My daughter is almost 5 months old and has begun rolling over from both front to back and back to front. I am worried that continuing swaddling could be dangerous because she won't have her arms to help her roll off her tummy if she rolls over in the middle of the night. BUT, she also seems to still need to be swaddled to fall asleep. If not, she scratches at her face and wakes herself up. Does anyone have any ways they weaned their child off swaddling and how exactly do you know it is the right time?
My son was dependent on his swaddle until about 7 months. When I did start to "wean" him, I started by taking one arm out first, then a week later the other and the following week lossened it around the waste and the last week he was sleeping independent of it. It took less then a month.
I don't think I had a problem because my daughter slept with me. If not she was in a basinet. She was off swaddling by month 3. Make sure her nails are cut and just keep trying, eventually she'll see that it's not so bad.
Swaddle from her arms down. If she is scratching herself, place those little cotton gloves on her hands, so she won't and it will feel like a soft blanket should she happen to touch her face. You may also try swddling her and once she is asleep, loosen the swaddle and lower it to under her arms.
Good luck.
maybe try putting the baby mits on her, see if she falls aslep with swaddling. if not swaddle with mits on then loosen after she falls asleep.
Please stop using the swaddling right away. It is so dangerous for her to roll over and not have her arms to lift herself or move if she ends up on her face. if she is scratching her face, put some socks or newborn gloves on. The first time my daughter rolled over was when she was swaddled and it scared her so much it took me 10 mins to calm her down.
Ok, five months is way too old to still be swaddling. You are absolutely right about her needing her arms to help roll herself over and get the blanket off her face. Try to keep her nails short so she doesn't scratch herself or put her to bed with socks on her hands. Try cradeling her in your arms tightly to get her to sleep instead of the swaddle. I know first time Mom's don't like letting their babies cry (I was the same way) but it only takes a couple nights and they learn to put themselves to sleep. Good luck.
C. R
My daughter (now 11mos) weaned herself. She still needed to be swaddled to fall asleep, but she often wriggled out of it during her sleep. Once she was able to roll over, she would wriggle out more until eventually she didn't need it anymore. If you want to wean completely, start by leaving 1 arm out for a couple of days, then the other, etc. until she doesn't have to be wrapped anymore.
Swaddle without the arms, then in time losen the swaddle, and eventually she won't need the swaddle. My daughter was dependent on it, and this system worked for us. Good Luck.
She's at the age that if she rolls onto her tummy it's o.k. She has the ability to move her head. So if she's on her tummy don't worry. My son use to roll over in his sleep and I'd roll him back. Then he'd roll back. We could do it for 15 mins so I'd give up. When she is ready to give up the swaddle she will. Both my kids use to break out of it or kick it off when they were ready to give it up. Just go with the flow. Follow her cues. She'll let you know when she's ready. If she still needs it to fall asleep, I'd say she's not ready to give it up yet.
We had to stop swaddling our son when he was about 2 months old because he kept fighting to get out of it. However, to get him to stop scratching his face we bought these little mittens and he only wears then when he is sleeping. He also sleeps in his car seat which seems to make him feel more secure (like he is being held in a swaddle). He wakes up if he sleeps anywhere else. Congrats on your daughter rolling over! You will want to the swaddling soon so she can develope more of her motor skills as well. I hope the mittens help!
We started by not swaddling our daughter for one nap. We still swaddled her for her other nap and at night. Once she seemed used to not being swaddled for the one nap, we tried the second nap and eventually at night. She cried when we first didn't swaddle, but it was easier to deal with the crying during the day.
Hi,
I had the same problem with my twins. We swaddled them until they were about 6 months. THe reason we had to stop was b/c we found my son rolled over onto his belly nad couldn't get back over!! Just like you're afraid of. Luckily he was screaming and we realized why when we went in the room. So the way we handled it was we started to swaddle them just below their arms. They did stir alot the first night but ir wasn't too bad. After a few days we loosened it just a little (you dont want it to be too lose and come up around their neck) Then we started to use the sleep sacks instead so they were still snuggled up but had some more freedom and now with the warmer weather they don't use those anymore. Maybe she needs to wear those little mits if she scratches herself that badly. I hope this helps. Feel free to e-mail if you have any questions. Good luck!
What a relief to see that someone else is having the same issue that I had with my daughter! My daughter, who is now almost 10 months old, was swaddled until she was about 6 1/2 months. Although she was very active during the day, she still needed the tight confines to sleep. At about 6 months she started to loosen from the swaddling and her arms would just be loose. Then at about 6 1/2 months she started squirming around much more and I think I just stopped swaddling one night. She also did not start really rolling over at night until she no longer needed the swaddling. I will say that while she is now all over the crib, she does like to fall asleep well covered by a blanket. I hope this helps.
We gradually stopped swaddling our baby. At first, swaddle her with one arm out. You'll have to put something over her hand to stop the scratching, or some footed sleepers have sleeves that flip over the hands to prevent the scratching.
Then eventually let her have the other arm free, so she's only swaddled from the chest down. She'll still feel secure that way. Then she'll let you know when it's time to stop swaddling completely by wiggling out of the swaddle every time.
At first when you stop swaddling, she won't sleep as easily but it will get better. And then of course, she could get to a point where she needs more help falling asleep and staying asleep, and if that happens you might have to decide between attachment parenting and the Ferber method. (Ferber worked great for us after 3 rough nights).
