Lo is 18wks old and over the last few weeks his sleep has been terrible. I'm hoping that by swaddle weaning, he'll be able to learn to use his hands to help soothe himself. I don't want to do sleep training yet, per se, because I know this isn't the best developmental time for it (according to Mrs Bee's post on the subject). But I figured swaddle weaning would be a start. So I just put him down for a nap with one arm out. My question is, how long do you do one arm out before transitioning to both arms out? And then how long til you go to a sleep sack? I know some people do cold turkey but I'm a little too scared to do that! And did you do it for naps and at night right away, or should we see how naps go for a certain period of time?
-
We went cold turkey and thought we were in the clear but a few nights later she started waking up every time we laid her in the crib with flailing arms and we wouldn't get her down till 2am or later, so we started swaddling again yesterday. Good luck, hope your weaning goes better than ours
-
@travelgirl1: ack I didn't think about it getting better and then regressing! I guess more reason for us to take it slowly...
-
We didn't swaddle wean until 6.5 months and just went cold turkey when we sleep trained so I'm not much help to you. Good luck!
-
LO is 5 months and we just did this a couple weeks ago. We did one arm out (the right arm every time) for a week, naps and nighttime, then both arms out (still swaddling the middle so he felt that "hug") for 2-3 days, then just a sleep sack.
It was rough for the first day of each transition - we had to go to him a lot, bounce to sleep, replace the pacifier when he would grab it from his mouth and then cry, soothe him, etc., but after he got used to it things were smooth sailing. It's nice using just a sleep sack now.
-
@hilsy85: we also did cold turkey- with both arms out he can hold/suck them more effectively and turn on his side easier. We had one rough night and then back to normal. Something that helped was encouraging him to chew on his hands while I rocked him drowsy - sometime when I put him down ill guide his fist to his mouth if he's restless. That would still be doable with one arm out!
-
We swaddle-weaned at 4.5 months using the Magic Sleepsuit. I was too scared to just drop the swaddle altogether because I had witnessed my LO waking himself up with his arms too often! The Sleepsuit was great and well worth the $30 because his sleep didn't change one bit. We transitioned out of the sleepsuit 5-6 weeks later into a sleepsack and that went really well too.
-
We also went cold turkey. We had a night or two of rough sleep, then he was a champ at sucking on his thumbs and he STTN (12+ hours) a week later! (And has since...!)
-
We started swaddling LO with one arm out so she could suck her thumb (she was obsessed with sucking from day 1 to soothe) around 1 month...then around 10 weeks we stopped swaddling altogether and I thought she would not do well but she didn't even notice she was no longer swaddled. I would def recommend using a sleep sack. It may take 3 or so days for your LO to get used to it, but if his sleep hasn't been great lately, now would be a great time to do it anyways.
-
@hummusgirl: ok thats how long I was thinking to do one arm out, like a week. @scg00387: ack I am way too scared to do cold turkey! I just tried helping him suck his hand when I put him down for his last nap; he kind of did it but still wanted his paci. @Sammyfab: how did you transition out of the sleepsuit?@mrsjyw: lucky mama!!
@NovBaby1112: yeah I'm definitely going to use a sleep sack when we get past swaddling...so it sounds like you did the transition pretty slowly? -
@hilsy85: we did transition slowly, but we def prob could have stopped alot earlier! I was just a little nervous lol
-
@hilsy85: ah yup no paci love here though sometimes I wish he'd take it!
-
Much like @pelikila we also went cold turkey at 6.5 months.
-
We're planning on doing one arm out for a few days and then both with the swaddle still on. Then we'll transition to a sleep sack. We were planning on starting last week (4.5 months) but then his sleep got really bad for some reason (sleep regression?) and we just...haven't had the energy to focus on anything other than just getting him to sleep.
