Baby Sleep Question 3,000,000: Swaddle Weaning Edition
May 12, 2019 12:03 AM Subscribe
Our 4.5 month old is a decent sleeper if he’s tightly swaddled. He started rolling over onto his stomach during play with no warning last week, so according to all sources and his doctor we need to stop swaddling yesterday. Lots of advice is like, “It’s easy!! Just start swaddling with one arm out!! Voila!!” That’s . . . not working. Now what?
Our kid usually sleeps from 8 pm to 6 am with one middle-of-the-night bottle feeding. He was an extremely poor sleeper until we rented a SNOO (yes, yes, looking back, this was a mistake, but there was a great rental deal and we were desperate because I was going back to work) at two months. The SNOO taught him to love being swaddled, and now he can sleep in any crib or bassinet so long as he’s all wrapped up (he still sleeps in the SNOO at home, but can sleep without one when we stay at my parents’ or he’s at day care). The relief this gave us caused us to put off “proper” sleep training, though we made a few early, unsuccessful attempts to leave one arm out of the swaddle on occasion in anticipation that he’d eventually need to go without it.
Last week, he started rolling over during play time and is SUPER PSYCHED about it. He now spends most of his day just rolling along the floor, back-to-front, front-to-back, like a little horizontal tornado. We’re very pleased for him but obviously have to stop swaddling.
All sources online make this sound incredibly simple. The SNOO guide says to simply leave one arm out of the swaddle, and to place the arm back in and try again in one week if he’s unhappy. We tried once a week for about three weeks in a row, and we don’t seem any closer to solving this. The rest of the Internet says to just leave one arm out. Easy. Magical. Just leave an arm out.
I’m starting to suspect everyone is playing some sort of trick on me. This can’t actually have ever worked for anyone, right? The baby can fall asleep with one arm unswaddled after lots and lots of rocking, but the second I place him on his little baby mattress, his arm starts flapping around and wakes him up. I can comfort him a bit and he’ll go back to sleep, but he’ll only wake up again in 30 seconds, arm a-wriggling like a crazy snake. We’re on night three of this, and I’m delirious. There’s been zero improvement; he can’t even sleep for ten minutes at a time now. His arm just wants to party forever and always no matter what anyone else wants.
The other moms at day care seem to have miracle children who are always cheerful (seriously, the teachers regularly comment on how fussy ours is compared to everyone else, like, thanks) and already sleep in their own cribs all night. My friends all have older children and don’t remember how they got through this period. The Internet seems to think the solution is extremely simple and baby arms are NOT just little floppy time bombs waiting to wake a sleeping child. JUST LEAVE AN ARM OUT, the Internet says.
How in the everliving holy heck do we get this kid unswaddled? Do we just say “Eff it,” dump him in a crib, and start CIO? Is he ruined forever? Help if you can, please! I’ll thank you in advance because I actually might not survive the night long enough to read any answers and won’t be able to communicate my gratitude from the afterlife.
Our kid usually sleeps from 8 pm to 6 am with one middle-of-the-night bottle feeding. He was an extremely poor sleeper until we rented a SNOO (yes, yes, looking back, this was a mistake, but there was a great rental deal and we were desperate because I was going back to work) at two months. The SNOO taught him to love being swaddled, and now he can sleep in any crib or bassinet so long as he’s all wrapped up (he still sleeps in the SNOO at home, but can sleep without one when we stay at my parents’ or he’s at day care). The relief this gave us caused us to put off “proper” sleep training, though we made a few early, unsuccessful attempts to leave one arm out of the swaddle on occasion in anticipation that he’d eventually need to go without it.
Last week, he started rolling over during play time and is SUPER PSYCHED about it. He now spends most of his day just rolling along the floor, back-to-front, front-to-back, like a little horizontal tornado. We’re very pleased for him but obviously have to stop swaddling.
All sources online make this sound incredibly simple. The SNOO guide says to simply leave one arm out of the swaddle, and to place the arm back in and try again in one week if he’s unhappy. We tried once a week for about three weeks in a row, and we don’t seem any closer to solving this. The rest of the Internet says to just leave one arm out. Easy. Magical. Just leave an arm out.
