When to stop swaddling in crib

[megan973]

Once DS is able to roll over, should I stop swaddling him? I'm worried he won't roll back over and his arms will be within the blanket.

He is about 2 months old and sleeping anywhere between 4 and 8 hours at night, with the help of the swaddle blanket and having his arms tucked in (he sleeps less when they're out or if he pulls them out).

[citymama]

We just went through this debate too. The baby resolved it for us! We continue to swaddle her because she sleeps soooooo much better swaddled. She has also shown that she is capable of breaking free of the swaddles and rolling over when she wants to, and then sleeps the rest of the night on her tummy. The swaddles remain on the lower part of her body and don't get up anywhere near her face. We tried the sleepsack thing and no swaddles and she woke up 4 times during the night - plus we had to put her down on her stomach which we didn't like doing. So we're continuing to swaddle and put her down in her crib until the startle reflex goes away.

[HonoluluMom]

When DD was a newborn, she only slept well when swaddled. When she started to roll, I got very worried that she would flip over in her sleep and not being able to turn around again (I was so worried that I would get up at night to check on her). I figured I couldn't swaddle her forever, so I gradually weaned her off swaddling. I started leaving her unswaddled for naps. At night, I would only swaddle her legs. Eventually, I got rid of the swaddle all together.

[BabyBearsMom]

We just stopped swaddling DD when she turned 4 months. She likes to move around a lot in her sleep and was waking up frustrated in the swaddle. Now we put her down in a sleep sack on her back, she immediately flips onto her belly and falls asleep. I've just had to learn to be okay with the belly sleeping.

I don't know about your DC, but DD is a very vocal child, so on the rare occasion that she did roll onto her belly in her swaddle, she let us know that she was stuck...loudly. In fact, she may have let the neighbors know as well.:rotflmao:

[cookiemonster80]

If you can believe it- my DD is almost 1 year old and we are "Deswaddling" this week. When she started rolling over I got a little worried that she wouldn't be able to breathe and have her arms stuck, but she was always fine. We actually used the Woombie after about 2 months because she would break out of her swaddle and then not sleep at all. She has ALWAYS been a good sleeper- so good that I've been procrastinating changing anything (removing her woombie) for fear that it might disrupt her schedule. She slept 5 hours at 2 weeks old and gradually worked her way up to 8 hours at 3 months and 12 hours at 5 months, and still at 12 hours now! I asked my pediatrician about it at 9 months and she said that if what you are doing is working then there is no sense to change it. I say- if you LO sleeps better swaddled, then by all means keep it up! And- after swaddling one houdini baby for 2 months I really cannot give enough props to the Woombie- it WORKS. We ended up with 8 (of various sizes) to last us through this year and believe me, it was the BEST $$$ we spent. We are using the convertible now and it really hasn't been too painful to break the habit.

I don't think I just have a DD who is a good sleeper- when we are somewhere else and I try to put her down for a nap, she would scream and scream, but every time with the woombie she would just roll over and go to sleep. I think it would kind of "cue" her that it was time to sleep so that is what she would do.

sorry so long- can you tell I LOVE the woombie?

[TxCat]

We stopped swaddling at 3 months, because I think I had heard that as an age that was good to start weaning from swaddling, and then also because her swaddle sacks stopped fitting (DD is super long). Also, my DD always hated getting swaddled, so it seemed like why continue pushing it. We started leaving her arms free for naps and bedtime for a few nights, then moved into the sleep sacks. I never noticed any difference in her sleep being unswaddled.