Babble

The recent Strollerderby bit on swaddling got me thinking about my own situation. My son is 3 months old and cannot fall asleep in his crib unless he's swaddled tightly. However, as he's trying to calm down and get to sleep, he fights being swaddled vigorously, so that our nightly bedtime ritual is not unlike a bout of eel wrestling. I'm wondering if other parents who swaddle can share their experiences: how old was your child when he/she stopped needing to be swaddled? And can anyone vouch for any of the "miracle" swaddling blankets out there? (Specifically, size-wise--I am hesitant to spend $30 on a blanket that will be too short for my 25" long son that he'll only need for a month...unless it's truly awesome...) We currently use just a large, somewhat rectangular swaddling blanket that has no velcro or straps or other bells/whistles...am I missing out?

We swaddled our son til about 6 months, on and off... it sometimes seemed to help him sleep but was never the magic bullet it seems to be for some babies. We did really love the Miracle Blanket (TM) which made swaddling so very easy, and Theo was a pretty big baby, probably around 25" at about 3 months, and the Miracle Blanket kept working as he grew larger. I'd say it was $30 well-spent, cause we never did really get the hang of swaddling with a regular blanket and not having him flail his way out of it. Maybe check out eBay or resale stores for a used one?

Hey there - have you heard of sleep sacks? my little one was tough to swaddle too, but we put her in sleepsacks (www.halosleep.com) and all is well in the world with her now. A sleepsack is a sleeveless, wearable blanket that has kept our daughter safe and warm in winter and now she sleeps in a lightweight one for the hot Savannah Summer. She wears it over her regular pajamas - it is like a vest with the bottom closed. The zipper is down the front and zips down so she can't mess around with it. These sleepsacks (or we call them "nightnights")  have become a part of our nighttime routine she even asks to wear her's at nap! so SHE feels safer in one too! I can sleep easier knowing that she is safe and not under a loose blanket  - and a portion of each purchase goes to support  First Candle/SIDS Alliance to support SIDS research and education. So i am making a difference AND keeping my itty bitty safe!

My daughter is 5 months old and she still sleeps swaddled for naps and nightime.  When she is not swaddled she wakes up constantly.  This morning I heard her wiggling around in her crib pretty early and when I finally went in, her arms were out.  No wonder she didn't go back to sleep.  I figure that I will keep swaddling her until she can always wiggle her way out or until she goes to college if it means she will sleep better.  When we no longer swaddle, I know that we will have to do some sleep training over again and just let her put herself back to sleep every time she wakes herself up with those arms.  She can wiggle out of her swaddleme's, but I do find that the swaddleme's are better and easier than a regular blanket.  She fights being swaddled as well, but using the swaddleme's with the velcro makes it a little easier.  I never did like the miracle blanket and couldn't get the hang of it, and it seemed so small to me, although I have heard of people only using the arm part when their baby outgrew the whole thing.