end of a swaddle era
I think the time has finally come, because we have a Houdini on our hands. To be real, I kind of suck at swaddling. You’d think that by kid #2, I’d be almost pro level, but no. I wrap her up like a delicate flower and 4 seconds later, arms are out. I’ve gotten a bit better (especially with these swaddles), but she still busts out of it within a couple of minutes. The swaddle escape artist is not due to my lack of skills, however. Because, the Pilot will swoop in like a proficient swaddle artist and lock.it.down, and she’s still getting out.
Usually, this would be NBD, but the hands are driving her crazy. She’ll cry as she repeatedly smacks herself in the face. It’s time for the swaddle to go. Not only is she obviously over it, but she’s getting really close to rolling over. it’s also time to transition to the crib, because she’s too long for the bassinet. My dreams of having her sleep next to us (for fear of choking again) until college are being squashed.
I’d love to hear any of your tips for breaking the swaddle! I looked into the Merlin’s Magic jumpsuit, but I think it will be too hot for her. She already runs pretty warm, and with the heater on at night, I don’t want her to be too hot. With Liv, we went cold turkey, and tried with P and it did not work. Maybe one arm at a time?
Also, I’d love to hear what any fellow reflux mamas did for the crib transition. She still has to be elevated a little bit, but I’m worried she’ll slide down to the bottom of the crib.
xoxo!
G
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I elevated the crib with a blanket under mattress. And the crib is in our room on my side of the bed, so if anything happened I would be right there. I did this with my first and am now doing it with my second. I sleep so much better knowing my baby is right next to me.
I have an extra cotton Merlin if you want to give it a try! My daughter also ran a little warm, so I just used the Merlin with a short sleeved onesie and no socks. Feel free to email if you are interested, happy to send it!
amazing, thank you so much!
I had the same concern with the Merlins Magic sleepsuit at first too, but Andrea Hobson recommended and swore by them with her daughters and I feel since she’s a NICU doc, I trusted her completely. It helped us so well and eventually Piper wanted to suck her thumb but couldn’t reach it with the suit. We used it for a couple of months until she wanted her thumb and to sleep on her tummy. We used it here in Tucson from January-March with a nighttime thermostat of 68.
Ugh right there with you! We actually tried to break it when Annabelle was sick a few weeks ago. Figured if we weren’t sleeping anyway, ha! She would get out of everything! We tried so many swaddles, miracle blankets, etc. and she gets out of all of them. Her hands are constantly waking her up too. We were cold turkey then, but sadly we’re back to it. She was not going to sleep one day last week and just babbling to herself, fall asleep then back up 5 minutes later, so we swaddled her and she went to sleep much better. Anyway, all this to say, I have no help but I’d love to hear how you do it! PS She is just the CUTEST!
I recommend the zipadeezip! We went from swaddler to it and it’s been amazing. At 15 months now our girl still sleeps in one and we average 13 hours a night with no wake ups! Highly recommend it!!
glorious!!!
Seconding the Zippadeezip!
DEFINITELY the Zipadeezip! We had a swaddle ADDICT on our hands (colicky thing and only the swaddle soothed her) so when she started rolling at 4 months I panicked for ideas. We had a completely seamless transition! No wake ups (she was STTN by then) the first night or any night after (at least night due to the Zippy)! I started with naps and moved to all sleep after a week. Best. Thing. Ever. She actually transitioned herself out of the Zippy at 9.5 months old too (wanted her hands free as she got older and began crawling and climbing).
GOOD LUCK!!! I dont know you but I think of your family often, I hope things are getting better for your cute Penelope! you have a beautiful family!
Zipadeezip!! I swear by it! Seriously. Look it up. Works great for hot babies, just dress accordingly. Worked great for both my babies (now 4 and 2) until they were ready to not have it around 6/9 months.
awesome- thank you!!
We struggled with the swaddle transition with both our girls. After trying a few methods, the zippa-Dee-zip came to our rescue! It comes in fleece and cotton if you’re concerned about the cold. Could not recommend enough!
i will try to find ours! i ordered one when liv was tiny that we didn’t end up using
I used the Miracle blanket with diaper only. We had the same struggle before we got that. constant escaping then mad at the flailing arms and he was up every 1.5 hours for two months! We eventually did one arm out, then both, them finally no swaddle. Good luck!