I’m starting to suspect everyone is playing some sort of trick on me. This can’t actually have ever worked for anyone, right? The baby can fall asleep with one arm unswaddled after lots and lots of rocking, but the second I place him on his little baby mattress, his arm starts flapping around and wakes him up. I can comfort him a bit and he’ll go back to sleep, but he’ll only wake up again in 30 seconds, arm a-wriggling like a crazy snake. We’re on night three of this, and I’m delirious. There’s been zero improvement; he can’t even sleep for ten minutes at a time now. His arm just wants to party forever and always no matter what anyone else wants.
The other moms at day care seem to have miracle children who are always cheerful (seriously, the teachers regularly comment on how fussy ours is compared to everyone else, like, thanks) and already sleep in their own cribs all night. My friends all have older children and don’t remember how they got through this period. The Internet seems to think the solution is extremely simple and baby arms are NOT just little floppy time bombs waiting to wake a sleeping child. JUST LEAVE AN ARM OUT, the Internet says.
How in the everliving holy heck do we get this kid unswaddled? Do we just say “Eff it,” dump him in a crib, and start CIO? Is he ruined forever? Help if you can, please! I’ll thank you in advance because I actually might not survive the night long enough to read any answers and won’t be able to communicate my gratitude from the afterlife.
Best answer: OK, so - we hit this issue at about six months. He was really rolling but in anticipation of it, we had him in a sleeping bag with one arm out, as you've described, and it went horribly. Having previously slept solidly in the evening when swaddled, he'd wake himself up with it every single hour. On the hour. Clockwork. Each night at some point we'd give up and swaddle him.
Concurrent to this, he was waking contastly from midnight to six demanding to be fed if his mother was doing the overnight shift, and one or twice of it was me and a bottle of formula. Both on the point of sleep-deprived insanity, we decided to simultaneously go to both arms out sleeping bag, and the gentler Ferber version of CIO, where you nip into the room and say something to comfort the baby every ten minutes they cry. We schedule the long Easter weekend to start and gritted our teeth in dread.
The results were miraculous. He cried for forty minutes the first night with me comforting him, twenty the second night with my partner, and slept through the third night. We still. Can't quite believe it. We're in so much better shape, and the baby is napping far better and is much more energetic through the day
Your sprog is a bit younger than ours, so you might have reservations about starting CIO, but going all-in and doing arms and sleep training at once was just unbelievably effective in our case.
posted by ominous_paws at 1:17 AM on May 12, 2019 [4 favorites]
Concurrent to this, he was waking contastly from midnight to six demanding to be fed if his mother was doing the overnight shift, and one or twice of it was me and a bottle of formula. Both on the point of sleep-deprived insanity, we decided to simultaneously go to both arms out sleeping bag, and the gentler Ferber version of CIO, where you nip into the room and say something to comfort the baby every ten minutes they cry. We schedule the long Easter weekend to start and gritted our teeth in dread.
The results were miraculous. He cried for forty minutes the first night with me comforting him, twenty the second night with my partner, and slept through the third night. We still. Can't quite believe it. We're in so much better shape, and the baby is napping far better and is much more energetic through the day
Your sprog is a bit younger than ours, so you might have reservations about starting CIO, but going all-in and doing arms and sleep training at once was just unbelievably effective in our case.
posted by ominous_paws at 1:17 AM on May 12, 2019 [4 favorites]
floppy time bombs waiting to wake a sleeping child
This is the truest thing I've read in years, BTW.
posted by ominous_paws at 1:18 AM on May 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
This is the truest thing I've read in years, BTW.
posted by ominous_paws at 1:18 AM on May 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
Ours was just like this at 4.5 months except the rolling I saw was a fluke and she didn’t do it again. But I had the fear and we went cold turkey with a GroBag sleeping bag (the kind where both arms stick out) and CIO. It worked for us. She still cries a bit to settle to sleep but she’s not distressed, it’s honestly just part of her go to sleep routine and lasts maybe 5 mins.
Something I think may have helped with her floppy arms was to give her a soft comforter. I think some people call it a lovey? It’s like a small square of soft fabric with a lion head and arms at the corner. It’s now a firm sleep association for her and she grabs onto it in her sleep. I was frightened of suffocation issues so in the beginning I tied an elastic band around the fabric but I’ve taken that off since.
