Swaddling - Greenville,SC

J., one of my twin boys loved being swaddled & i did so until he could roll over & then he was irritated that he could manuever w/ the swaddle. But the other twin didn't like his arms in there, so we would swaddle starting at his underarms & he liked it so he could move his arms, but still stay warm & not risk blankets in his face. So maybe you could try this as part of a stepped transition to no swaddle?? Hope this helps & have a great day!

Hi J.! I swaddled my son and daughter for several months before they were over it. :-) I think you just may need a bigger blanket. They ones that they used as newborns didn't work out after a couple months because they were too long (I'm 5'9" and my SO is 6'4"). I just had to use a larger blanket that would actually tuck well under them so that it would stay despite their wiggling.

J.,
She is waking up cause as soon as the arms are free from trying to get out.. they are swinging all around. My son was the same at about 6 weeks. I stopped swaddling, and just rested his arms under a light blanket. He sleeps great now. You can always swaddle and leave the arms out.

My 7 month old still loves to be swaddled!!! I am a little worried now that he can easily roll over, but he is so happy being swaddled that I don't want to fight him on it. I did stop swaddling his feet since he kicks a lot. Your daughter is probably just too big for your swaddling blanket. We used the SwaddleDesigns (by Ultimate Receiving Blanket) until my son was about 5 months. Since he woke up each time he broke out of the swaddle, we bought a miracle blanket (http://www.miracleblanket.com/ ) and it is still working! My son does break out occasionally because he is beyond the 16 week guarantee. You can buy them both on Amazon.com

I've battled this issue and tried to stop swaddling. However, it is my understanding that they will tell you when they are ready to stop being swaddled. Some do this earlier than others. My son loves it and I've decided to just keep swaddling him. Although my son can turn over, being swaddled calms him so much that he doesn't even try to move around!

My advise- If your daughter is happy, go with it! All babies are different.

Hey J.,
The sad thing is they don't stay little babies for long. My baby is gonna be One next month :0(
She loved to be swaddled in the hospital, and as soon as we brought her home it's like she grew up. Shortly after, she kicked her way out of it, so we kept her snuggled to us or with a blanket the best we could to give her that comfort feeling. We also put her in the baby in a bag night gowns. Good Luck and enjoy it. They grow fast.

Hi J.,
I stopped unswaddling my son when he was 3 months old, same as your daughter - no matter how tightly I swaddled him he would break out of it. I don't think it is the size of the swaddle blanket. I used a really large one I bought from momsoncall.com, which was wonderful however when he started breaking out of the swaddle I stopped swaddling him. I bought sleep sacks from Babies-R-Us which have been great, he still sleeps in them now and he is 13 months old. Give you daughter three nights to adjust to not being swaddled, it is so tough to hear them cry... the first day of not being swaddled my little guy screamed through every nap, that first night he was so exhausted he slept the whole night. I gave him three days/ nights to adjust and by the fourth day/ night no problems at all. Good luck and please let me know if you have any questions.

We use a halo blaket. My son is 14 months old and still sleeps with it. Its a great invention!

We are moving to Sumter this summer. Do you like the area? We are currently in Texas, but will be there on June 27th . I'm nervous about the move, we have our son and are having a little girl on Friday of this week. Good luck to you.

We had the same issue with our daughter at about 6 weeks old. We were swaddling her with the miracle balnket with swaddles their whole body tightly. I talked to her dr about and he said that they do eventually get to a point where being swaddled is uncomfortable and confining for them and we should respond to that. what we did was used a different swaddle that was not so restrictive. It swaddled her arms but not her legs. WE got it at target. It took her a night or two to adjust to it but did fine with it quickly. We also rolled up and rubber banded ( so they would not be a suffocation hazard) receiving blankets and put them on either side of her and that helped tremendously. We slowly transitioned her out of the swaddle and she is fine with out it. It was also easier for me when i change her in the night bc i don't have to reswaddle her. Good luCK!

I ended up swaddling my son for many months before he would finally sleep without being bundled.

The Miracle Blanket worked very well when my baby started to breakout of receiving blankets. It has separate sections for securing a baby's arms, so it doesn't have to be very tight.

The Kiddopotamus Swaddle Me blankets with velcro also work pretty well. It has to be tight though so little arms don't work their way out through the top.

Good luck!

Have you tried the swaddle blankets or sleep sacks? My daughter would wiggle out of a recieving blanket from about 2 weeks old. The sleep sacks were wonderful, she stayed covered but had enough room to move around. You can find them at Babies R Us...I know Carters makes some cute ones!

With our three children, there was definitely a transition time between when they were getting mobile enough to get out of the swaddle and when they were actually comfortable with being "loose" after they got out. I kept trying to swaddle until they were comfortable without it. The best coping method we found was to search the baby dept of every store we could find for bigger blankets (even finding some 30 x 40 inch ones instead of 30 x 30 made a big difference).

