When to stop wrapping to sleep?

Just wondering when I should stop wrapping up Chloe to go to sleep! She's been wrapped up in sheet to sleep almost since she was born. It works well. She knows when she's being wrapped that its time to go to sleep and she's wrapped with her hands up so she chews her hands through the sheet for comfort (instead of dummy - thankgoodness! - not that i'm against dummies but it saves me getting up and sticking it back it!).

Now the weather is getting warmer and she's now 8 months old, I'm wondering if its still necessary. She's become a bit of a Houdini and gets her right arm out when she wakes up most times. Needless to say she thinks she's very clever when you go in and get her up :)

She is just such a good sleeper that I'm afraid leaving her unwrapped will changed things! Last night she had her arm out and I didn't re-wrap her and she was a bit unsettled (maybe a coincidence?)

Anyway just wondering at what age or circumstances that people stopped wrapping their babies to sleep. And any tips on the best way to 'wean' them off wrapping.

Thanks!
Cath

Cath, I'm not sure what the answer is on this one as my boy has resisted wrapping almost since day 1 (even though he seemed to love being confined in the Hugabub). In fact, I haven't wrapped him since he was two months old and he's been fine.

What does she do during the day when she sleeps? Do you still wrap her then? I'm wondering if you wanted to start getting her used to sleeping unwrapped if you could try one of the day sleeps first and see how it goes.

Does she have any other cues that bedtime is coming? I know with mine, he understands that the bath is the end of the day and he starts nodding off after that. He also has a soother in his cot (aquarium with lights and music) so if he is still awake when we put him to bed, that usually does the trick in a few minutes.

Hope someone else has some suggestions for you. At least, someone else whose baby wanted to stay wrapped for longer than five minutes. =)

Glad you asked Cath, I tried leaving Darcy unwrapped and it's a disaster. She definitley needs the security for sleep so I will be keen to see what others say.
PS I used to use a sheet too LOL but my little hotbod kept waking up dripping with sweat so we had to change to muslin.

We stopped wrapping Charlie at 10 months when we transitioned from the hammock to his cot.....we swapped the wrap for a sleeping bag, which he is still in.......

Kynan still needs to be wrapped for his day sleep and he's nearly 16.5m. He wriggles out of the wrap soon after he's asleep but it doesn't bother him. I'm hoping to slowly wean him off the wrap by gradually loosening it sometime before the next babe is born! I've just been using a very stretchy lightweight wrap.

I still wrap Harry for his day time sleep and he is 16 months, he doesn't seem to want it at night... If you are worried about the heat, I just went to Spotlight and bought a big square of muslin and hemmed it. Then I just strip him off to his nappy and singlet and wrap him in that. I think Harry is just like Kynan and wriggles out once he's asleep but I'm not stopping! He's sleeping for 3 hours in the day time! Wrapping rocks!

Hi Cath,
Gab was wrapped until she was 10 months old. I tried to stop earlier but to no avail. She must have felt nice and secure and warm and just loved being wrapped. She is a great sleeper and I too was worried that she'd stop sleeping so well when I stopped wrapping her.
To be honest, I think deciding to stop wrapping her kind of happened by accident. She just slowly started busting out of her wraps (stretchy polar fleece is tough to get out of) and I once found her fast asleep with her arms out. We just slowly but surely switched over to the sleeping bag (she now sleeps on her tummy). It's just a slow process but you do get there in the end!
I won't hesitate to wrap the next bub.

Thanks for the advice and info.

Melbo we do have cues and I agree with you that they are fantastic! Unfortunatley Chloe had a badly dislocated hip at birth and has had plaster etc. Now we are up to a brace which now only goes on at sleep time so she knows when this goes on its time to sleep. We also go and switch her little stereo on together that has soothing background music and she also knows by this its sleep time.

What other cues do others have? I may need them by Dec when the brace only goes on at night (thank goodness!!!)

I think I'll persit with the wrapping. She seems to sleep better and she sort of 'lets herself out' when she's had enough! My little Houdini!

Thanks Kim for the Muslin suggestion - made some wraps which were perfect over the hot weekend!

Cath

Gab's cues at the moment are me saying, "Time for non-nighs". Half the time she runs up to Neil (if he's home), gives him a kiss then runs like the d!ckens to her room. She giggles because she knows she'll get a dummy (only has it at nap time and night time). So I guess the dummy is another cue that it's time for sleep.
During the day I play music for dreaming just to drown out the day-time noises of the house. At night she sleeps without music - tho, up until she was 12 months, I had a little fan going in her room just for the noise (it wasn't blowing on her... just the tic, tic, tic sound to drown out noise). I think I had to be weaned off that more than her ;) Our old house was different tho. The bathroom was right next to her bedroom so Neil would wake her up when he was getting ready for work - the fan would drown that noise out.
Gab still has a bottle of milk before her night time sleep so that's another cue. Also she has a bath every night. Ummm.... I think there's probably loads of other cues that you don't pick up on (or realise you do). They're smart little cookies who pick up how things work pretty quickly!