swaddling 8 month olds...

[AJP]

I have been swaddling my girls since day one for nap & night sleeping. We stopped swaddling them at night at around 4 months mostly due to one baby rolling, but I'm still swaddling for nap time twice a day. If I don't swaddle them they either take an hour to fall asleep, never fall asleep, or only sleep 30-40 minutes. They nap for 1.5-2 hours when swaddled. My ped said its ok to keep swaddling them at our 6 month visit, but now I'm worried that if I stop they will never nap, but if I don't stop now I'll be doing it at 12 months!
They started sleeping through the night at around 14 weeks and have been sleeping 10-11 hours consistantly for the past 4 months. They still slepped through after we stopped swaddling, though it took a few nights for them to learn to settle etc. We always put down drowsy but awake for the most part.
Does/did anyone still swaddle (part time) at this age? How did you deal with the weaning process? Am I damaging them by still swaddling for their nap?
TIA!
AJ

[misshollygolightly]

We started weaning DS from the swaddle shortly after 6 months, but I've heard from a number of moms who keep swaddling much longer. Everything I've heard/read indicates you won't 'damage' your kids by swaddling them through the first year or even longer, and that most babies will 'tell' you when they're done with the swaddle by escaping from it and/or consistently preferring to roll over and sleep on their tums. So my sense is that there's no need for you to panic about still swaddling them. My philosophy is that you just do whatever you need to do to help them sleep! However, if you'd like to start encouraging them to nap without a swaddle, that should be fine too. Have you tried using a half-swaddle (where you leave one or both arms out of the swaddle)? Another good way to transition from the swaddle is to use a sleep sack, which will leave their arms completely free and give their legs a little more room, but still provide some of the comfort of a swaddle blanket. I hope that helps give you a few ideas, and perhaps a little reassurance (even if I'm not one of the most experienced moms on this board!). I think this topic has come up before--you might try searching the boards here a bit to see what other people have said. Good luck!