We tried weaning A from the swaddle last night after a bunch of people said their babies sleep better without it. She's 4.5 months old.

We put her down with both arms out of the swaddle secured around her chest. She took longer than usual to go down; a lot more fussing than normal (we put her down awake), but she fell asleep within 30 mins and I thought we'd be dealing with a few wakeups for the first night.

Well, she woke up 2.5 hrs later SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER. We could not get her to calm down for the life of us. After 45 mins, we put her in the Merlin and that just made it worse. She practically destroyed the thing trying to get out of it. We gave up and re-swaddled her (she was completely melting down at that point), and 15 mins later she was asleep.

HELP! Has anyone had that much trouble night 1? Should we try 1 arm out? I don't think she likes the Merlin.. I think she's just too small for it. She's very tall but only 12.5 lbs so I don't think it "cuddles" her like it would a chunkier baby.

How did you guys wean??