-
We swaddleweaned DD at around 4.5 months using the Zipadee-Zip! I couldn't go completely swaddle-free because DD had some eczema patches on her cheeks that she's scratch at if her hands weren't covered, so this allowed her arms to be free but covered. She transitioned for naps after a day and then I switched to it for bedtime after 3 days of naps in it without any hiccups! I love this thing and DD actually still uses it (a larger size) as her sleep sack. She likes sucking on the hands/sleeves so it's almost her lovey too.
-
We're going thru this right now. For the last week, we've been doing one arm out. No change in his sleep. We tried one night with both arms out but he kept waking up. Maybe in a week or two we'll try both arms again. Naps doesn't seem to matter since he only naps for 30 minutes. Doesn't matter if he's swaddle or not swaddled, still only naps for 30 minutes.
-
@hilsy85: we just put him in a sleepsack one night...so essentially cold turkey. We were confident he had totally outgrown the Moro reflex at that point.
-
SHe discovered her hands/fingers at around the 3 month mark so that's when we started swaddling her with one arm out. Then around the 4.5-5 month mark, she started rolling from back to front so we had to stop swaddling her (sniff!). It took a good week for her sleep to go back to normal as we transitioned her out of a swaddle to a sleep sack. I had a really good tip from honeybee where i tucked DD in under an A+A blanket that was tucked along the mattress edge. So even though she wasn't swaddled, she felt secure and it prevented her from rolling over like crazy (which was what made her cry like a crazy woman).
-
I don't think i would take the "when to sleep train" post to heart, as it also depends on how your LO is developing, which could differ from other babies. We did CIO at 4.5 months and it took 3 days...of course, then this whole rolling over bit happened but it all worked out in the end. Good luck!!
-
I REALLY don't agree witht he one arm out theory. Both arms out, yes. This is because they want to move both hands and basically LO would wake up fighting to get his 2nd hand out the whole time.
We did one arm out for a day (3 naps and a night) before realized it was terrible.
We did 2 arms out for maybe 3-4 weeks? Just this week we stopped and just did a sleepbag without the swaddle over it. I can't tell you for sure how that's going since he seems to be going through an unrelated (the 4m) sleep regression.
We started at 3m and now lo is 4+months. -
@TurtleDoves: We tried two arms out, but one hand kept knocking her other hand out of her mouth. So it was back to one arm swaddle!
-
I did one arm out for two days and then went to both arms out. I used a sleep sack with attached swaddle though so that when baby had both arms out I was still wrapping the torso in the swaddle attachment portion so she felt snug but still had the freedom of a sleepsack. We eventually switched to a regular sleepsack after a couple of weeks.
-
I agree with @caffeinated about not taking the 'when to sleep train' post to heart. The 4-month sleep regression can be tough and my theory is that you can either nip it in the bud or wait it out until it passes...if it ever does. I've read about the 4 month sleep regression running into the 6-month regression that then runs into the 8/9 month regression. You can either wait 6 weeks for the ideal time to sleep train or give it a shot now if you think your LO has self-soothing capabilities.
-
I don't know, but I LO just put herself to sleep with both arms out for the first time in her crib! I want to wean when she is ready though, so I'm not going to force it just yet. If she seems to need the extra comfort of the swaddle, I will re-swaddle her.
-
@Running Elley: I hear ya!! I am like a zombie these days. @mrskc: same--we did it for naps today and they lasted the usual 35/40 minutes.
@plantains: hmm which sleepsack is that with an attached swaddle?
@TurtleDoves: gahh the regression is hitting us all!@caffeinated: @Sammyfab: I guess you guys are right, I don't know why i've been so stuck on this being the "wrong' time to sleep train. I think once we swaddle wean (which I guess will take a week or two?) we'll get more serious about it.
I put him down for naps with one arm out today and it didn't seem to make his sleep any worse. He's down for the night now with one arm out, so we'll see!
-
@hilsy85: It's the Carter's Swaddlebag.
You can either swaddle, put it under the arms and just swaddle his belly, or not at all. Try Target but I've also seen it at BRU (comes in fleece and also cotton).
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
25 comments