Still Swaddling??!!!

[Alexahouse]

Hi, I have a 4 month old son, for the first few months of life he was abit colic, and the only way we could get him to sleep was in a baby sling, now that he has FINALLY grown out of that, he now insists on being swaddled, EVERYTIME he goes to sleep, I have tried to not swaddle him and he'll sleep for 5-10 mins tops compared to 30mins to 3 hrs if he is swaddled, Has anyone one else experienced this at 4 months old and should I be weening him out of it? im just worried his arms arent going to develop properly if they are always stuck in a blanket?!?!

[ra11en]

I would probably swaddle him if that is what helped him sleep. Not sure if it would hurt his arm development. I would think that as long as it is only during sleep, it will be fine. His arms are left free during the day to move and develope. If it were me, I would swaddle him because most likely he will grow out of needing/wanting that in due time. If that is what comforts him during sleep, I would do it. Just my opinion though. My DD grew out of swaddling around 5mo - she wanted/needed swaddled at night from the very start and we were more than happy to oblige.

I was willing to do anything with my DD when she was an infant for longer stretches of sleep, that's for sure! :)

[leapyearmom]

My son Hunter will be six months old here in a couple of weeks, and he still has to be swaddled for his naps during the day, and last night was the first night I finally was able to get him to sleep in his crib without being wrapped up, but it took almost a whole hour of me holding him to get him to fall asleep. It also seemed that I was up more often trying to keep him asleep, but I think it will work out if i stick with it. Today when I went to put him down for a nap he wouldn't sleep until I wrapped him up, I hope he grows out of it soon.
Your not alone with an overgrown swaddler so hang in there.
As far as the arm development Hunter seems fine he's pushing himself up fine, so as long as once he's awake if his arms are free your son will be fine.

[lovin3]

I think you'd be fine to continue swaddling as long as, like mentioned already, you give him plenty of time to explore without the constraints of his blanket. My one suggestion would be to help him find another source of comfort that you can introduce now that might help him fall asleep and stay asleep. Neither of my boys took pacifiers, but they each became attached to their "snuggle blankets" at a very young age. They have the really soft blankets that are silk lined on the back. My youngest loved to be swaddled when he was young, so I started by laying him down with the silky side of the blanket against his face. He's now 15 months, and many nights I'll find him asleep on top of his blanket. :)

[MommaC]

I'm with the others. Keep swaddling him; he needs all that precious sleep. I honestly don't think his arms will be affected, but if you're worried you could leave one arm out of the swaddle (and alternate which arm you leave out every other nap). And don't feel like you have to decide when to stop swaddling him. He'll let you know when he's done.

[crazy'bout my baby]

Keep swaddling! It won't hurt his development and he'll grow out of it on his own most likely. Mine is 81'2 mo.'s now and she started sleeping without being swaddled all on her own right at 7 mo.'s... first I let her start taking her naps during the day without the swaddling... and after she was a pro at rolling around and her mobility started to increase she changed what she wanted for sleeping on her own! If she is overstimulated and having a tough day I still swaddle her sometimes just to calm her down! It's GREAT!!!! I hope all of my babies will like swaddling, its such a blessing :)

[relocatednyc]

The 3 month old I take care of needs to be swaddled to sleep soundly too. Don't worry about it. Babies aren't working out their limbs in sleep anyway, it is not interfering with development.
If you want, you could possibly slowly do it more and more loosely over the next month or so until he gets used to just needing the blanket nearby to be comforted.
Best of luck!

[craftyashley]

I wouldn't be worried about it. 4 mos. seems like a long time now, but in retrospect, it really is quite young. We swaddled until they started wiggling themselves out of it. We saw that as a sign they were done with the swaddle. Now they sleep on their tummies, with butts in the air!