How to stop wrapping DS

Im curious how to adjust DS into going to sleep without being wrapped. He is 7 months old now and im finding it a bit hard to fit the wrap around him atm because he is in a sleeping bag for extra warmth plus ive got socks with mittens over his hands to keep him warm.
I actually thought the mittens would make him think he was wrapped but it didnt.
Ive tried light wrapping so that when he gets his arms out he will get used to it but he wakes up as soon as he realises he isnt wrapped anymore.

I dont really want to disturb things to much because he self settles and sleeps well through the night and day. Im pretty lucky to have that pleasure of being able to stick him in bed when his tired and he drifts off by himself. And im not one for giving dummies to my kids.

Any suggestions?

i went to sleep school with owen when he was 5 mths and they said to stop wrapping him(he was wriggling out of it mmost of the time anyway), so we just went cold turkey from there..it was horrid for about 2 days but then he was fine, better than before actually..but if you can i'd wait til the weekend or sometime when your partners around to help and also start at night when jay sleeps best..this is the advice i was given. it's so great once you can stop wrapping..they will sleep absolutely anywhere!!esp since your little jay doesn't take a dummy either!!(owen does)
good luck!!

Although my baby hated having his arms restricted at first... it has taken about 5 weeks to get him used to it, and now he sleeps when he is all wrapped up. I'm so relieved as his arms used to be so active that he would hit himself and wake up all the time. But he is still really active and tries to get his arms out... so I've had to find really big wraps.

I was thinking about it today, when I got my Spotlight catalogue in the mail. I think I will buy some fabric and cut it into the sizes I want.. and get different weights for Winter & Summer.

I have found that some of the Muslin wraps are a great size.
another option would be to use a large towel (during winter) or a sheet (during summer).

But I'm guessing that you are trying to wean him off wraps alltogether. And for that, I don't have much clues. I've just worked out how to wrap my baby!
Christies tip was a good one.
I've read that you should just loosen the wrap - but that doesn't seem to have worked.

How about wrapping him with one arm out? Then wrapping with two arms out? Then one arm & his legs will still be swaddled. Just a suggestion. I hope you can find something that works for you.

Tallon's at an inbetween stage at the moment. He goes to sleep wrapped up, but by morning is completely unwrapped (regardless of the size of the wrap.. I did the same and cut out my own big wraps) and has wriggled half way up his cot. I've put him down a couple of times without wrapping, but he seems to need it to fall asleep.

Perhaps once he's asleep you could gently unwrap him (providing this doesn't wake him up of course) and see if he'll last the distance unwrapped?

Hi Kerrie ,

I stopped wrapping Kaitlyn at about 8.5months as it was getting hard to keep her wrapped ( I even made special big wraps!).

Anyway it was actually easier then I expected - I changed her to a sleeping bag and I think it took about 2nights for her to get used to it which I was soooo happy with!.

I have heard you can try by unwrapping one arm and then both arms and then removing the wrap all together. I tried the one arm thing but she would not go to sleep that way unless she was totally exhusted.

Good luck I hope it goes well.

Thanks ladies, ive taken everything into account. I suppose its not really any bother for me to keep wrapping him because he does know that when the wrap comes out its bed time so i should just keep doing it. I really dont want to spoil things as far as him sleeping goes because as i said he is such a great sleeper. Im wrapped (lol) that he self settles so well. I dont think he would if i took the wrap away.
Thanks for all your replies, appreciated.

Kerrie - I have a friend who's a paediatric nurse and she said her first daughter was wrapped until she was almost 2. She used to use a sheet by that stage!

I am only wrapping Lucy's arms, not her legs now. Makes it much easier to keep her in the wrap and she only keeps herself awake by knocking her face/dummy with her arms. Doesn't seem to matter if the legs are free for her. Because I'm only wrapping her arms the wrap goes a lot further!

I don't wrap her when we're out and she falls asleep in her pram or the HAB easily, also in my arms. She doesn't wake herself if she gets her arms out during the night so I think I might keep doing it until it seems unnecessary. Not sure when that will be!

weve done one arm at a time. Had to stop as she rolled on her tummy recently and couldn't get her arms free. She's nearly 8 months. Im happy with not wrapping, we now have both arms out. xo

I still wrap Harry and he's 14 months old! I'm not intending on stopping any time soon and I now use a queen size sheet!! I wrap Harry in a muslin wrap (bought fabric from Spotlight) and then a queen size sheet folded in half.
I always joke that Harry will be 16 and I'll still be wrapping him - but if it works....

I think i sort of thought that he had to be out of a wrap fairly young, i dont know. I had no choice with DD because the full body cast wouldnt allow me to still wrap her:crying: , so this part is new to me i suppose. Its nice to see the different ages being wrapped still.
Ill just keep wrapping my little man as it is part of our routine and who im i to go mess with that. Thanks again.

I wondered why you had to stop wrapping... then I read it somewhere yesterday.

As the child gets older, they tend to wriggle out of the wraps.
And there is a fear that they will get it near their face... thus the fear of SIDS.

