling and walking. I am worried she won't sleep very well not being swaddled. I have tried not to swaddle her for a couple of morning naps and she will sleep for only 40 minute. Then will not nap anymore without the swaddle. She just cries and doesn't know what to do with her arms. I have even tried a sleep sack and have tried to give her a silky blanket to hold. She uses a pacifier but when she is not swaddled she pulls it out of her mouth. I just feel like she will never sleep not swaddled. I am afraid to take away the swaddle and feel bad letting her cry because I know she is crying for the comfort and security of the swaddle. I need some help. I told myself I would only swaddle her up until 6 months. She also goes to daycare 3 days a week and they swaddle her but she is the only infant being swaddled. This also upsets me! I would love to hear from other moms what worked for them. Thanks in advance! R.
I don't know what others have told you, but if swaddling works, it's fine!! Every baby I know has outgrown it at some point and slept fine on their own - including an 8 month old. =)
M.
My DD was swaddled for 10 months! But we had her arms out after 4 mos. Start with one arm out. That't what we did, then 2, the it was just her legs - and at that point it was more like a sleep sack, and once it got cold out we switched to sleep sacks all together.
Try one arm out at nap time first.
Good luck!
Hi R..I'm glad you wrote in about this. I still swaddle my 6 month old too. She definitely still needs it b/c we tried transitioning her out of it...only b/c I heard comments from other people about getting rid of it...but she was up crying ALL night. As soon as we started swaddling her again she slept better. I think she still needs that feeling and she likes going into it. It's part of our bedtime routine and she smiles and laughs as I wrap her up. If she was fighting it during that time I would stop but for now she likes it so why mess with something that workinh. It definitely sounds like other moms have kept the swaddle for awhile with no side-effects so that makes me feel better too. I'm just going to follow my daughter's lead and keep up w/ it until she seems like she doesn't need it. Her ped. didn't seem concerned w/ the fact that she is still swaddled. It's great to hear that other first-time moms have the same questions and then to hear the reassurance from "veteran" moms that our instincts are right!
glad you posted, i am swaddling my daughter who is 6mos also. my first would not let me swaddle her as soon as we were home from the hospital so this is new for me. i have started to swaddle just the lower half of her and leave her arms out. sometimes she sleeps well sometimes not. i have just decided to let her dictate. if she seems mad swaddled, i will stop. it was good the hear all the responses and see that so many other moms swaddled their kids for that long!
We swaddled our daughter until about 7 1/2 months. I waited until she would fuss when I started the swaddle. At that point I figured she was not happy about it any more. For us she was never a long napper and that didn't change. However her night sleeping routine stayed the same. The nurse I had when in the hospital having her said she swaddled her son until 10 months. I think if she is happy then don't worry what everyone else is doing. She will let you know when she is done with it. However all that being said. My daughter didn't crawl until 11 months and at a year is not walking. Not sure if her progress was slowed by the swaddle or not. She is very much a watcher and likes to check things out before trying them. I am not worried about her progress, I think she will do things in her own time.
Hope you find what works for you and your family.
C.
I have a friend whose baby is 9.5 months and he is just learning to sleep without being swaddled. Sometimes they still have to just tuck his blanket in snug around him so he can fall asleep - and he learned to roll, crawl, climb, stand, etc - all within the normal time frame :) Your sweet one will be just fine! :)
You can swaddle her arms and tuck them in but the concern is that the legs need to be free to grow. Something about the hips, so just make sure the legs are not bunched up. How long does she cry? It is okay is she cries some, she just isn't used to it. Just keep trying to slowly over time to loosen the swaddle. Some kids are swaddled a lot longer. I used to hold my son and rock him to sleep every night and for naps, but I wasn't good at swaddling, he just kept coming right out of it. There was nothing I could do. ;)
Hi,
I swaddled all four of my babies until they were about 8 months old. The startle reflex (which is what wakes up a light sleeper) tends to diminish between 8-9 months old, so lots of babies just do much better with a swaddle until then. One night, around 8 months, we just switched to the sleep blanket, and after a couple of not-so-great nights, they all did fine.
I wouldn't worry at all about developmental issues related to swaddling. As long as she's unswaddled during the day so that she can roll, crawl, etc. it shouldn't be a problem. In some countries (like China) the babies are kept swaddled 24 hours a day, and that's when you can see issues, but being swaddled just while sleeping is different. That's what my pediatrician told us with our first, and she walked quite early (9 months old) despite being swaddled at night and for naps.
One of my babies did still need swaddling for naps until she was almost one, but did fine without it at night. So, you might find that the switch is a gradual one, but it will eventually happen!
Good luck!
