Swaddling- About to Stop, Any Advice?

My little ones loved to be swaddled too. I always hated it when their arms came out of the swaddle because they would startle and wake up. When we started to back off of swaddling, I started with nap time. I still swaddled, but with the arms out so they coud still get that snug feeling on their trunk & legs. It wasn't the most sound sleep at first, but they eventually adjusted. After a couple weeks, no more swaddle. Hope this helps!

Any particular reason you're planning to stop? If it works, I say keep doing it. You can get bigger blankets to swaddle him, or just go to the fabric store and get a length of light flannel and hem the edges. He'll let you know when he's done with the swaddle because he'll struggle to get out of it, not to stay in it.

We swaddled our daughter until 7 months or so. I wanted to stop earlier, but it just wasn't worth it. She was a big baby as well, and we found the miracle blanket to be quite useful. When it was time to stop swaddling, she was breaking free nightly. We gradually went from 1 arm out to 2 arms out, to just putting the swaddle blanket next to her in the crib. (We bundled it/tied it like a little log. She cuddled it like a doll for a few weeks.)

Hi S.,
My little guy is 6 months old and we still swaddle him - but we leave his arms out. This seems to give him the comfort of being swaddled but the freedom to do things like roll over and chew on his hands (his favorite pastime). Maybe by leaving his arms out that will help him transition to a swaddle-free world!!
Good luck!
T.

I went through the same thing. I was afraid that when my daughter kicked through her swaddle, the extra fabric would pose a suffocation risk. I graduated to a Halo sleep sack since they come in larger sizes (the SwaddleMe brand doesn't). It took a couple of weeks but she got used to it. My friend took twin sheets and swaddled her tall babies until they were 7-9 months old. The first she swaddled both arms and the second she swaddled one, since she was a thumbsucker and that soothed her in the night. Now that I think about it, my daughter used to love her pacifier. Now she rarely takes it but loves her thumb. I wonder if its because she began to use it when I stopped swaddling her? Anyway, as long as they're good night sleepers, a little thumb sucking shouldn't hurt!

You can go alot longer with the swaddling. My son started to break out of his swaddle when he could scoot out of the sleep positioner. That's when he would wake in the middle of the night for us to reswaddle. It was a pain. We did it for months though thinking he wouldn't sleep if we didn't. Eventually we just stopped it and he cried a little in the middle of the night and then went back to sleep. I would swaddle him to get him to fall asleep for the first few days or so until he adjusts just don't go in and reswaddle. Good Luck!

What i did with my son was lay him on his tummy in his crib and take a towel and twirl it up so it's firm, and wrap it around his feet up to the sides of his body, then take a second towel and do the same at the top so he is in a little circle. Don't make the top too tight though so he can still move around, but that usually helped my son. They will cry for a while without it, as when you move them into a big boy crib/bed etc... changes no matter what they are usually result in midnight screams. Nothing you can do but wait it out. Go in his room and rub his back and sing to him... that helped a lot too. Hope this helps!!!

YOu might want to try one of thoses sleeper bags that zip up, but the baby is still inside.

I started wrapping him more loosely, then went to a toga-style swaddle with one arm out. Next we did both arms out, then we got rid of it completely. The gradual approach worked like a charm for our son. May you have good luck too!

I wouldn't stop til he breaks out of it.
We swaddled our daughter til she was 6 months old, :)
A good friend of mine did the same.
If he likes it and it works, why change it?