At some point you are going to need to wean your baby of being swaddled. For me, I started to the weaning process once my son started to roll over. I felt it was dangerous for him to have both of his arms wrapped in his swaddle if he rolled onto his tummy. Something magical also happened once I started to wean him of his swaddle, he discovered how to suck on his fingers and I did not have to worry about putting his binky back in his mouth if it fell out.
Here is how I weaned my son of swaddling
1. I left one arm out of his swaddle until he was sleeping well and not waking himself up.
2. He slept in a sleep sac at night but swaddled with one arm out during the day for naps. I tired to make the switch to the sleep sac for both naps and nighttime sleep, but that proved to be a bad mistake. My son was just not ready to give up the swaddle quite yet. My son slept more sound at night so we tired not swaddling at night and that worked well. He has some adjustment problems, but he eventually got the hang of it. There were a few night he would wake up in the middle of the night and have some trouble, but we just let him cry-it-out a little and then he would go back to sleep. He would only cry for 5 minutes or so and it only lasted for a few nights.
3. He slept in a sleep sac for both naps and nighttime sleep. This was a hard transition for him during his naps. He had a hard time falling asleep with both arms out. He also had a hard time during his sleep transition during his naps (45 minute sleep cycle/ 45 minute intruder). There were days that I caved in and just decided to go in and just swaddle him for his naps, but those days of needing to swaddle become less and less. I only re-swaddled him during a nap if he really had a hard time falling asleep or he would wake in the middle of a nap and have difficult returning to sleep (if he woke early in the nap). It took about 2 weeks for him to get the napping without a swaddle down.
For more information about weaning from swaddling please read this article I found:
http://www.thesleepstore.co.nz/Swaddling/Weaning+your+baby+off+wrapping.html
The Swaddle I used was the kidapotomus brand called swaddleme: http://www.kiddopotamus.com/p_swad.php
The Sleep Sac I used was the Halo brand: https://www.halosleep.com/products/results/?product_category_id=10
You Can also sew your own sleep sac: http://cbfoley.com/2009/05/08/a-weeks-worth-of-posts/
we had issues weaning from swaddle too, we found a great sleeper called the pekmeo http://www.pekemoe.co.nz which kept her arms inside yet she could move them.. she LOVED it.. and so did we! great work!
I SO wish I had had this to read a month ago. All the sleep books I’ve read said swaddling is great. So I swaddled. But NONE said what to do to wean them off the swaddle! After reading this, I wonder if maybe i should swaddle again for naps. She sleeps through the night (12ish hrs) and if I feed her she will go right back down for 2 hrs, but after that her naps are short. C takes (at best) a 45-55 minute nap. Sometimes her naps are as short as 20 minutes. She wakes up happy in the am (and will play in her crib for awhile), but not from naps (usually). Maybe it’s because of the no swaddle? we sort of did what you did (one arm out for a while). She sleeps in a sleep sack at night, and without anything during the day. I thought it was just the 45 minute intruder, but it’s been about 3 weeks of short naps…. I need more time!! She was having trouble at night, but an earlier bedtime fixed that. So now it’s just naps…
I’ve started trying to keep her up longer the last few days. All the books say for her age (4.5 mos) she should be up for no longer than 2 hrs. But I’m pushing 2.5 to see if that helps. She is a VERY easy baby, so even if she DOES need a longer nap, she isnt terribly cranky. But I’m trying to help her!
I also thought it is possible she’s been dealing with wonder week 19. (she was 20 weeks yesterday). I’m not sure if she could just be a bit behind.
Oh, and she is even MORE drooly and chewing on her fingers lately. So there you go. No wonder she’s a grumpalump by 5 pm!
Anne, Here are some of my thoughts:
1. I would try swaddling her for naps again, but leave one arm out. See how she does and if that improves her naps at all.
2. Make sure her sleep environment is conducive to sleep, quite, dark, and a good temperature. You might need a sound machine or fan. I know my son does well with his sound machine on. I wrote a post about sleep environment: https://blogginaboutbabies.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/create-a-good-sleep-environment/
3. I would not rule out the 45 minute intruder/ sleep cycle. Cooper had a horrible time with the 45 minute sleep cycle. I wrote about it and I suggest you read it- I hope this will give you some good ideas. I had to “train” him to sleep longer for naps. It took a while and it drove me nuts, but it was worth it in the end for him to have a longer nap and for me to have a little more “me” time. https://blogginaboutbabies.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/nap-trouble-the-45-minute-intruder/
4. For wake time lengths: does she have any sleepy cues that you can go by? She might be able to handle a longer wake time length than most babies at this age, but I would be careful not to keep her up too long or it will cause her to have short naps. Short naps can also be the product of not enough wake time. At about 4/5 months old my son was able to stay awake for about 2 hours in-between naps. His morning wake time was only 1.5 hours hours until he was 5.5/ 6 months old. I have posted my schedules I kept with Cooper if you want to check them out: https://blogginaboutbabies.wordpress.com/2009/05/13/infant-schedules-by-month/
I hope this helps!
Sue, thanks so much for your thoughts. It’s great to have other Mom’s who parent similary to bounce things off of. (Many mom’s i know don’t do any sleep training till 6-8 mos!)