My son was 5.5 months when I weaned him from his Miracle Blanket. I found there is really no other way to do it except cold turkey. I stopped using it because he would wake up and he would be partially out of it but unable to reposition himself and fall back asleep on his own.Due to cold weather he immediatley went into a Sleep Sack and witin a few days adjusted to not being swaddled.
i swaddled my daughter untill she was too big to fit in the blanket. has a matter of fact she is now two and we were at my mothers and it was nap time. she would not settle down so i got the blanket from the couch and swaddled her up just folling around and she just passed out. she slept for 2 hours all wraped up. i feel like there is nothing wrong with swaddling it a comfurt thing. my son is 4 1/2 mon and 15lbs and wont sleep without being swaddled even in the swing. as long as it helps them sleep go with it it wont hurt.
hope this helps
M.
There must be a book out for you yonger moms these days that give this advice to swaddle your child past infancy and into babyhood. I personally have never known or seen anyone I know swaddle their baby past the first month or so of life. I've seen a long of sling babies though.
My own children were swaddled home from the hospital and then for about a month after.
When my children were tiny, they didn't like tummy time either at first. I would get down on my stomach and face them and play. It helped build their back muscles as they lifted their heads to see me. By 6 months all 3 could sit unassisted.
I also felt it important for them to discover their hands early on and be able to reach out if they wanted in order to explore their world around them.
Naps, I laid them on their sides with a rolled bolster in back and one by the tummy to support them for sleep.
I'm sure you'll figure this all out. Its too bad kids don't come with instructions eh!?
I stressed about this so much as my daughter was swaddled until about 8 months. I was afraid to remove it for fear she would not be able to sleep. I never thought I'd see the day when she was NOT swaddled! Her doctor was not concerned at all and kept assuring us that it would happen on its own and it was not hindering her motor skills as long as the ball joint in her legs was free to open fully. One day my husband, clearly the braver of the two of us, put her down at night without the swaddle and she went to sleep and has not been swaddled since. It will happen. Don't stress about it. You are not doing her any harm and it is something she will grow out of. Try putting one arm out to get her used to the transition.
Hi there, don't stress about it. I swaddles both of my daughters until they were 7-8mos old. One cought right up & the other wasn't delayed at all. We broke the swaddle at the end by taking one arm out for a couple of days and then the other arm once they were used to it & then just their body. Both of my girls are great sleepers & I swore by the swaddle. don't let peer pressure be your deciding factor. go with what works. if u are still swaddling at 1 then start to worry!
good luck
Try only leaving one arm out at first. We started out with one arm for a few days, then both arms leaving the rest of his body in the swaddler, then the sleep sacks, then just footed pj's. I really thought Jake would never sleep unswaddled, but going a little at a time eased him out of the habit. It might also help to really reinforce a going-to-sleep routine in conjunction with this transition. That way she'll associate something other than swaddling (a certain story, or massage, or that last bottle/nursing in a dark room, etc) with going to sleep. Good luck, and remember that she will get out of this phase! No matter how hard it seems now, she will not have to be swaddled for naptime in kindergarten!! :)
hi R.~
my son had a hard time sleeping w/o being swaddled b/c he was looking for comfort... and he couldn't figure out how to keep his fingers in his mouth... so each time his fingers would come out of his mouth, he woke up... when he was swaddled he didn't care about his fingers, but i knew that he couldn't be swaddled forever, so we had to just unswaddle him and go with the flow until he was able to keep his fingers in his mouth... after that happened, he slept great!!!
those short naps stink, but eventually she will sleep longer b/c she will get used to not being swaddled and want/need that sleep.
try to find something else to comfort her.
good luck!
I can understand your concern about her not sleeping once she's not being swaddled but we went thru a similar situation with our twins and I can assure you, they transitioned OK. It is a "transition" though and will probably be meant with some bumps along the way. We swaddled them both (and let them sleep in their car seats - which were put in their crib) till they were around 4 months old. At that point, we just couldn't find any large enough blankets to continue swaddling! So we did a gradual transition for the swaddling where we would swaddle them but allow on arm out. We did that for a few nights and naps (maybe about a week? I can't recall exact timeframes...) then we swaddled up to under both arms, leaving BOTH arms out. And then after some time like this, we removed the swaddle completely. There were probably some naps they slept shorter or nights they woke a bit more but honestly I don't remember it being too bad. As long as you keep up all the other parts of your nap and nighttime routine, she will eventually get used to sleeping without the swaddle. At least that was our experience. Hope this helps! Good luck!
R., you don't have a problem. I promise you - you are not delaying her developmental milestones and you should be counting your blessings to have your infant in a routine that will promote healthy sleep habits.
Once she starts sitting unassisted (any day, I'm sure)she will start to reach for things and stretch and that's how crawling begins. Her sleep routine won't have anything to do with it ;-)
Enjoy it all and don't hurry her to "grow up".
You're doing a great job.
