Transition from swaddling?

[bostonsmama]

My 2 mo. old DD has bad reflux that requires me holding her upright for 30-45 min after every feed. I'm exhausted at night, so I try to cut that in half and put her back to sleep in her crib. We've tried elevating her mattress, but she's been ending up nearly face into the bars at the bottom of the crip each time I get her for a night feed. The mattress isn't elevated more than a half-folded towel, but I think b/c she's swaddled and a log-shape (plus, she's a wiggle worm in her sleep), she's moving so easily. I want to transition her from her swaddle me to a Halo sleepsack, only when I put her in it for naps, her arms flail and constantly wake her up. One time, she woke herself up and fussed every 5 minutes for 2 hours...as soon as we swaddled her she slept for 3 hrs straight! Do they just grow out of the need to be swaddled?

[okinawama]

I helped my son transition by unswaddling one arm while leaving the other one in, and then after he got used to that we unswaddled both arms. It didn't take too long, and I found that gradually doing it went better than cold turkey

[AnimalBabe]

Our son is 4.5 mos right now and we swaddled him until he turned 4 mos old and the pediatrician said it was time to stop since he didn't seem to like it anyway. He was sleeping much better swaddled so I didn't want to give it up, but he was starting to roll over, and fuss when we did swaddle him. It took a week for him to get used to not waking himself with his arms (the first couple days without the swaddle he woke every 2 hrs!) but now he is back to sleeping a 6 hr stretch.

We didn't do one arm out, just went cold turkey and he got used to it.

[daisymommy]

DS#1 was just like your DD, so I totally feel for you :hug:.

Things that we did:
-SwaddleMe from Babies-R-Us. They have a slot in the crotch area so you can strap them into a bouncy seat, and still swaddle. I would feed him, hold him upright in the rocking chair for 15 minutes, then swaddle and strap into the bouncy seat, right next to my side of the bed.
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3726455

-The swing is great for the exact same purpose (swaddled).

I do not have a problem with babies like ours sleeping however and where ever they need! They will eventually sleep in a bed :)

-When he got old enough to be unswaddled (which wasn't until around 4-5 months), we used the Tucker Sling in his crib. I got it used on Ebay I think.
http://www.tuckersling.com/?gclid=CPWOlfSQgpoCFWVM5QodAx5_FQ

Best of luck!

[boolady]

I didn't use these with DD, I don't even know if they existed, but I have a friend that swears by them. She says because they're zippered like a sleeper, her son can't get out of them like the Halo sleepsack. So if you think still being somewhat swaddled would work for her, they might be a good option.

DD was swaddled a long time past 3 months...I know folks on here have posted about swaddling for 8 or 9 months if their babies sleep more soundly all snug. As to the sliding issue, I don't really know what to tell you. We had the same problem with DD, but for a short period of time, because due to her reflux, she had been sleeping in her car seat, so it wasn't until about 4 months that we started putting her in her crib.

http://www.thewoombie.com/

[bostonsmama]

Hmm...heard about the Tucker sling from Dr. Sears' book.

We have something exactly like the Woombie from Summer (Swaddle Pod). It's so cute--she looks like a glow-worm in it. ;) It's a little stretchy, though, and she breaks free from it more than the Swaddle Me fleece/velcro wrap. The Swaddle Me does have a slot in the back for swings and bouncers--I forgot about that.

Only problem is that I'm paranoid about her sleeping in the bouncer, and she's too noisy for us to bring her into our room. We've tried co-sleeping and even room co-sleeping (in her pack n play) a million times, but we can never sleep through her cooing, clicking, grunting and chirping. It's one of the saddest parts of motherhood for me b/c I wanted to room (and bed-) share since before we even conceived her. :(

Hmm...lots of options.

[lil_acorn]

Have you tried just putting him to sleep in the car seat? At that age, they are okay with sleeping in the car seat...

[Pinky]

We tried the one arm out but she wasn't having it so at 4 months we just went cold turkey without the swaddle. We had a rough couple of nights but then she was fine without it.

I've also heard good things about the woombie.