At around 4 weeks my babe was getting at least one arm out every night so I started to leave just one arm out instead of letting him get it out himself. He hated one arm in, one arm out. He screamed but as soon as I put the arm back in, he was fine. Weirdo.
At 5 weeks, I quit swaddling cold turkey because one 4am morning, he’d gotten himself completely out. 🤦🏼♀️😂
I don’t know how people managed before swaddles existed.. My son flails his arms non stop and ends up punching himself in the face, and scratching his face. Thankfully swaddles solve the problem when he’s in that mood.
I stopped swaddling cold turkey at 8 weeks. He flailed like fish out of water for a few days and now he’s settled down. I use a sleeveless sleepsack now.
If your baby is rolling then i think the safest thing to do is to leave both arms free so they can lift themselves up if they roll to their tummy, which is the main concern when swaddling your baby. It takes them a bit to get used to usually about 3 days in my experience. Im prob the only one who feels this way, but I feel like using those transition techniques, like only letting one arm out at a time just makes it take longer and prolongs the process.
😂😂😂 it’s so true. Both my sons reacted like their arms just weren’t their own, floating around wreaking havoc while they tried to sleep. It’s only funny now that the nightmare is over though. I did both of mine cold Turkey (one was sick with a stomach virus and I didn’t want him to be encumbered, the other just broke out of everything all the sudden so had no choice), it just took about 2-3 nights for both.
We went cold turkey, not really by choice. Our son had a planned hospital stay a couple weeks ago (poor weight gain, getting better) and we completely forgot to pack swaddles so the hospital gave us a Halo sleep sack. He slept like a champ and hated when I tried getting him back in a swaddle when we got home. Had to run out to Ross and found a couple Halo sleep sacks for $6.99 (!)
Just keep at it! I don’t recommend a transition product because the AAP doesn’t have a clear stance on them or their safety(assuming you’re in the US) and it is just another thing to have to transition out of eventually. I suggest cold turkey as you’re doing and hopefully it will only take a few bad nights until you see some progress. Good luck!
Some kids never grow out of it. Hands. They are so weird.
I was once honored in front of my state representatives for a thing I did and it was televised/photographed for the papers.
But. My feet and hands. One of my legs was angled as if it was broken and my hands were just awkwardly splayed to the sides while some important person had their hand on my shoulder. It looked like I was being held against my will. My grandma was so excited to see the picture and then was like…. “what are you doing?” lol. We won’t even speak of my facial expression.
That picture will rot in the newspaper it was printed and never get digitized, I’ve made sure of that.
I just pray my poor daughter isn’t as awkward and anti-photogenic as I am.
Claire is our Community Manager here at New Moms Forum. A mom of two (almost grown-up babies), Claire has been building and operating community-based websites for almost 20 years. In her downtime, Claire enjoys spending time with her family and drinking copious amounts of red wine!
At around 4 weeks my babe was getting at least one arm out every night so I started to leave just one arm out instead of letting him get it out himself. He hated one arm in, one arm out. He screamed but as soon as I put the arm back in, he was fine. Weirdo.
At 5 weeks, I quit swaddling cold turkey because one 4am morning, he’d gotten himself completely out. 🤦🏼♀️😂
I don’t know how people managed before swaddles existed.. My son flails his arms non stop and ends up punching himself in the face, and scratching his face. Thankfully swaddles solve the problem when he’s in that mood.
Thank you for this laugh
I stopped swaddling cold turkey at 8 weeks. He flailed like fish out of water for a few days and now he’s settled down. I use a sleeveless sleepsack now.
This is hilarious and so true!
Scratch himself and pull his hair out… that’s what my boy would do 😒
I’m currently working on transitioning my son out of a swaddle too and he’s started to play with his hair. It’s the cutest thing
If your baby is rolling then i think the safest thing to do is to leave both arms free so they can lift themselves up if they roll to their tummy, which is the main concern when swaddling your baby. It takes them a bit to get used to usually about 3 days in my experience. Im prob the only one who feels this way, but I feel like using those transition techniques, like only letting one arm out at a time just makes it take longer and prolongs the process.
I feel this so hard with my son.
😂😂😂 it’s so true. Both my sons reacted like their arms just weren’t their own, floating around wreaking havoc while they tried to sleep. It’s only funny now that the nightmare is over though. I did both of mine cold Turkey (one was sick with a stomach virus and I didn’t want him to be encumbered, the other just broke out of everything all the sudden so had no choice), it just took about 2-3 nights for both.
We went cold turkey, not really by choice. Our son had a planned hospital stay a couple weeks ago (poor weight gain, getting better) and we completely forgot to pack swaddles so the hospital gave us a Halo sleep sack. He slept like a champ and hated when I tried getting him back in a swaddle when we got home. Had to run out to Ross and found a couple Halo sleep sacks for $6.99 (!)
Just keep at it! I don’t recommend a transition product because the AAP doesn’t have a clear stance on them or their safety(assuming you’re in the US) and it is just another thing to have to transition out of eventually. I suggest cold turkey as you’re doing and hopefully it will only take a few bad nights until you see some progress. Good luck!
We gave up after a week. She would just struggle and fight until she somehow, SOMEHOW, she got both arms out, then pass right out.
Stopped swaddling, cut time to sleeping baby in half.
Some kids never grow out of it. Hands. They are so weird.
I was once honored in front of my state representatives for a thing I did and it was televised/photographed for the papers.
But. My feet and hands. One of my legs was angled as if it was broken and my hands were just awkwardly splayed to the sides while some important person had their hand on my shoulder. It looked like I was being held against my will. My grandma was so excited to see the picture and then was like…. “what are you doing?” lol. We won’t even speak of my facial expression.
That picture will rot in the newspaper it was printed and never get digitized, I’ve made sure of that.
I just pray my poor daughter isn’t as awkward and anti-photogenic as I am.
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My son didn’t handle the one arm in thing, so we just went cold turkey. It was rough, but by night 3, he had adjusted.
On that note- any advice? Last night did not go well.