How to wean baby from swaddling?

Valarie - posted on 11/04/2012

Ladies not only am i a mom of a child who liked to be swaddled but i am also in the child care business and have been for 28 yrs. To those Mom's who are choosing to place you baby to sleep on their stomachs PLEASE DON'T there is a higher risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) of babies who are put to sleep on their stomachs. Always place your baby on his back and if he/she rolls themselves over there is not much you can do. Look to your state and counties child care services and ask about a SIDS class they usually cost about $10 for the class, ladies please educate yourselves before placing your baby on their stomach to sleep.

La Nina - posted on 09/22/2009

My son is 4 months old and is still a baby burrito ( i call him). i want to break him of it so bad. i try to put him to sleep without it and he sleeps for about an hour.. he does not fall into a deep sleep. so i always end up putting him back into his kiddopotamus velcro blanket so i can sleep for work. he rols during the day but not at night while he is in the blanket. i read your comments about him rolling over and that scares me. so now i need to really try harder to break him of that. im going to try putting him to sleep on his stomach tonight. thank you ladies.

Tennille - posted on 09/21/2009

my son has always hated being swaddled but when he started moving himself around the cot then rolling i got worried so i use a 'Airflow Adjustable Sleep Positioner' it stops him from rolling over and he can sleep on his back or either side i change his position each night and he sleeps a solid ten to twelve hours a night and has done from two months old, it worth a try because i know a few other mothers that it worked for and it helps you get a better sleep to because you know there is no danger of your baby rolling on there stomach! Good luck!

Nicole - posted on 09/21/2009

I know exactly what everyone is feeling. A few days ago i noticed that my daughter had rolled from her back onto her tummy, so for the past three nights she has been sleeping in her sleep sac. Since not swaddling her she has gone from sleeping 10 hours to waking up every hour. The problem is that although she can roll, she hates tummy time, so i have a feeling she will never want to sleep on her stomach. Don't know what to do

Donna - posted on 09/21/2009

My 4 month old son has slept with his swaddle blanket that has velcro since day one! He can get both arms out no matter how tight you wrap him! Last night he woke himself up cause he ended up on his belly and could not roll back over to his back! I put him to bed tonight on his left side and with out the swaddle... Cause that scared the crap out of me! Now that he can roll around, I feel that he does not need it anymore and if that means a few sleepless nights I am ok with that as long as he eventually gets the idea of sleeping with out it! I put him to bed at 9:00pm and so far he has slept 1 1/2 hours without it.... I hope he will be ok. But Sherri I wish you the best of luck cause I am going through the same thing right now! :)

Selma - posted on 09/21/2009

You can use a thing called a SafeT sleep, which prevents them from rolling over. This allows you to maintain the swaddle until an older age if you find your baby is not ready to sleep without it. I also have to continue to swaddle my four month old or he will only sleep 40 mins before he wakes. The SafeT sleep gives me the peace of mind that he wont roll over onto his stomach in the swaddle.

Good luck.

Amy - posted on 09/16/2009

We put our 4 month old to sleep on this stomach now that he can roll over both ways. He doesn't startle himself and the feeling of the bed underneath his chest seems to be the same as a blanket to him. He sleeps much better on his stomach than he ever did on his back anyway.

Brenda - posted on 09/16/2009

I still swaddle my son at 4 months andby morning he has always wiggled out of it. Maybe you could try one of the swaddle blankets that has velco on it, so he can't get out of it.

Robin - posted on 09/15/2009

I know your pain! The same thing happened with my daughter when she was around 3 months - we had to dump the swaddle b/c it scared me to death to see her rolling around in it. Some parents do a gradual thing by taking one arm out then the other. We just went cold turkey and it really sucked for a few weeks b/c she would keep waking herself up.



What ultimately made the difference for us was that she figured out that sleeping on her tummy was the way to go. Once they can roll on their own, the SIDS risk is significantly lower as long as there's no swaddle. So, once she slept on her tummy she no longer startled herself awake. Now, that's pretty much the only way that she sleeps now and it's much better.



So, hang in there - the first few nights will be rough, but eventually, he will get used to it. By the way, we currently keep our daughter in a sleep sac at night now.

Diana - posted on 09/15/2009

Hi Sherri! I'm the same with my bub at the moment. What I've done to help him gradually wean off swaddling is to sleep him on his side during his naps. This means that I have to put him to sleep a different way though (shushing and patting rather than just dumping in the cot!) When he sleeps on his side there is a less chance of him hitting himself in the face, fussing, moving around etc. At night, he manages to get out of his wrap and leave one arm out now which he can sleep through. So maybe start by leaving one arm out and seeing if that will work? I've also read that babies like the feeling of security so even just wrapping them around their chest area and leaving their arms out could be something you eventually do. Hope this is helpful!