I haven’t swaddled in like a month now…do you think it’s too late to go back to this? Maybe it will help just to learn to sleep past that mark? Also, we are at my in laws (for a total of 3 weeks, 8 days to go), So I feel bad bc she isn’t in her home environment (though she is sleeping the same as she does at home).
We do have a sound machine and light blocking shades at home…I swear, I hold my breath and don’t move a muscle (& stay downstairs!) and she still wakes up!
Did C cry so hard he couldnt calm down? CIO used to work for my C, but now (it seems like) she would never go back to sleep if i let her cry, she just gets REALLY wound up. Or maybe i just need to do that for a few days? I’ve found it easier to let her CIO on nights/weekends becaus then I have hubs there to support me. It’s much harder for me to let her CIO when I’m on my own!! Maybe i just need to toughen up, LOL!
I know that too long awake time can mess with them, which is why i always put her down early. But i thought maybe it was TOO early, so I started trying a longer time. But the vast majority of the time, she is goin back down at the 2 hr mark. She does NOT have good sleep cue’s though! She’s tricky!
The other thing i’m questioning that is tied with this is that she isn’t even close to a 4/4 schedule. She usually goes 3 hrs between feedings, sometimes more/less. I will sometimes feed her again because I’m worried about my supply-she ALWAYS seems to take a full feeding when it is offered. So I’m not sure what to do!
Thanks again!
I haven’t swaddled in like a month now…do you think it’s too late to go back to this?
-No, I don’t. I highly recommend that you go back to swaddling. Just try leaving her one arm out and see how it goes.
Did C cry so hard he couldn’t calm down?
-Yes, in the beginning for naps when he would wake up at the 45 min mark he would cry hard and maybe cry for the rest of the nap. But it did not take long for him to figure out that I was not coming in and he still needed to go back to sleep. As I wrote in my post about the 45 intruder, he would still religiously wake up at the 45 minute mark and cry for 5-15 minutes but return to sleep for another 45 minute sleep cycle. He did that for about a month. It drove me nuts to hear him cry in the middle of his nap, but I knew he needed the sleep.
What ever sleep training you choose, you must be consistent!
-https://blogginaboutbabies.wordpress.com/2009/04/08/consistency-sleep-training/
-So if you don’t think you can do the cry-it-out, try the pick-up/ put-down. Aubrey wrote about it on my blog. She swears about that method. I would read it and talk to her for some ideas if you want use it. https://blogginaboutbabies.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/pupd-pick-up-put-down-baby-whisperers-sleep-training-method/
As far as breastfeeding and your supply:
-At this age, you could stretch feedings out further apart and your supply should be fine. I was breastfeeding on a 3.5/4 hour schedule at that age and my supply was fine. But everyone is different, just monitor your supply and if you feel it is decreasing go back to feeding more frequently. If you are feeding every 3 hours and she stays awake 2 hours, that only leaves about an hour for napping. I would shot for a goal of at least 1.5 hours of sleep. You might need to train her metabolism to wait the extra 30 minutes to make it to 3.5 hours, but it is worth it! She might sleep longer. If she wakes early for a nap, you could just leave her in her crib or you could offer her a binky. Just distract her for the 30 minutes to get her to the next feeding if she will not stay in her crib. Read my post about breastfeeding/ babywise: https://blogginaboutbabies.wordpress.com/2009/04/29/baby-wise-breast-feeding/
I hope that some of this advice will help you out! Let me know if there is anything else I can do.
Thanks again Sue! She’s down right now with one arm in. We will see how it goes! I put her down at about 1hr45 after being awake.
It’s so hard deciding what to do with the wee ones. So many routes to go. ITA that consistency is key. It’s so tough though! C woke up earlier than usual this AM & we couldn’t decide if we should let her cry or feed early. It’s exhausting making every decision everyday, know what i mean?! đŸ™‚
It sounds like C & C have a lot in common. Hopefully the swaddling will do the trick! Thanks for all the tips. I’m sure I’ll have more comments once I see how this nap goes! đŸ™‚
Thanks!
A
At 45 in she started to stir, but never got as worked up as yesterday… and now at about 1hr15 she stopped!! Huzzah!!
(this will push us to at least the 3.5hr mark for the next feeding!)
Thanks so much Sue!
i can’t believe i’m sitting here wondering if i need to wake her up from a nap!!!!
Yea!!! That is so good! Keep me posted about her other naps!
Hi, I have no idea if you are still replying to comments on this, but my son is 11 weeks and really getting into sucking on his hand. He seemed really mad when I swaddled him for his nap today, so I tried leaving one arm out. He fussed for about 10 minutes, then got really quiet. Half an hour later I happened to check on him, assuming he was asleep — he was wide awake sucking on his hand! I swaddled him with both arms in and left him. He cried for about 5 minutes then went to sleep. So he obviously seems to still need the swaddle, but obviously is starting to dislike being swaddled. I also have problems with the 45 minute intruder, and was hoping that him having his hand out might help him self-soothe when he wakes up too early. Any suggestions on whether this helps or hurts? When to go with one arm out?