Do I have to stop swaddling now?

[isabel]

DS is 16 weeks. He's been rolling front to back for a while now, but hadn't rolled back to front yet. Well, he did it last night after wiggling himself out of his swaddle and again this morning while he was playing with his kick n play. MIL just texted that he did it again just now. So, it's obviously not a fluke. Do I need to stop swaddling him? He still has a bit of that startle response. I'm dreading ditching the swaddle. Maybe I can just do one arm?

[specialk]

I would, yes. If you aren't ready to go swaddle-less maybe you can try one of the transition products, like a Merlin suit or Zipadee whatever-it's-called?

[Deleted]

NO! DD was rolling like crazy (and sleeping on her stomach) and we kept her swaddled til 8 months. Pedi said as long as she could lift/turn her head, it was ok to roll and still be swaddled.

Dont mess with a good thing!

[Blue Moon]

Yea, I would stop.

[CloudBee]

Maybe try with arms out?

[isabel]

Did you guys stop cold turkey or go to a Merlin suit?

[Deleted]

Jul 30, 2015 12:50:00 GMT -5 oceanspray said:

Jul 30, 2015 12:47:28 GMT -5 @roseyposey said:

NO! DD was rolling like crazy (and sleeping on her stomach) and we kept her swaddled til 8 months. Pedi said as long as she could lift/turn her head, it was ok to roll and still be swaddled.

Dont mess with a good thing!

Really?  I've always heard one should stop swaddling once they started rolling.

ETA: With their arms in.  Did your pedi mean with their arms out?

Nope, pedi said arms in, totally fine. He actually said what i said above, don't mess with a good thing.  

[bowies]

Yes stop swaddling with arms in if they can roll.

We just used a sleep sack and dealt with the startles. He was awake fighting the swaddle anyways. He ended up sleeping better once he could have his hands by his face.

[felicity]

I would. I mean, what if the pedi is wrong?

[Deleted]

We switched to a Zipedee zip.

[bk1]

I use a halo sack at night. During the day I still swaddle for naps. Dd is almost 6 months. I swaddle loosely so she breaks free when sleeping.

[Deleted]

We used something similar to the zipadeezip. Worked fine.

[Deleted]

Jul 30, 2015 12:47:28 GMT -5 @roseyposey said:

NO! DD was rolling like crazy (and sleeping on her stomach) and we kept her swaddled til 8 months. Pedi said as long as she could lift/turn her head, it was ok to roll and still be swaddled.

Dont mess with a good thing!

Preach it. I feel like this is totally valid.

That said we transitioned Piper and she did fine.

[osulori]

I would, yes.

Anecdote time! My sister just went through this with my niece-she started rolling back to front so they went cold turkey on the swaddle on the advice of their pedi. Her sleep sucked for about a week, but got better pretty quickly after that.

[azurely]

Yes, sorry... that's exactly what happened to us around 4 months. I won't lie, ditching the swaddle was rough. Our fantastic sleeper became a not so great sleeper, and was waking up a lot at night.

We tried the Merlin magic sleep suit, but it was hot and he hated it. We ended up using a zipadeezip sleep sack and C still sleeps in his zippy at 8 months, although he's moved up to the medium size now.

Good luck!

[pinotgrig]

Jul 30, 2015 12:57:04 GMT -5 isabel said:

Did you guys stop cold turkey or go to a Merlin suit?

We did arms out for a few weeks and then switched to a halo wearable blanket cold turkey. It was a non-event.

[awkwardpenguin]

I'm not trying to call anyone out, but I'm giving the major side eye to a pedi saying it's okay to swaddle a baby who can roll. Swaddling deaths are rare, but most are due to swaddled babies rolling back to front.

It's ok to swaddle arms out once the baby can roll as long as they can't break out of the swaddle.

[chickadee77]

Yup, time to ditch it. We did arms out for naps, then overnights, and managed the transition in a few days. Wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be - honestly, we probably should have just gone cold turkey because my sleep sucked because I was so worried she would flop over and suffocate!

[busterpup]

My daughter rolled over in her swaddle and was too tired to lift her head up in the middle of the night and it was almost tragic. I found her face down struggling to breathe. I 100% would stop swaddling.

Eta this was arms in. Arms out is fine I'm sure but I was too traumatized so I completely stopped.

[hw77]

We had good luck with the zipadee whatever...kind of pricey for the quality but was a perfect bridge from halo swaddle to just sleep sack, we probably only used it a month. The first three nights were certainly a transition from no swaddle but that was it just 3 nights and she was back to sleeping awesome

[isabel]

Jul 30, 2015 15:37:15 GMT -5 busterpup said:

My daughter rolled over in her swaddle and was too tired to lift her head up in the middle of the night and it was almost tragic. I found her face down struggling to breathe. I 100% would stop swaddling.

Eta this was arms in. Arms out is fine I'm sure but I was too traumatized so I completely stopped.

Whelp, if all the other comments weren't enough, this sealed the deal. I'm getting panicky just thinking about. Sorry you went through that.

I suppose the plus side for us is that his sleep generally kind of sucks anyway and he seems to break free of the swaddle a lot, so maybe this will make it better. I can dream.

[curbsideprophet]

Yes I would stop swaddling.

[kate1482]

We tried using the Merlin and zipadee zip suit with no luck. Dd's sleep sucked. We just put her in a random carters sleep sack one night and she rolled on her tummy and magically sleeps so much better. I wish I didn't fight it so long. Now we put her down and she rolls on her side or tummy and is out. No more whacking herself in the face with her arms or struggling like crazy to get out of the swaddle.

[yourmother]

Jul 30, 2015 14:27:47 GMT -5 awkwardpenguin said:

I'm not trying to call anyone out, but I'm giving the major side eye to a pedi saying it's okay to swaddle a baby who can roll. Swaddling deaths are rare, but most are due to swaddled babies rolling back to front.

It's ok to swaddle arms out once the baby can roll as long as they can't break out of the swaddle.

TRIGGER:

I bought a Halo swaddle/blanket thingy this week off of Amazon.  I later went back to read the reviews (1,040 reviews at almost 5 stars).  Unfortunately, I read two reviews where babies died because they were swaddled and rolled over onto their stomachs while swaddled.  I haven't slept since reading those two reviews.

[busterpup]

Jul 30, 2015 16:04:41 GMT -5 isabel said:

Jul 30, 2015 15:37:15 GMT -5 busterpup said:

My daughter rolled over in her swaddle and was too tired to lift her head up in the middle of the night and it was almost tragic. I found her face down struggling to breathe. I 100% would stop swaddling.

Eta this was arms in. Arms out is fine I'm sure but I was too traumatized so I completely stopped.

Whelp, if all the other comments weren't enough, this sealed the deal. I'm getting panicky just thinking about. Sorry you went through that.

I suppose the plus side for us is that his sleep generally kind of sucks anyway and he seems to break free of the swaddle a lot, so maybe this will make it better. I can dream.

Thanks, and yea, it was scary. I often think about what if I didn't happen to look at the (video) monitor at that moment. I have another baby now and was actually relieved when he hated being swaddled from the start. Good luck with your LO's transition!

[cilantro]

FYI the Merlin suit isn't meant to be worn by rolling babies either.