Baby guy’s newest trick is breaking out of his swaddle and, as a result, waking himself up from a nap or nighttime slumber. We are frequently finding him with one or both arms up by his head, little fingers exploring his face. Either he no longer cares to be confined by his sleeping bag-like blanket or his Summer Infant SwaddleMe is just too small (and the Velcro too worn down) to contain him.
We’ve tried to remedy the situation by using a larger swaddle, but it left too much room for his arms and hands to wander up north. We’ve also tried double bagging him–wrapping him in an aden + anais muslin swaddle before securing him inside the larger SwaddleMe–but he seemed too hot inside two layers.
I feel we only have two choices: Try another swaddle brand, like the HALO SleepSack Swaddle or say “sayonara” to the swaddle all together. So this mama could use some advice: When did your little one start sleeping “au natural,” and how was that transition? Before that, did you have a preferred brand of swaddle blanket?
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Try the miracle blanket before you give up (unless you are hoping to wean off swaddle). We had same one as you and the muslin Aden blankets. He would get out of both and wake himself with startle reflex. Miracle blanket was the key! He slept these long stretches as soon as we switched and doesn’t get out! (now he has developed signs of colic so we’re not getting those anymore, but…)
P.s. My ped said okay to swaddle until the startle reflex is gone, 4 or 5 months. But of course okay to stop any time!
And thus why we used the Miracle Blanket! We pinned that bugger’s arms down and kept him snug and cosy as long as possible. (He busted out of all the others – Halo, SwaddleMe, regular swaddles.) Then when he was about 4.5 months old he started rolling over and it was So long, swaddle. It took him a little practice to get used to getting back to sleep when he woke himself up, but it was all good until he started teething, and crawling, and standing, and walking, and teething again…
They also have a swaddle with a zipper (also summer infant) that looked like it may be more Houdini-proof, though we never ended up trying it…maybe be worth a try!
Once both of our children finagled their way out of the swaddle blanket we went to regular sleep sacs. Connor stayed in a sleep sac until he was 2.5 yo bc he was a restless sleeper and I want him warm. For o,der kids they make it with feet holes so they can get up if need be. Good luck.
The Miracle Blanket! I swaddled Makayla until she was 4 months and when she started tearing it, I thought it was time to give it up. Truthfully, she loved it so much she probably would have stayed in it til her Bat Mitzvah! If you need a lesson with the Miracle Blanket, let me know…I would be happy to help! Jaime N. wasn’t doing it tight enough so I showed her how I do it too!! 🙂
Alice was never swaddled…we tried but it never worked!