The kids also seemed to feel more secure and stay swaddled a bit longer when I put their heads right in the corner of the crib against the bumper pad. Of course, with all the ways they scare new moms, I had to check them several times and sometimes turn their heads a little to feel comfortable that they weren't going to smother agst the bumper pad, but eventually I calmed down and that worked for us.

Finally, you might be able to ask around (or look online) to find other ways of swaddling. The nurses at the third child's birth used a different method than the previous hospital and it was helpful to have different options to try sometimes.

Best of luck! V. (mom to 4 yr-old twins Jacob and Katie, and 21-month old Aaron)

My daughter seemed to be the same way at about 8 months. But turns out she just wanted her arms free. As soon as I left one or some times both arms out but still tightly wraped the rest she slept great. I hope this helps.

Hi J., I agree with some of the other responses, I think every baby is different, we have twin girls who are 9 months. One still loves to be swaddled to go to sleep, but then comes out of it when she sleeps and is fine. The other likes to be swaddled with both arms out (not really swaddling anymore). This twin went through the same thing yours did around 3 months- breaking out of it, and we were not sure what to do. We swaddled her with one arm out for awhile and then both out. Just trial and error and it did take several weeks to get a system down she liked. One thing you mentioned was you put rice cereal in her bottle at night. I know some people do this, but I would ask your ped about this before you do it. Most recommend you do not do this unless directed to do so by your MD. Some babies with reflux may need this, but even then, many doctors recommend against this. The readings I've done say it doesn't help babies sleep through the night and at 12 weeks, I would not give cereal in any form unless directed by your ped. That's just my 2 cents, you are an expert on your baby!!! Best of luck, F.

try using a larger blanket or one that is made for swaddling and has a velcro strap on it to keep it tight. but as the previous poster said they dont stay babies long. Also try , if she can turn over putting her on her tummy to sleep. that also might give her the snuggled close sensation she needs.

I went through the same thing with my son at about that age. He would only sleep if swaddled, but I would find him in the mornings with the swaddle in all sorts of crazy positions. I was worried he was going to strangle himself, so we quit swaddling cold turkey. (I had asked the pediatrician on an earlier visit when to quit swaddling. She told me to stop when he could get out of it.) I decided to quit swaddling during naps in hopes that he would be adjusted by night time. The first day was a little rough, but he actually adjusted really quickly. Good luck!

I have read and heard of babies being swaddled for several months. My son is just over 6 months old and he still likes to be swaddled (although I am trying to get him to go to sleep at night without it just to try to get him to fall asleep better on his own). You might try to get a bigger swaddle. The best one I found is through Moms On Call. Check out their website http://www.momsoncall.com/. You can buy their book on how to get children to sleep or just purchase the swaddle.

My daughter did the same thing and someone showed us the burrito technique. Have you tried that one? You lay her on a rectangle shaped blanket with it laying horizontal. Place her head in the middle of the corners but not on the blanket, have her head on the floor and the blanket just above her shoulders. Fold each top corner down, one at a time so that her arms are tucked inside. then bring the bottom part up and wrap the excess around her back. This way when she lays on her back she will have a harder time wriggling out. Hope it helps and swaddle her as long as she likes it, it won't hurt anything.
S.

Have you tried the swaddle blankets that they carry at Babies R Us with the velcro attachments? My daughter wasn't able to get out of it until 4 mos, and even then she had to work pretty hard at it. We still swaddle her at 6 mos. She only gets out of it when she's fighting going to sleep so it requires a few trips into the nursery to re-swaddle and re-settle her. Once asleep, she stays snuggly swaddled until she awakens and attemps to, once again, wriggle out of her "baby straight jacket".

I forget what they are called, but there are some special blankets on the market that are made for the purpose of swaddling and are supposed to stay in place. I might try to find one of those and see how that works. If your daughter sleeps best while swaddled until she's 2, I see no problem with it!!!

MY daughter did that too. We tried velcro swaddle blankets for a while, but eventually just gave up on them. She took a few nights to get used to not having the swaddle, but eventually was able to sleep without it.

Oh my gosh, please don't put her on her tummy to sleep!! I swaddled my daughter until she was 6 months old. I know--a little much, but she liked it:)! Yours clearly likes being swaddled too, if she's waking up every time she comes loose. We had to buy a larger swaddling blanket at about 12 weeks--there's one online ( I'm sorry, I can't remember the name of it) that's made for swaddling and has a little stretch to it, which worked great. I never had any luck with the swaddleme's/ velcro ones. When all else failed, we used a piece of duct tape to keep the blanket on. Very tacky, I know, but it worked:) When you think she's growing out of it, start by swaddling with 1 arm out, then with 2 arms out, then looser and looser to avoid the tantrums. I say, if the like it and it helps them sleep, then do it, whatever it is!! Hope some of this helps.

When it was time to stop swaddling, I would use the blanket and put it on top of my son and then tuck the sides in like you would do to an older child when you tuck them in. I sometimes would just roll the blanket up and just wrap that over his arms because it was his arms jerking forward in his sleep that made him wake up startled.

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I have 4 children and i have swaddled them for as long as i have a blanket big enough. I just kept getting bigger blankets- hope this helps.