When & how did you stop wrapping?

I am wondering at what age did you stop wrapping your baby and how did you go about it?

DS is coming up to 4 months (corrected age) and I would like to stop wrapping him to sleep. Firstly, it's too hot and secondly he won't even sleep in the pram unwrapped which makes it difficult when I'm out.

If he has fallen asleep in my arms, I will put him in bed unwrapped, though find he will wake up in 20 or 30mins, thrashing around, and is hard to re settle.

Should I 'wean' him off the wrap? Or will he simply outgrow it when his startle reflex is absolute?

Thanks in advance.

Hi Georgi! I'll be watching this thread as we are having exactly the same problem! He will NOT sleep unless he is wrapped, no matter where we are! :rolleyes:

Hippiemummy, I know they have a startle reflex till 4/4.5 months so I haven't bothered trying to stop wrapping before now. I wonder if they get use to being wrapped KWIM.

Georgi -
in experience they will grow out of the need to be wrapped.

DD hated being wrapped and was in a sleeping bag on her back from 5 weeks - it was the only way she would sleep as she always wanted her hands at her face. (they say the way they often sleep in the womb - see by ultrasound) is how they like to sleep out!.
Anyhow about 4-5months i started to wrap her again as she would wake often in the night and i kept her wrapped until about 6 months she she started rolling - once rolling and she was on her belly she slept sound.

DS i have to wrap on his back - sleeping on his tummy he is fine as the startle reflex is less.

You can try no wrapping for a few nights and if he is waking frewuently then perhaps go back to it for another few weeks. - try putting him on his back with the sheet firm across his chest :)

it's interesting, cos my DH started waging a "don't wrap" campaign at about 10 weeks lol (I think it was because he's not a very good wrapper!)... but also X LOVES to sleep with his arms out. So we just put him in a sleeping bag, and he was out like a light with arms outstretched OR above his head in muscle-man pose. Based on what you said, we were probably a bit early, but he didn't seem to startle. I think he doesn't sleep as well without the bag, I assume the weight of it on his body still feels reassuring mebbe? When I tried sleeping him with sheets & a blanket he just travelled up his cot and left all bedding behind him, then cried cos he was cold.

Have you tried something like a sleeping bag for a day sleep to see how he goes?

I stopped properly wrapping my DS when he started rolling, so maybe 4.5 months... I would go into his room, and find him all tangled in the wrap, so decided it was too dangerous to keep using. I was worried about him and the startle reflux, cause that did bother him, but it seemed to be OK. However, DS likes the wrap for sucking and it is really a good sleep aid for him, so I just really loosely wrap him for day sleeps (he is 8 months, and he can get out of it), or put the wrap in the cot with him at night and he will cuddle it falling asleep.

With regards to other ways to wean, than just loosening the wrap, I think you can try to put one arm out, and see how they go, then the other arm etc... Hopefully someone else can come in and help with that for you.

And for the heat, we use a reallllllly thin muslin, I got from spotlight, and made into wraps, and DS doesn't have any other sheets covering him if I wrap him in this weather...

Oops.... Double Post. Sorry.....

Hey Georgi

I only just recently stopped wrapping N, there was no way she would go to sleep and stay asleep without being wrapped, and for us it was always double wrapping ;)

We had a friend baby site her two weeks ago and it was her first time wrapping, and we have always had to uite firm with our wrapping and N got out of her wraps and when we got home she was sleeping with her arms above her head. That was on a Wednesday night, I decided that I would try her cold turkey on the Friday night. I put her is a soft streatch Osh Kosh sleep suit that a friend gave us, she played around in her bed and just fell to sleep, we gave her a little blanket thing with a teddy attached as security/to hold. I had the wraps ready to go and wrap if she woke, but we didn't need them, she slept exaclty as she would have being wrapped :dance:

She also kicks off sheets at the moment as it is too hot, but she does like to hold on to them, last night was a bit cooler and she held on to them, but if is too hot she will hold onto the blanket thing, but I might switch it to another one as this one had a bell in it and I think it makes her up sometimes when she finds it in her sleep :doh:

So N was almost 7 months or 5 1/2 months corrected. At the reflex is finally gone as well.

BEEMA - That's interesting that N went cold turkey. I guess at 5.5 months that reflex is truely gone. I have always had to wrap BJ real tight. Lucky I'm a good wrapper. DH is hopeless so I always do the wrapping. I have one of those blanky's with a bear thing. I did plan to use that. Good to know

RUF - Good idea to try with one arm out. Why didn't I think of that?? I don't use sheets or blankets either. Just the wrap. I do wrap him in the muslin ones but I have to wrap it around a few times so he doesn't get out

BELFIE - No I haven't tried a sleeping bag. I will do though, good idea... But gotta buy one first

PP - That's interesting re sleeping in the womb. If only I knew how he did... I'm worried about trying to let him sleep unwrapped at night cause I don't wanna sacrafice my sleep

Thanks for the replies ladies... You've been very helpful.

