My husband and I have found it best to swaddle our 4 month-old son before he falls asleep. Without swaddling, he waves his arms around and hits himself in the face and wakes up. He also tries sucking on his hands, but this only makes him more awake. His pacifier soothes him - his hands/fingers never do. Hence, we try to keep the hands away.
Recently, our son has begun to "bust out" of his "Kiddopotamus"/swaddler more and more often, trying to get his hands in his mouth and trying to rub his eyes. We've tried to lay him down without swaddling, but don't find it to work well at all. When will we know it's the right time to stop swaddling? How long do parents normally find swaddling helpful?
As my son began breaking free of the swaddling blanket, I started using a larger (thin) blanket that we could wrap around him more tightly. This helped for a few weeks. After that, I found that he still wanted to be swaddled, even if we only did it below the arms (I know that doesn't help with the arms waving around part, but it was soothing to my son to still be somewhat swaddled). Good luck!
We stopped swaddling when my daughter refused to be swaddled. (Previously, she wouldn't calm down unless swaddled.) I think she was around 5 1/2 months. She was always way ahead of schedule in physical activities (except crawling, but she walked and ran at 10 1/2 months), so I don't think it inhibited her much.
My son is 10mo, and we stopped within a few weeks also. He always broke free, and I learned early on that he didn't like to be confined. It was warm enough then that I didn't worry too much, just dressed him a little warmer and when winter came, used blankets. He sleeps fine with the blankets, even wiggles out from under those. Every baby is different. Your son may want to be free, but just needs a little time to adjust and after a couple days/weeks he probably will. I agree with trying the changes during the daytime so you have a better gauge on when and how he is actually breaking out and at what point he is most comfortable.
T.,
My daughter will be 6 months old in 2 days and we stopped swaddling her arms within the past month. I do still stick her legs in the swaddle and wrap it around her waist. This way she still stays warm. She has always slept in sleep sacks as well.
We actualy stopped swaddling our son around 4 months for the same reason. Try swaddling with one arm in and leaving out the arm he seems most coordinated with. That may lessen some of his frustration. And because has one arm out maybe he will fight less to have his arms out...
I believe the dr. told us to stop at around 4 months. We stopped sooner than that. Once they can get themselves out of the swaddle, it's time to stop. They need to learn to soothe themselves back to sleep. We still tightly wrap a blanket around her to sleep even at age 1.
T.,
I stopped swaddling my twin girls around 4 months, they are almost 5 months now. They were getting too long and busting out of their kiddopotamus as well. The first couple of nights they woke themselves up because they would hit themselves and each other but after a few nights we moved them to either ends of the crib and then they got used to their own hands and they are sleeping well. But again I think it is individual as each and every baby is different, even my identical twins teach me that. Good luck. Happy sleeping.
Jen
We stopped swaddling our daughter at just a few weeks. We "loosely" swaddled her for as long as possible, but she never liked having her arms bound up (even at 2-3 weeks old), so often had to leave them out. She would thrash around (as much as an infant could) and fuss if she was swaddled tightly. We just dressed her in layers when it was cold and covered her with light blankets from the chest down. She's been just fine despite all of the hype about not covering infants. There's no way I could have kept her swaddled until she was a few months old! I think they let you know when they're ready to be done (sounds like yours might be!).
I would stop swaddling during the day time naps to see how well he sleeps for shorter epriods of time being unswaddled. This way you are not experimenting at night when you are trying to get your rest. After a couple of days he should get used to it during the day and then you can start keeping him free at night. Some kids have to have a blanket to sleep. Mine don't like to be covered, but have to hold their blankets in there hands every night, even my ten year old still has his baby blanket. His is cottoan with satin binding, my four year olds is the tied ends fleece, and my two year old has a chennile blanket. None of them want anything different at any time. So there is no real right blanket, I think it is what ever one is first introduced. Good luck gett your rest, Sweetie!
I don't think there is any one age to stop. It depends on the child. We quit at about 8 months and my son was more than ready. We started leaving one arm out, then the next, and finally his whole body. He's a big boy so I had someone make large blankets for swaddling. With summer coming I would use lightweight material and not put him in anything else.
I found the swaddling technique Dr. Harvey Karp uses in his book, Happiest Baby on the Block, to work the best. My son never could get out of it.
Don't worry about swaddling too long. At some point they will not need it and do fine without it. Good luck!
We still swaddle our soon to be 1 year old (5/3). He does try to "bust out" at times yet he still gets a lot of comfort from swaddling. It works great when trying to get him to sleep.
The instructor of my pediatric nursing course shared her experience with swaddling. She swaddled all of her children until they were over one year old. You need to pay attention to your child, however, because you're the one who knows him best. Just wanted to share this perspective.
I think now he is starting to break free of it. You can still swaddle him to get to sleep, but if he breaks free, I guess there's not much you can do. Eventually they just get too strong to be swaddled.
I swaddled both of my daughters until they could bust out of their wrap. I found that they continued to like it if they were swaddled with their arms out and free to swing. I think it still keep them warm and feeling secure.
My kids did the same thing. My youngest had the toughest time. I found a great product! It's a swaddler, I thought it was obsurd when I first saw it, but tried it and it worked wonders. I think it's called the miracle blanket. It has a pocket like the kidopotamus for the feet, but it also has a couple of flaps that help hold his hands down by his side and the wrapping flap is actually longer so it helps keep him in.
We used that for a while, then he got too tall and so we let his feet hang out. Then we started letting one arm out at a time until he got used to it. I think we swaddled till 6 months or so.
We tried at various times to unswaddle him, just to see if it would work, but it didn't until we slowly introduced him to having body parts "free flowing".
We didn't stop swaddling our daughter until she was 8 months old... We slowly loosened it a bit then left one arm out then the other and then stopped altogether. We actually ordered a bigger swaddler that worked AMAZING - we loved it. Here is the website: http://www.snugandtug.com/
It was hard to find a place that made swaddlers bigger than 3 months. I would highly recommend this swaddler.
Also, there is no harm in swaddling later as long as his legs aren't bound and it's just his arms. The only concern is hip development, and if he can move his legs around, then he is fine. Good luck!
Your baby needs to be seen for add ,stress etc.
Please see what is the matter with matter with him he is tryin to speak to you.
Also sound,pets,stress, sun light can cause this so keep a diary of things that trigger this and if you can have GranmA WATCH HIM watch him and see if he does this.
Yours,Dad and or both could feel tension or other things the baby picks up.
I never used a blanket on any child except for them to hold it so they would know the wonder of being held close so unuse to this but still try this.
My children hated all blankets and clothes except for a blanket and pillow to hold and chew on.
D.
We stopped swaddling as soon as our daughter became too tall to fit in the swaddle. We then started using a "sleep sack". This might be the greatest thing ever! She started sucking her thumb at two months and just grabs the bottom of the sleep sack and rolls over to go to sleep. If she is really tired she will do this while we are reading to her as a way of saying that she just wants to go to sleep. They are great for the warmth of a blanket without any of the SIDS risks.
