Swaddling Issues

[irjohnson]

my baby is 3 months old (14 weeks)...I have been swaddling her for sleep since birth and have had much success, she seems to love sleeping while swaddled...Lately since she is becoming stronger and bigger she is able to wrestle her hands free and when her hands are by her face she immediately wakes herself and is unable to sleep (cries, fusses etc.) Any suggestions on how to either wean her off of swaddling or any other ideas you may have would be much appreciated. I do realize that babies cannot be swaddled indefinitely and she is showing signs of recognizing her hands (ie: reaching for things, sucking fists) but while she is asleep she is still waking herself up with her hands touching her face...I would just like to stop swaddling gradually so as not to create huge sleep problems while while getting her used to sleeping with her hands free....

[irjohnson]

thanks for your reply, I will look into both of those sites. How old was your baby when you finally stopped swaddling altogether. How did the baby take this weaning process and how long did it take?

[machelleD]

I understand what your going through, I have a 12 week old boy and I swaddle him b/c he wakes himself up. My thought is that until they can have 1 hand out and not wake themselves up they need swaddling. I used the Swaddle me blankets that velcro so you can really cinch them down and the velcro really holds. I thought the miracle blanket was too much wrapping around business for me anyways but my friends love them. I've been trying to leave one hand up (not out) of the swaddle during his naps so he can suck on his fingers if he wants to and get used to his hands being by his face while sleeping so when I loosen it up it will be easier. Thanks for listening to me rant & goodluck!

[granolabar28]

The miracle blanket looks awesome and I wish I had one but the down side is it only fits them until they are 4 months old and my son is nearing 4 months and still totally needs to be swaddled. The blanket I found and love is at www.bbsleepsolutions.com and it's called the burrito swaddler. The design of it is really simple. It is a 40 inch SQAURE blanket made of cotton flannel so it kind of attaches to itself. The square thing is awesome because it is ideal for swaddling and it is larger than most blankets you can find so it fits babies longer. I got one a few weeks ago and my son is sleeping better than ever. It also comes with a free DVD to show you step-by-step how to swaddle your baby. And also, the DVD says that as soon as the baby consistently breaks free with both arms for two weeks they are ready to be weened from swaddling. But make sure you are correctly swaddling because if the swaddling isn't snug enough then of course the baby is breaking free. Before I learned how to swaddle correctly my son broke free every time, now he doesn't and like I said he is sleeping amazingly!