He fell asleep in the car on the way home this morning so I transferred him into his bed, unwrapped, and he slept for a further 20mins. So not too bad I guess

Great thread as I've been wondering the same thing.

DD is 5.5 months and only now is starting to sleep without her wrap. I've only had the odd occasion where she'd sleep properly without a wrap although she does sleep in her pram without a wrap with no problems. Wrapping for her as been the "you are going to bed" sign and it's worked fabulously. I was having more problems finding wraps which were wide enough to fit around her without her getting out of them easily and also not too thick to overheat her.

DD has just slowly been working towards sleeping without them. Firstly she'd get an arm out and sleep like that, but now she is pretty much out of her wrap by the time i go in to get her up. Whenever I check on her she is still tucked in but slowly works her way out during the night. I'd say if you are happy to leave DS being wrapped then you'll find you won't be too long off him weaning himself off them.

With the heat I just use really light muslin wraps and i fold up the bottom of them so her feet are out completely. I also don't use a sheet during this heat so DD keps warm from the top half of her wrap but cool because her feet are out. DD's feet sweat terribly which is why I leave them out and no sheet. If she does get cold if the temp drops dramatically then she lets me know and I just cover her over and she goes back to sleep. She always looks comfy and she sleeps through the night so temperature is generally not a problem. Also with the heat at the moment DD just sleeps in her nappy.. She is like her Daddy and is a HUGE sweat machine!!

I'm not sure what to suggest on sleeping in the pram as DD has always slept in her pram without a wrap no problems, maybe try putting a wrap in with him and see if just having it there will be soothing enough. You might find that if you perservere with the pram and no wrap that the gentle rock of the pram will eventually put him off to sleep. It might be a matter of trying it somewhere quiet first so if he is crying you arent worrying about other people looking (i used to hate the thought of ppl looking at me if DD was crying) so maybe try him with short walks in the pram around his nap times and he might start to associate the two. I always put a light wrap over the front of the pram when DD is tired to give her a little space from all the people and noise. You may find that at 4months your DS may still have a good startle reflex. I'd say give it a few more weeks and see how you go as you'll prob find the next 4 weeks will make a huge difference with it.

Yeah Gerogi I was shocked myself, I had tried some one arm in one out, both arms out and just wrapping around the waist but she wouldn't go to sleep, and that was prob around the age B is now. DH isn't as good as wrapper as me either hehe, do you think maybe they jst didn't try as hard to leave it tp us! :D

There have been a few discussions of this in the gentle sleep forum (in the Family Life section) if you want to read some more...

I kept wrapping DS until he was 8-9 months. He wouldn't sleep without it. I found that whenever he learnt a new skill (rolling, crawling etc), he would get frustrated with the wrap for a few days & I would think "ah ha, it's time!" but then he wouldn't sleep!!! But, once he was 8-9 months, he really didn't want to be wrapped anymore & we just got rid of it cold turkey - I found that loosening the wrapping, wrapping one arm etc. didn't really work. I just prepared myself that I would need to do a lot of settling for a week or so until he got used to it (patting him, stroking his face etc while he fell asleep).

If your DS is happy being wrapped & sleeping well, I personally wouldn't be in such a hurry to get rid of it - but that's just my experience.

HTH

I tried the one arm out a few times, then both arms out for day sleeps, at just before 3 months, because I'd gone into his room often to find him lying with the wrap like two ropes around his neck - he'd tend to accept being wrapped, then struggle out of it after the end of a sleep cycle, and it freaked me out !

Josef is a real "busy arms" baby and I was worried he wouldn't be able to settle to sleep with his arms waving about in front of his face, but I gave myself a few days of absolutely NO PLANS so I wasn't stressed about him falling asleep by a certain time so we could later go out, and just tried a few different things to wean him.

With the two arms out and wrapping from chest, i just did that for one day before moving to the sleeping bag, I watched him fall asleep - and sure enough he did startle as his arms moved from his face slowly to the bed, BUT rather than rush in and re-wrap him, i just watched and he just eventually relaxed into bed. It did take a bit more time of self soothing but he got there in the end - he's much quicker now (he's now almost 14 wks).

