How old is too old to be swaddled?

HappyMommy - posted on 08/28/2012

Hi my 6 month old won't sleep until she is tightly and fully swaddled hands and all and if it's loose she wakes up..so u r ok I plan to swaddle her until she seems ready and she rolls around a lot so I don't put any blankets or anything loose near or around her

Lisa - posted on 11/04/2010

My daughter is 8 and a half months and I only stopped swaddling her 2 weeks ago. I tried weaning her off it but she hated it and would get really freaked out cause she kept hitting herself with her hands. Then one day she wriggled herself out of the swaddle but stayed sleeping so next time I put her to bed, I swaddled her but left one arm out, did that for a few days then started wrapping her under her armpits so she still felt secure but both arms were out. Now she sleeps like a dream! She is not swaddled at all now but I have her in a safe-t-sleep so she can't roll over. She has to have her favourite toy with her tho so she has something to cuddle, otherwise she'd smack herself in her head and give herself a fright lol

Rachel - posted on 11/04/2010

My son had a pretty extreme startle reflex, and until he was pretty old... so transitioning from swaddling to not swaddling was really hard for us. I hope it's easier for you.

Christine - posted on 11/04/2010

I think my son was only swaddled for the first couple months. Once they really start to move a lot, its probably not a good idea to swaddle them, like u said if he rolls over and cant move himself. My son has always been a good sleeper, swaddled or not. I don't imagine you will have any long term problems, maybe just the first few days. THere isn't much you can do to transition him, you pretty much just get rid of the swaddle

Annick - posted on 11/04/2010

thanks everyone for your posts! i will slowly stop swaddling him... starting today during his naps to see how that goes. He normally falls asleep on his own once I put him in his crib swaddled, but I don't know if that'll happen if I don't swaddle him. He's just such a curious baby and his hands and feet are always a-going, so... we'll see!

Jolene - posted on 11/04/2010

my daughter was never swaddled. she absolutely hated it. its honestly ur desision.

Sarh - posted on 11/04/2010

My son has not tolerated being swaddled since he was about a month old, he is now 4.5 months old. He has been too active, the blanket never stayed. Does your bubby sleep in a crib? Not sure how the weather is by you, but I'm in WI and it is winter here. What I do is put my son in his crib, take a receiving blanket and tuck it under his legs and behind his back a bit, then I take a longer/larger blanket and lay it across him just under his arm pits, I then tuck this along the sides of his mattress (we have a bumper pad so that helps hold it) this makes it nice and tight on him so he doesn't pull it over his face at night (which he LOVES blankies on his face), is rolling over and when he does roll (he hasn't rolled to his tummy yet while sleeping, only once he wakes, but does roll to sleep on his side) it makes the blanket a little bit looser, but it is a long enough blanket that it is still tucked in. Not sure if this would work for your little guy or not, but I would stop swaddling him.

Laura - posted on 11/04/2010

you should swaddle him only when it is time to go to bed when you know he/she is tired, i know you want your rest so you are tring to keep him pin down. your child is smart let him learn. rolling over, talking his soother out of the mouth your child experimenting, learning, and yes it is dangerous keeping your child swaddle when the child obviously wants to do something else. it will be a change but girl the rest of your life you will be changing with your child, learn to let go, move on to something else before you know it your child will be crawling, falling off of stuff, touching everything he can find. my child was crawling at 5 1/2 month, pulling up on thing at 6 mt. at 8 mt she is walking around holding on the table. she just turn ten month and is starting to walk on her own. so it up to you. you can hold you child back from developing or you can let your child grow. if you continue to swaddle your child just make sure the child is in a safe area so the child doesnt roll of of some thing and get hurt.

Schyla - posted on 11/04/2010

some babies like it for longer. If your scared the find a blanket sleeper like the halo sleepsack My oldest is almost 5 and has a sensory disorder and there are times when the ONLY thing that sooths her is a modified swaddle I use a larger blanket and leave her arms out but I lay her down and basically wrap her as tight as I can just like when she was a newborn she dosen't sleep like that but if your little one's getting out of the swaddle it's time to stop. Just follow the same routine as normal and dress him in a blanket sleeper so he'll stay nice and warm it might take a few nights but he'll be fine

Aurora H. - posted on 11/04/2010

I barely swaddled my LO only cause she'd find a way to get an arm out. And not to mention she actually started rolling over at about 2-3 months. He should be fine if he's not swaddled. He's at that point where he's learning on his own the whole motor skills.

Natasha - posted on 11/04/2010

My son was about 5 months when we stopped. Just do it slowly, making the swaddle looser and looser everyday, then eventually let his arms out and so on. They get used to it.

Stifler's - posted on 11/03/2010

My baby hardly was swaddled when he was a newborn but he liked it at night and once it got to winter and he was 4 months we'd just tuck the blanket in under his sides and not actually wrap him.

Rachel - posted on 11/03/2010

I swaddled my son until I could no longer do it anymore because he was "breaking out" of it. For us, when he was able to get our of his swaddling, he no longer slept because he was constantly waking himself up. I think it was probably around 9-10 months old. We had to just start swaddling him under the armpits and leaving his arms free eventually. Good luck.

Bonnie - posted on 11/03/2010

I think around 4 or 5 months is good. I believe that's when we stopped with our boys. By that age they start moving around too much and it's difficult to keep them swaddled anyways. I saw on another thread someone mentioned that at 2 years old a child was still being swaddled. Honestly, I couldn't believe it. Just make sure your baby is dressed warm and he should be fine. There is nothing wrong with placing a blanket over him to help. We did that with our boys.