My son is 16 weeks old. I have been swaddling him in the miracle blanket at night for bedtime since he was about 6 weeks old. I know that the miracle blanket says you should discontinue use at 14 weeks, but he is so comfortable in it and can put himself to sleep at night once he is in his blanket. Recently he has been getting his arms out of the blanket in the middle of the night and then he starts crying. Any advise? Should I stop using the miracle blanket? Should I stop swaddling? Should I find a bigger one and wrap him tighter? Thanks!
I don't know about the miracle blanket, but I do know I has a little Houdini and was able to get a little more swaddling in with the Velcro swaddlers. after that I just went to sleep sacks.
We used the Kiddopatumous (I spelled that wrong, I'm sure) brand and they come in a few different sizes. Also, I stopped swaddling his legs and just swaddled his arms which seemed to be what he wanted. Around 5 1/2-6 months he was also breaking out of those often and waking up screaming and so upset, I felt like I spend half of my nights reswaddling him, at that point I decided it just wasn't worth it, even though I knew he liked it and it was sort of his cue to fall asleep. We finally decided to get rid of it around 6 months and although we had a few hellish nights and it took him much longer to fall asleep he got used to it and shortly after started sleeping through the night (I think it helped that after he wasn't swaddled he could find his own binkie at night).
Anyway, don't worry about swaddling too long, I think that you do whatever is right for your child, my brother swaddled one of his kids for almost a year and she turned out just fine. (at that point my sister in law MADE a swaddle blanket out of a jersey knit sheet)
The Miracle Blanket has worked miracles for us as well. My son is 6 months now and I still use it - although I stopped swaddling his feet regularly around 3.5/4 months. I asked this same question when he started breaking out of his swaddle and got some great responses. I use a diaper pin to keep him from breaking out of it. Here are the responses that I received:
If your baby find it comforting to sleep/nap this way then I say go for it. As long as he is getting plenty of time to stretch his limbs I would think that he will be just fine. Swaddling reminds a baby of being in the womb and provides a feeling of safety and comfort. I don't see any need to stop swaddling him. Once he is no longer wanting to be swaddled he will let you know.
I swaddled my son until he was 6 months old. And we used the Miracle Blanket until he was too long for it (we used them until at least 5 months). Then I just moved him to a blanket, made for swaddling, but larger than most infant blankets (made it easier to swaddle him). I can look up the name/brand if you are interested. Our Dr. said we could swaddle him as long as he liked it. :) Good luck and let me know if you would the info on the other blankets.
i quit swaddling pretty early i felt so bad about it..it did help my son fall asleep but he hated the swaddle..why don't u just try it out for a few nights..not using one that is see how that goes.
Here are some links, per experts:
http://www.parenting.com/article/Baby/Health/Ask-Dr-Sears...
http://pediatrics.about.com/od/weeklyquestion/a/0607_swad...
Personally, the swaddle technique worked SO WELL on my first son, that I kept doing it until he was about 5 or 6 months old! I watched "the Happiest Baby on the Block" over 6 years ago and nothing was mentioned about having to stop the swaddle at 14 weeks. Miles was a very sound sleeper (thank God) and never got himself out of the swaddle. My second son, Roman, ended up doing what your son is at about the same age, pulling his arms out of the swaddle in the night (fortunately he didn't wake up crying, though).
Maybe your son is startling himself in the middle of the night and that's why he ends up crying. Experience in trying to swaddle the baby tighter has taught me that the baby will still pull his arms out of it since they're getting so strong at this age. Maybe it's time for a transition to something else soothing at night time, maybe infaant massage with some lavender scented lotion. I also had an Ocean Wonders Aquarium in Roman's crib and put it on the ocean sounds and that helped him sleep, too. Good luck to you!