ahhhh! that’s exactly what she’s doing. she went from sleeping like an angel to a constantly awake angry thing haha
Love to Dream swaddles are AMAZING! My baby and every other baby I know who slept in one loved it! I bought mine off ebay. Get one size up from what she needs so that she has more room to froggy. The neck holes are small on every size, so that won’t be a problem 🙂
http://www.lovetodream.com/
these look perfect! she loves to have her hands up
Merlons magic sleep suit!!! We just put my son in it in a diaper, sometimes a shirt or onesie. She won’t be hot. I thought that too because he is a little furnace but he was perfectly comfortable. He wore into the summer and winter ….until he was 8 months!!! Then one morning I came in and he flipped over and was laying on his belly smiling at me. By that point he was fine and slept on his belly all the time. I have it washed and ready for number 2! It was the best investment I could have made. Ha…if I wasn’t pregnant I’d mail it to you! I’ve lent it out once already 🙂
Merlin’s Magic Sleepsuit was AMAZING for us!!! We would put our daughter in a short sleeve onesie and socks and then the suit and she always seemed warm enough without being too warm!
We have 2 suits that aren’t being used now. Happy to send one out for you to try if you’d like!
awesome- thank you so much!!
We just transitioned my son from the swaddle a month ago (and he LOVED being swaddled). I recommend the Zipadee-Zip from Sleeping Baby. AMAZING! It acts as a transition swaddle. You should definitely look into it! 🙂
we have one from when liv was tiny- i need to find it!
Our LO has the same bday as yours and we are in the same exact process. We tried the zipadeezip because it’s lightweight but also is supposed to help with the transition and is supposed to be safe if they roll over. I like it! But we also tried just doing one arm out and she seemed to do way better with that! Then she got used to her hand in her face and we eventually took both hands out.
I also am not ready to have our babe in her own room so we swapped out the bassinet for a pack n play and have that next to our bed 🙂 Good luck!!
that is so cute that they’re bday twins! 🙂 i will try one arm out tonight and see how she does
love the pack n play idea. i’m not ready to move her into the other room yet.
We did one arm out and then both. My peanut was the same, she would wake trying to move her arms out.
Halo makes sleep sacks where you can do arms out, but wrap around the torso for that hug-like feel. If she’s not rolling it’s worth a shot!
i forgot about those! thank you for the reminder!
xoxo
A great swaddled transition that worked for my baby boy was zipadee zip on sleepingbaby.com… The creators were on shark tank and that’s where I first saw the product. It worked great for me! Good luck!
thank you for the reminder! i have one we tried with liv and she didn’t love it, but maybe p will
Try the zipadee zip! A mother designed it!
we have one from when liv was going through the same thing, but she wasn’t a fan. maybe p will like it 🙂 i need to find it!
Our son needed to be swaddled but wanted his arms up, these were really great… http://www.lovetodream.com
these look amazing! she loves having her hands up
Hey, I’m using BabyMoov. My boy is quite strong and is fighting it a lot, yet he doesnt manage to escape 😉
i haven’t heard of this one! off to google- thank you!
When we transitioned our son we moved him to a zipadee-zip and he loved it. They can still roll from front to back and suck on their hands if they want, keeps them warm but not as warm as the magic sleep suit (we tried that with no success). http://www.sleepingbaby.com
Ditto on the halo sleep sack. It was a good transition for our Houdini!
i will order one now- thank you!
Oh that bottom photo is just so cute! Swaddling is interesting. My older son loved it but had to be transitioned out one arm at a time at 2 months because he started rolling over. We also had to prop his mattress with towels for reflux. My younger son hated swaddling and slept with his hands stretched out by his ears from day one, straight on his back but didn’t roll over until 3 or 4 months and never ever spit up. We used the halo sleep sack for both.
it’s funny how kids can be so different! things that worked the first time around do not work this time, and the other way around
Zipadeezip! It covers their hands so they can’t scratch. It took us about a week to get through the super rough patch.
Fir the crib we put a pool noodle under the sheet to make him feel.more secure. We actually put a plastic storage bin at the end of the crib to “hold up” the noodle so it wouldn’t slide. Once we could go flat we lost the noodle.
i have one we tried with liv. i need to find it!
good idea with the noodle!!
We went through a similar situation recently. We slightly elevated the crib and then rolled up a towel lengthwise and slid it under the sheet in a U-shape. It basically keeps the babe from sliding all over the place. Hope this helps!
amazing- thank you!!!
