Janne wrote:Any suggestions on how to wean your baby off the swaddle.  We have tried the one arm thing when he was 12 weeks but that didn't work and he barely slept that week.  When we put him back in the swaddle he slept for 6 hours each night.   We're in the process of introducing a new sleep cue.

If you did swaddle your baby, did you feel that your baby just outgrew the swaddle on his/her own?  If we had known that this was going to be an issue we wouldn't have swaddle him from the get go.  Now we're nervous about him rolling over when he is in the swaddle.

Despite Health Canada warnings, does anyone still have their baby sleeping on the tummy?

We swaddled our son until he was almost four months old.  Between three and four months though he would end up loosening the swaddle though and it wasn't very effective so maybe it was an easier transition for him.  The one arm thing worked for us and then we transitioned to a sleep sack.  

Janne wrote:Any suggestions on how to wean your baby off the swaddle.  We have tried the one arm thing when he was 12 weeks but that didn't work and he barely slept that week.  When we put him back in the swaddle he slept for 6 hours each night.   We're in the process of introducing a new sleep cue.

If you did swaddle your baby, did you feel that your baby just outgrew the swaddle on his/her own?  If we had known that this was going to be an issue we wouldn't have swaddle him from the get go.  Now we're nervous about him rolling over when he is in the swaddle.

Despite Health Canada warnings, does anyone still have their baby sleeping on the tummy?

We decided to sleep-train our baby, using the cry-it-out method (but only if he is not hungry of course), at 4 months, which is old enough.. (provided he is at least 13 or 15 pounds also, and healthy). The earlier (4 months onward) you sleep train him, the easier it will get, as they tend to resist longer and harder as they get older...   (He was a different case though, as he wouldn't sleep in his crib after 3 weeks old, because he had acid reflux, and would only sleep in my arms for naps, and co-sleeping with me at night.)  When we started the sleep-training, we also ditched the swaddle... it is definitely not an easy thing to do, but it was the best thing for him in the long run (it took only about 3 days for it to work fully at night; naps were a bit harder, as expected), so that he could learn to fall asleep - and stay alseep - on his own, for longer, more consolidated sleeps. (Crying doesn't hurt babies, unless it's for reasons of hunger or another medical reason/problem that should be not be ignored... when he wakes up after a longer, solid sleep in his own crib, he's happy as can be, and doesn't remember any of this crying.) If you want, I can send you the detailed sleep training plan by email, if you send me an email here: t_ouvarova@hotmail.com

Also, soon after this he learned how to turn over, and then started sleeping on his tummy ever since... although he cried frantically the first few times he did it in the crib, as he couldn't roll back over to his back; I would simply go in and turn him over quickly, and let him cry it out again; and this was again a sort of training; he only did it for a few nights and then just got used to sleeping on his stomach... he has never slept on his back since. (at least it helps to prevent flat head in babies, if nothing else...)

Finally, having a video baby-monitor helps a lot with the sleep training, as you can see what he's up to when he's sleeping, crying, etc...  it helps you to see if you need to go in to reposition him/etc, or if he's ok in the crib on his own.

Janne wrote:Thanks Sharon.  He does loosen from his swaddle, but then he waves the culprit arm around as an indicator that he is FREE and cries.  Anyone out there just let their baby cry it out at 4months?  My being mom, I feel that he is still young for that so I go to him as soon as I can.

I also slept trained my baby at 4 months...and let him cry.  After three nights he was sleeping through the night but the first few nights were really tough.  I was dream feeding him twice at night for the first three weeks before I weaned him off his night feeds.

Thank you everyone for your responses.  It's nice to know that I am not alone on this.  He is able to fall asleep without swaddle but staying asleep is a challenge.  He has woken up every 2 -3 hours the past 2 nights crying (same with mommy).  I usually try to soothe him first but if he cries incessantly, then I will offer to feed.  I appears that this sleep training has made him hungry at strange hours of the night.  I'd rather him not get used to these overnight feedings as he used to be able to sleep for 5-6 hours.

The one time I did put him on his stomach to sleep he slept quite peacefully.  I watched him the whole time (being nervous!!), making sure his nose wasn't stuffed into the mattress, but when I went to turn him over because I had to leave the room, that was the end of his nap. =(

 What is dream feeding?

I just have to tough it out for the best.  He still sleeps in our room. When was your baby moved to a separate room, if at all?

We used a Woombie to help with the transition - it's a kind of sleep sack/ swaddle that allows baby a little bit of movement, similar to the womb. I picked one up via one of the bargain sites - I think mamabargains.com. Keep checking, the deal may come around again. I bought mine at bellylaughs.ca, and they seem to have some on sale now!