My 12 week old son recently started breaking out of his swaddle, the Miracle Blanket. He is a great nighttime sleeper, but not so great at daytime naps (he mostly takes them on me or in the stroller/car seat, though we get occasional crib naps now and then). He sleeps in the crib every night. On good nights he’s had 1-2 wake ups, but sometimes he has 3.

Because the Miracle Blanket has all that extra fabric and he can move around in his crib a bit, we aren’t comfortable using it any longer now that he breaks out (a couple of times there was a lot of loose fabric up by his face/head.) It also seems to wake him up when he gets out of it. He got his legs out first on a couple nights, then eventually both arms and legs, so we stopped swaddling him with legs in. But now he can still get his arms out, and then the whole thing falls apart. Back when he was much smaller he was also able to get his arms out of the Halo Swaddle/Sleep Sacks and any other swaddles we tried pretty easily, so they aren’t great options either.

So we are trying to figure out what to do now! We don’t think he’s quite ready to sleep in just a sleep sack, as he still flails his arms around and hits himself in the head sometimes. Though he has discovered chewing on his hands, which we hope will help him self-soothe.

We are considering buying Merlin’s Magic Sleepsuit, but we are on a budget, so we can’t try every option out there!

My big concern about Merlin’s Sleepsuit is getting him into it at bedtime. I’ve read that the arm holes are pretty small. He HATES getting dressed, especially anything going over his arms. At night before bed putting on a onesie and then pjs can send him into a meltdown. Usually we nurse after we put on pjs, then put him in the swaddle, then nurse again before putting him in the crib. He doesn’t really mind getting the swaddle on at that point.

We are also thinking about using a Halo Swaddle/Sleep Sack again (we already own one) with one arm out to see how that works. Maybe he would self-soothe a bit? And because if he breaks out of it, there is less fabric that could cover his face.

My question is: does anyone have experience with the Merlin’s Magic Sleepsuit that could speak to getting their baby into it at bedtime, as well as during nighttime feedings? We usually unswaddle at the start of night wake ups, then swaddle again after nursing and before putting him back down. Is it a battle to get baby into it, in particular the arm holes? Or is it worth it as a way to transition from the swaddle?

I’ve read through the archives a bit, but if anyone has any other swaddle weaning suggestions please feel free to chime in! We’re also considering the Woombie or the Zipadee Zip, but again are trying to avoid buying every baby product that is out there : ) Thanks!