The Zipadee Zip is magic! Our second baby loved it as a transition from when he started breaking out of the swaddle at 3 months until he was about 10 or 11 months old. We live in central CA where the summers are scorching hot and never seemed too hot.
we have one! i tried it with liv -she wasn’t a fan- but maybe p will like it
Crib Transitioning:
Elevate the actual crib onto cinder blocks. This was recommended by our nurse and it helped tremendously! The crib does not slide around while putting baby in/out and is MUCH safer than putting anything underneath the mattress. Putting anything underneath the mattress was a HUGE no-no by our pediatrician and nurse. To keep from sliding we tightly rolled baby blankets and tucked into our baby from the waist down. It was never an issue with the blankets being unrolled or pulled up because of placement and how we rolled/tucked underneath baby. We had our crib elevated on cinder blocks for almost a year and when reflux was at its worst we used 2 cinder blocks but that were smaller than typical cinder block size.
As for swaddling, our little one stopped using one at 2 weeks old, hated it all :/
thank you for the tips!! i’ve been scared to put something under the crib because i’m afraid it will fall over (even though i don’t think it’s possible at all) we can grab some cinder blocks this weekend.
I started with a miracle blanket with our son, and he was in that until about a month when we switched to Halo swaddle blanket. He’s never busted out! But we are working on transitioning him out of it now since we hope to get him in his crib around six months. We’ve swaddled him arms out in the halo, and put him inside the zippadezip the last two nights and he loves it! Sleeping much better too. I was looking at Merlins sleep suit but it says once they can roll back to front they need to be out of it, so I didn’t want to transition him into that just to have to get him in something else shortly after.
Merlin sleep suit all the way. I know it seems like it will be super hot but it’s not. Must be very well ventilated. You could also just put her in a short sleeve onesie with socks if you think long jammies are too much. I really think it’s a godsend for little houdinis that smack themselves in the face. I swear by it! Good luck!!
The Magic Sleepsuit has been a lifesaver for us. Our little guy runs hot too but we don’t heat the house at night (we live in SD as well). I was really worried about him being too hot, but he wasn’t at all. There’s something about the suit that allows ventilation and regulated body temperature – look it up on their website. Seriously it’s the best!!
Merlin’s magic sleep suit!!!!!! I used it with 2 of our kids (didn’t know about it when our girls were babies) and it was MAGICAL!! I thought they would get too hot but no- happy. After I got them zipped up in it, they would smile. It was a cozy place for them- not hot! I think they make a sleep suit option with lighter material now if that helps.
Good luck.
If you’re still wanting to swaddle P, check out the Woombie (woombie.com). My hubby came across it with our first daughter and it was amazing! Also a little funny looking. 😉 Our second daughter never wore a swaddle, so we never got to use it again, but it worked great before.
Second the Woombie recommendation. She’s contained but diaper changes are so easy and she can get her hands up to chew on if she wants. We’re also ready to transition out but I’m considering the convertible Woombie in the bigger size – you can get their arms out one at a time.
I wouldn’t worry about the swaddling- at night put her in some warm Jammie’s and she’ll be fine. As far as reflux , my boys are older 12 and 10 but my twins were born at 27 weeks and suffered severely with reflux. We put a wedge under the sheet rather than lift the whole end of the crib. The kids tend to stay in place or slide very little. It’s does get better with time! ??
Try swaddling her with her arms out (just around her body and legs) that is how we transitioned our eldest WHO LOVED the swaddle way too much (I think 6 months or so!). Now at almost 4 years old the girl still loves to be smashed up next to be covered in arms and legs and blankets!
I think my baby is like a month older than baby P. Losing the full swaddle was great for us. What we do is just wrap her in it from the waist down. I do this only to keep her warm since we can’t do a blanket or anything. She loves having her arms free. I guess when it gets warmer, maybe we’ll try to go completely swaddle free.
We left our son in just his diaper under Merlin’s Magic Sleep Suit and that worked perfectly!
We used the Zipadeezip sleep sack to transition from the swaddle because we had the exact same situation as you…plus he started rolling over while swaddled so he needed to get rid of it for safety. Def read the sizing guide- they recommend going smaller to start. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it definitely helped with the transition.
Regarding reflux, we did try putting a rolled towel under the head of his crib. I’m honestly not sure how much it helped. He would slide a bit down the crib by morning but it’s not that big of a deal. I think it was more because he’s a mover, and not because of the incline. Once P starts flipping to her belly, she might be more comfortable from a reflux standpoint anyway. She is such a cutie 🙂
Oh Gina, I hope everything goes well with the transition. And I hope you get some sleep, but most mamas know that sleep is gone the first little mumble we hear from our babies. God Bless.
