5 month old swaddle addict, how/should I wean??

[amom526]

My almost 5 month old cannot sleep without being swaddled. At this point, only his arms are swaddled. He does not sleep in carseat or stroller or anywhere except his crib when he is swaddled. His arms are just so flaily and he yanks out his paci and starts eating his hands which to him = playtime. He needs his paci to soothe himself to sleep but does not have enough control to stop himself from yanking out the paci. My first question is if this is normal for a 5 month old-I thought he might have better arm control by now.
My bigger question is if I need to wean the swaddle or will he eventually stop needing it on his own. We don't mind swaddling him, except for the fact that he breaks out of the velcro swaddles at least once a night which adds an additional waking.
Anyone BTDT whose kids just stopped needing to be swaddled, or did you have to wean it?
TIA

[kmd]

I have the same problem! I've tried not swaddling because he is waking himself getting out of the swaddle more frequently now, but then he wakes himself even soon rubbing his hands all over his face. I've tried swaddling only one arm, but it is the same issue and he wakes himself up and then wiggles completely out of the swaddle. Help someone!

[Lupe]

I had to wean DS from the swaddle at 3 months because he started rolling over all over the crib and will get stuck frequently in one corner face down and wake up-crying. Not to mention it was dangerous, since he could not push himself up without his arms out. He also wanted to kick with his legs, although his arms will flail all over and prevent him from sleeping.
He was using the halo-sleep sack swaddle, and even though his legs were not swaddled he didn't like the lack of freedom on his feet. So I bought one size up (small, which is supposed to be for 12 pounds up but it is pretty big), so he will have plenty of leg room, swaddled both arms for 4 days, then one arm for 5 days, and then 2 arms with the swaddle tight around his waist for a week. He is 4 months now and sleeping in his gowns, although he is back to rolling over all over his crib and waking himself up when landing belly button down

[hoodlims]

One limb at a time. Try one arm out first, the rest in, and go from there. Good luck!

[echoesofspring]

My DS stopped being swaddled at about 3 months or so, and then in the last few weeks (he's 5 mo now) seems to have regressed where he needs to be swaddled for his nap and at night or he just flails and screams. It's funny, he almost asked to be swaddled, when I bundle him up he gives me this little smile. I think I read somewhere that sometimes they regress with developments, and so I've chalked it up to the teething thing and am not too worried about it.

I do swap out the swaddle blanket at night for a sleep sack right before I go to bed. It's too hot to put him down in both.

[citymama]

My older DD was a swaddle addict too, and we weaned one DC August when it was 100 degrees out and we literally were terrified of overheating. She was over 5 months old. We did the one arm out, one arm in swaddle, then both arms out, and then eventually no swaddle, laying her down on her belly. It ended up only taking a few days and she was a great sleeper even without the swaddle (well, until she turned 2, but that's another story!).