I'm not sure if this is coincidence or not, but the very first night we tried NO wrapping at all (at 12 weeks), and his sleepingbag suit for the first time, he slept for a record 7 hours ! (previous record was 4 while being wrapped) - I think previously he'd been waking up between cycles, unwrapping, getting cold/crying, I'd assumed he was hungry and was feeding every 3 hours approx - he loves his sleeping bag, kicking inside it but still feels a bit contained. Admittedly I also sleep much better now, knowing that if i hear him talking to himself or struggling, he's still covered, and i dont need to get up unless he starts crying.

But every baby's different, I have friends who wrapped their bubs much later, and another friend who didn't wrap once they were home from hospital.

I stopped wrapping at about 5 months, when she kept getting her arms out of the wrap. So I figured, whatever. Got her a sleeping bag so her legs would stay warm.

I stopped wrapping at 2 months but last night I had to wrap my 11 month old for the first time since then to get her to sleep. I had to use a cot sheet to do it though!

I stopped wrapping Hamish at around 4 months, I did it slowly over a week or so by leaving one arm out and then eventually both, but i found he needed something in his hands to hold so we started giving him a cuddly. He now sleeps soundly holding it everynight.

My advice would be, if he is happy to sleep wrapped, I'd let him be.

My DD was wrapped until she was 7ish months old, she just wouldn't sleep for long any other way and it had to be tight, really if he wasn't like a mummy, she would wriggle out and start crying. Or like you said, wake up about 30mins later and be very hard to settle again.

I remember being so worried about it, and even asked my Doc if it was a problem and she said most definitely not, if it's comforting her then it would be more harm to her if you stopped. So i just went with her, kept wrapping her up like a mummy each night. Then one night I went to wrap her and she protested a little, so I just tucked her in with her wrap and she was fine to sleept hat way from then on. She is now almost 3 and still keeps her "wrappy" with her when she sleeps. Actually she would carry it all day I'd think if we let her, it's cute.

If your worried about the heat, maybe just put him to bed in a nappy and wrapped in a muslim wrap, or add a singlet if you think he might get a little nippy.

And I can understand the struggle to have him wrapped in the pram, I remember this being a royal pain, but I ended up just adjusting the straps so I could still do them up. I think I even un did the shoulder straps and used it as a 3 point harness instead.

HTH a little.

the other thing I forgot to say was that with us, he just started getting out of all wraps (maybe we're both bad wrappers lol) - but he was seriously like houdini! Nowadays he loves to play a solitary soccer game prior to sleep. I can walk past and ALL legs & arms are going a million miles an hour... then 5 mins later - BAM - he's asleep. Just seems to be his (weird!) way of winding down. So I guess as many have said, they have their own ways of letting you know what works for them.

Re sleeping bags, I got a good winter weight one from Target, and also Pumpkin Patch. Just don't get a "travel" one - they have the slit for the harness to come up between the legs. I find if I use them (cos my others are in the wash) he just sticks a leg out through the slit. I reckon trying a non-travel one first is a better transition. After that, mebbe a travel one in the pram? They work very well in prams I think... 'cept we've got a P&T sports and the middle bit is kinda chunky to thread through the slit IYKWIM.

Oh and my final thought - are you always doing a traditional wrap or do you alternate with an angel wrap? I reckon that's a good in between option too (even though I didn't even know what an angel wrap was for yonks... I mean the one where their arms are up by their face, but still IN the wrap).

Belfie Good point re the wrap. My DS likes to be able to get to his hands (he is a bit of a thumb/fist sucker), so I use an angel wrap for DS if he needs to be wrapped. He hated the tight Tresillian wrap as his hands were locked up...

Great tips everyone. Thanks so much.

Belfie.. I haven't done the angel wrap cause he would loosen the wrap too much but i think i'll try it today.

I always use a muslin during the day & a kiddapotumus during the night. Though last night I only had a muslin so I found him in the morning with one arm out but he still fell back to sleep & slept for another hour. So I guess it may be a bit easier than what I thought.

I think i'll give him another couple of weeks then start with keeping one arm out & see how that goes. I will need to buy a sleeping bag first.

I thought I could add my experience now.

At 4.5 months (corrected) I slowly weaned DS off the wrap. Started with 1 arm out, for a few days for his day sleeps only, then 2 arms out, for a few days for his day sleeps only, then unwrapped, under a tight sheet. He's now in a sleeping bag, but still under a tight sheet otherwise he plays with his feet, even in the sleeping bag. I decided today, that I will wean him off the sheet too as I am finding he is getting out of the sheet and this wakes him up. I will sleep him in his sleeping bag for his day sleeps only, for a few days, then progress it to his night sleeps too.