My little guy also had a problem with his hands in his face keeping him awake. We used the halo sleepsack. Some nights I would start him with this arms swaddled, then once he was asleep, I’d gently (ha!) undo the Velcro so his arms could come out. I did this a little earlier each night until he was more used to having his arms out. My husband would sometimes keep his arms out, but just gently hold them down his sides so he couldn’t wake himself up – I didn’t have the tenacity for this and got bored. On tough nights, we’d also put him on his side – this made me SO nervous at first but now he’s a side sleeper and doing great! He was about 5-6 months when we made the switch to side sleeping.
My baby did the same thing. I got a bunch of sleep sacks and sewed the arm holes closed. Then when she was ready to sleep with her arms out, I just pulled the stitches out, worked great!
Ok, so our little one’s reflux as never as bad as P’s, but we had a tough time with elevating the crib. She’s a little on the small side so luckily she still fits in the rock n’ play where she still sleeps at night. We are trying to transition her over to the crib now actually. We didn’t really swaddle her at first because she was such a wiggle worm. Now with crib transition issues, I have started at 18 weeks super swaddling her. She doesn’t rely on it, but it greatly helps when I put her down in the crib for a couple of day time naps in hopes that one day soon we will get her in the crib. Good luck!
Re: transitioning to the crib..I’m an occupational therapist and would recommend this product made by an OT who was dealing with her infant’s reflux. http://babystayasleep.squarespace.com
I’m sure there are other products similar to this out there too! Good luck!
that looks fantastic. thank you!!
ps high fives to OTs. my OT here helped so much with the nerve damage in my thumb 🙂 it’s still numb, but i can hold things now- i am so thankful
Try a zipadeezip! They are amazing 🙂
We are a SleepSack family! It’s kind of a nice medium for us between a swaddle and full on blankets for security. Her arms are free since she can roll, but it zips up and lets her be “covered” all night. We went from rock-n-play (she was getting too big for it) to pack-n-play with just a tiny towel under her (otherwise she just rolled down if the incline was too much) and then finally to her crib. Our bedroom is the only one downstairs so I was terrified about her going up.
We used the Merlin suit as well and it worked great for us! Our little guy also had reflux so when we transitioned to the crib we piled a bunch of towels/blankets under the mattress crib to create a slight incline. I’ve also heard this wedge (http://www.sears.com/living-health-products-arc4-001-01-acid-reflux/p-SPM7599950403?hlSellerId=1363&sid=IDx20110310x00001i&kpid=SPM7599950403&kispla=SPM7599950403) works great!
thank you for linking to the wedge! it looks great!!
That last face!! The cuteness!!
it kills me
We cold turkey broke the swaddle for both kids. Anything else you introduce is another bad habit you’ll have to break again one day. We elevated the crib with some books and a folded up towel. No big deal. Breaking the swaddle sucks, let her cry. It will be behind you soon!
Hi! This sounds random, but we didn’t switch to the crib and instead had our reflux baby sleep in the swing (graco glider) elevated until she outgrew it at 9 months. It was a magical! We set her swing up in the nursery, and it worked great. And if you’re worried about head shaping – she has the most perfect round head at age 2 so no complaints here! hang in there, it eventually gets better (but man does it suck while you’re in it!) oh and our little didn’t have a problem with the crib transition (see troublesome tots.com for transition tips)!
Sleep sack, without the sleeves. Rhys runs warm, too, we just put him in a onesie and that’s it. He started it a few days ago, after breaking out of his swaddle the last few weeks (chest down, he hates having his arms swaddled) and he slept six hrs the first night.
Zipadee-Zip! Seriously saved my sanity! And kept him from scratching his face!
http://www.sleepingbaby.com/
My son hated the Merlin’s suit. I think it was too hot for him and he liked to move a little more than it allowed.
My 4 month old who has reflux has been in the Merlins Magic Sleep Suit for about 1.5 months because he also busted out of the swaddle and its been awesome! I elevate his crib by using hockey pucks under the feet at the front of his crib. I started with 2 pucks underneath each leg and now he’s down to 1 underneath each leg.
I found that if you put a towel or blanket under the head of the mattress that he would slide down, but never slid down when the actual crib was elevated instead of the mattress.
Good luck!
Hi! I recommend one arm out to start! We used these sleep sacks in the transition and they worked great!
http://www.halosleep.com/sleepsack-swaddle/
After a week we took out the other arm and wrapped the straps around her middle. It was still cozy like a swaddle so it seemed better than going straight to a sleep sack. Good luck!