I wouldn't have thought of that myself. I imagine it is a very low risk.

I have issues with bumpers and wondered why they were not advised.
Turns out that bumpers slow down 'air ventilation' - which I thought was weird as the cot is up against a wall and two of the sides are blocked anyway!
I have a fear of the child getting their head stuck in between the bars.... or their limbs - like what was on Medical Emergency the other night. My cleaner said her grandchild died (on Christmas day) when her head got stuck between the bars of her cot. I would rather have a bumper on the cot rather than risk that!

As it turns out - I have bought one of those movement monitors. But at the moment our baby sleeps in a bassinette in our room, so his cot & the monitor are not being used yet.

I think that you should stick to whatever works for you. If he's happy being wrapped - then you should do it. You don't want to create stress if it's not necessary.

Jodie, I read somewhere that the reason to stop wrapping is because if the baby rolls over, they may not be able to roll back onto their back.. again a sids risk. But I can't remember where I read that.

With the head getting stuck in the bars thing.. just make sure the cot meets the safety standards (not all of them do according to Choice), and then the bars won't be far enough apart for that to happen.

I say just go with what works :) We got home not long ago, and I transferred Tallon from the car straight to his cot unwrapped... and he stayed fast asleep! So I guess we're going unwrapped tonight! hehe.

Kerry, when I stoped wrapping Evan he was about 4 months & it was coming into summer & we were living in a HOT little flat in richmond. I would sit with him & hold his hands on his chest, the same spot they would have been if he was wrapped. Mind you I only had Evan & all the time in the world to sit with him till he feel asleep. I know you are not in a position to do this, nor am I anymore!
Glenn I just kept wrapping, I think he would have been close to 1 by the time we stoped all together but I don't actually remember stoping, he kind of just weaned himself from it. but then he was (still does most nights) falling asleep at the breast & then I would put him down, He still tucks his hands in under my breast so he has the same effect as the wrap my doing it. Its so cute, he gets frustrated if my clothes get in the way of him gettin ghis hands in under my boob.

I would just keep wrapping Jay, why mess with a system that works? I have a big length of cheese cloth here ( I think I actually bought it with the intension of embroiding Jays name on but never got around to doing:o ) So if you would like a bigger wrap I will hem it up for you & pass it on the next time we get together. Its blue so not like I would be needing it for my next one, being a girl & all lol. If you do want it I will put Jays name on it like I intended on doing.

My dd is still wrapped loosley in a muslin wrap...she can easily get out herself but likes the routine and security of it i guess. She's such a fabulous sleeper i'm in no hurry to change it despite certain pressures. She's happy and DH and i r more than happy - especially since she sleeps 13 hrs each night and has 3 decent sleeps during the day :)

I am pleased to say coco did 6.45pm-6.45am last night, our first full night in a long while!! And she was not wrapped! Her poor hands were iceburgs this morn, but it didn't wake her so that's the main thing!! YIPEE! xo

Meg, why dont you do what i do in regards to coco's hands getting cold. Put socks over her hands then knitted mittens over the top, then you fold the sock up over the mitten so it doesnt slip off. There hands are nice and toasty.
Fiona, that would be great if you dont need it. I was thinking id like a wrap for DS, a keepsake one. Ive got one for DD. I like to keep things even.

Just another question though, when i told the Nazi Clinic Nurse that i was still wrapping him she said make sure his arms are lose. If i did that his arms would be forever coming out and he would wake up. I wrap him firmly but not tightly and his arms are up beside his head. Thats the position he prefers so i leave it that way. But how will i know when his had enough with wrapping???? The million dollar question girls, lol.

You'll know.. coz he'll complain and squirm and carry on.. and when you unwrap him.. he'll fall asleep! hehe. Well.. it kinda worked that easily for me one night :) I still wrap Tallon for his final feed to sleep, but if he wakes through the night I don't always wrap him back up. He's asleep right now unwrapped, so it's whatever mood he is in these days.

wow and Tallon is so young still. I usually get all his gear on the change table, like wrap down first then sleeping bag then mittens/socks. I change his bottom then put everything on so he knows its bed time. I then feed him then off to bed. His awake when i put him in so i dont think id get that protest sign your talking about. I suppose he just wouldnt go to sleep. Do you wrap Tallon in bed??? and thats when he tells you to get it off, obviously the way he communicates with you.

hmmm... umm.. trying to think what I do! LOL. I wrap him in bed, but I tend to feed him to sleep most of the time. Once he's asleep and I put him in bed, he starts to squirm and carry on if he wants to be unwrapped. So it's kinda in his sleep that he's doing it. So I release his arms, and he sleeps. He does usually stay wrapped for that first part of the night, and unwraps himself during the night, and often I don't need to rewrap him, he just goes back to sleep without it.

I bought a grobag the other day, and will be trying that out once I've washed it. But I may still need to wrap his arms over that for the initial sleep. Like I said, he's really at an inbetween stage at the moment.