My 4.5 months old baby is/was a swaddle addict. He still has (or had) very strong startle reflex so he would wake himself up as he is trying to fall asleep. He is a wonderful sleeper with a swaddle though (we use the woombie)... 12 hours at night and 3 - 4 hours total daytime naps. I didn't mind swaddling him and I would not have a problem continue swaddling him but... he has a really flat head! I think it has to do with the fact that he doesn't move around much at all during his sleep and he sleeps in the same position all night long. I tried repositioning his head but he always moves back to the middle. The back of his head is super flat and I'm starting to get worried. After hours of google search and talking to other moms... I realize that him being able to move around and switch positions during sleep is going to fix his flat head issue (along with lots of tummy and sitting time when he is awake). We tried having him nap during the day with one arm out this week but most of the time he would not be able to fall asleep. So I ended up having to go in and reswaddle him and soothe him. But today was different... during his first nap today he slept a total of 1.5 hours with one arm out. Then for the second nap he was in his car seat because of church.. but for his third nap he was completely out of his swaddle and in his sleep sack and he slept for 20 minutes... so we decided to be crazy and have him sleep unswaddled for the first time tonight... he went down easy... fell asleep without any jerking... but let's hope he stays asleep! Please pray for us!
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I was also terrified to go without a swaddle for the first time. And that was the first night my LO slept for 12 hours straight!
Good luck, hope your baby sleeps!
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Crossing my fingers for you! I know how scary that is
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thank you ladies!!! it went so well that it's too good to be true! he slept 12 hours like he normally would and when i check the monitor through out the night i can see that he moves around so much! he was even sleeping on his side for a while
he went down for his first morning nap without a fuss either! i saw from the monitor that he did jump before he fell asleep but he just ignored it... so proud =D
i'll keep you posted!
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Yay! While I LOVED the Woombie and loved swaddling, I was totally happy when we stopped. One less thing! Good job, mama!
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Woohoo! That's great!
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woohoo congrats! and so jealous about the 12 straight hours of sleep! i'm looking forward to the day we unswaddle olive too, but for now she sleeps much better swaddled.
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aw thanks ladies!
so today was a bad nap day for poor eli
we are not sure why he was fighting naps so much but he missed his third nap entirely because he just kept crying. i suspect that he was over tired... whenever we put him down from soothing him, he would immediately cry... perhaps he is just not used to not being swaddled? we are going to try to put him down earlier tomorrow for his naps...
he is down for the night though... hopefully it'll go as well as yesterday night
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@Mrs. Yoyo: when you unswaddled baby Y... did he have trouble adjusting to w/o a swaddle when you put him down in his crib? Eli gets mad when we put him own for naps w/o a swaddle. for some naps he would calm himself and self soothe like normal but for later naps in the afternoon he usually just cries and cries.. was wondering if you have any tips to share
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@reggie: naps were harder! Basically, I shhhhhh and sway with him so he knows what's about to happen. I put him down and turn on his crib soother (don't need to use it so much at night any more, but it's good for naps). If he fusses, I leave him alone for a bit, because sometimes he does settle himself. If he full-on cries, I pick him up and shhhh and sway again and try to put him down again. Sometimes I put him on his side, which he likes.
The first couple of days there were times I'd be calming him for a loooooong time. It's gotten much better, though. I'm finding that it's really all in the timing now. If he's not tired enough or is overtired, it's an uphill battle.
If he doesn't show improvement in a few days, you may want to consider swaddling a bit longer just for naps. It's easier to kick the habit at night since they've got the darkness and powerful internal clock telling them to sleep.
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@Mrs. Yoyo: ah thank you so much! i didn't think about it but it makes sense that naps would be harder! i just thought that since naps were shorter it won't make much of a difference... but boy was he angry.. yeah we are just going to keep trying to soothe him and put him down and hopefully he'll get used to it! and timing is absolute key... i think we've been spoiled because he was able to self soothe so well swaddled... we just put him down around the 2 hr mark.. but i think he's usually OT by then... we'll try different timing and see
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@reggie: Good luck. It's a tough age for sleep, no matter what. If you do go back to swaddling for naps, don't feel like you're going to ruin night sleep. They're pretty separate animals.
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