When to stop swaddling?

[tattoo_mama]

Hi all, i have been swaddling my DD since day one, she has always been a very alert baby and would only want to sleep if swaddled or in a peanut sling, i guess she likes being secure.

i swaddle her for every nap and overnite sleep, on the very rare occasion (i.e. maybe twice) she has fallen asleep in the car unswaddled but apart from that i HAVE to swaddle her or she waves her arms around and carries on.

i was wondering if its still ok for me to be swaddling her at her age, ive read up to one year old but how am i supposed to 'wean' her off being swaddled? shes getting alot wrigglier and mobile and manages to get unraveled out of the tightest of wraps, and wake herself up alot by doing it, so i would like to teach her to sleep unswaddled (at least for day naps)...do you lovely ladies have any suggestions? TIA

[Liz]

Simple answer - swaddle until it doesn't work anymore! haha.

I wrapped DS until he was about 7 mths, and DD until about 15 mths I didn't have to wean, it seriously just didn't work anymore, and they were getting themselves out of the wrap anyway by then.

[Salsa]

Ds is still swaddled during day sleeps - seems to work good for him. He is eight months.
As Liz said, keep doing it while it works I guess. I cant see what the problem with wrapping an older baby is if they are happy with it.

[HarveyBub'sMum]

I swaddled DS until he was about six months, he just didn't sleep unless he was swaddled. Then about five and a half months he seemed less concerned about being wrapped and then we slowly started putting him into sleeping bags instead so he was warm enough if he rolled out from under the covers.

My maternal heath nurse discouraged it from about four months, or when they can roll over but a good night sleep meant more to me..... lOL

[Ginger]

still swaddling my 6month old here

[AliBaby]

Still swaddling at 6mths as well.

She sleeps so much better.

[butterfly_warrior]

Still swaddling at nearly 9 months here. It works for us, so I can't see a reason to stop. I do sometimes have visions of us swaddling our son in a sheet and cuddling him to sleep at age 15, but I'm sure he'll eventually decide it's not such a great thing.

BW

[NZGirl]

I'm still swaddling at seven months. We've tried a couple of times not to and it didn't really work so I'll keep doing it till she wants her arms out!

[Jess]

My MCH nurse says to leave their arms out of the swaddle when they can roll, so that if they roll onto their front in their sleep they can push themselves back onto their back and make sure they're not faceplanted into the mattress where they could suffocate.

[Salsa]

Yes, when I swaddle DS I leave his arms free. If I try and wrap one of them, he always wriggles it free straight away anyhow.

[Janie]

Wrapped DS until 10 months, I stopped because everyone else seemed to think I should "He's too old" blah blah blah. Stupid, stupid, stupid thing to do! Should have just kept doing it until he was ready to stop, because his sleep went right out the window (not that it was perfect) and we had all sorts of troubles, for aaaaages. Next baby will be swaddled for as long as it bl00dy well wants to be