She actually started rolling around in her sleep this week at 6 months. Cried sometimes because she couldn’t flip back (and so I would sneak in and upright her), slept through it the other times. Hasn’t rolled in the light of day. Babies!
posted by like_neon at 1:23 AM on May 12, 2019 [3 favorites]
Something I think may have helped with her floppy arms was to give her a soft comforter. I think some people call it a lovey? It’s like a small square of soft fabric with a lion head and arms at the corner. It’s now a firm sleep association for her and she grabs onto it in her sleep. I was frightened of suffocation issues so in the beginning I tied an elastic band around the fabric but I’ve taken that off since.
She actually started rolling around in her sleep this week at 6 months. Cried sometimes because she couldn’t flip back (and so I would sneak in and upright her), slept through it the other times. Hasn’t rolled in the light of day. Babies!
posted by like_neon at 1:23 AM on May 12, 2019 [3 favorites]
You'll figure something out, I promise! We swaddled our baby waaay too long, but I no longer remember what that means. I know that dancing arms made crib transfers tough and we figured out a transfer swaddle to help. Like, we'd drape a swaddle over her & our arms in a way that simulated the swaddle as we laid her down and was easily removable as we stepped away. We also added something like the shusher around this time to create an intentional sleep association (helped closer to the 6mo mark).
More important, for us was realizing that our baby sleeps worse when overtired. So, whenever she starts waking frequently, we focus on super frequent naps and catching up on sleep, which took 2-3 days to do, and then adjusting her nap schedule as needed.
Since it's been a few days, I'd focus on getting good rest if there's a way that can be safely done first, add soothers, try the faux-swaddle transfers, and you will figure something out, I promise!
posted by bindr at 1:26 AM on May 12, 2019
More important, for us was realizing that our baby sleeps worse when overtired. So, whenever she starts waking frequently, we focus on super frequent naps and catching up on sleep, which took 2-3 days to do, and then adjusting her nap schedule as needed.
Since it's been a few days, I'd focus on getting good rest if there's a way that can be safely done first, add soothers, try the faux-swaddle transfers, and you will figure something out, I promise!
posted by bindr at 1:26 AM on May 12, 2019
Oh and I forgot to say with the rolling she sometimes manages to roll back again. If your little one is able to do it confidently I say give them both arms! They may roll over in their sleep and with both arms out they can at least go back again.
And also please commit fully to CIO if you decide to do it. By that I mean read all the guidelines and make sure to set up a consistent sleep routine and watch those awake times like a hawk. It’s not just dump and run.
posted by like_neon at 1:27 AM on May 12, 2019
And also please commit fully to CIO if you decide to do it. By that I mean read all the guidelines and make sure to set up a consistent sleep routine and watch those awake times like a hawk. It’s not just dump and run.
posted by like_neon at 1:27 AM on May 12, 2019
We went cold turkey with two arms out. It did set us back with sleep. At the time, baby was still in a bassinet and I noticed her arms actually hit the sides, even though she wasn’t too long for it. We moved her to a larger sleep situation and that helped. We also do a version of cry it out. We started with one min crying-one minute comfort and worked our way up.
I also agree that sleep begets sleep. I have found that moving baby’s bedtime half an hour earlier in times of great sleep disruption has helped a lot.
posted by CMcG at 2:37 AM on May 12, 2019
I also agree that sleep begets sleep. I have found that moving baby’s bedtime half an hour earlier in times of great sleep disruption has helped a lot.
posted by CMcG at 2:37 AM on May 12, 2019
Merlin! The Merlin sleep suit. It’s amazing. Stiffer so they can’t roll in it and also prevents arm flails.
posted by Bebo at 3:09 AM on May 12, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Bebo at 3:09 AM on May 12, 2019 [3 favorites]
If weaning off the swaddle is making everyone miserable anyway, then here's another vote for sleep training (assuming, based on your post, that's something you were planning to do eventually). We did it on the early side (somewhat by accident because I am dumb and can't figure out how "weeks" work...), but OMG it was definitely the best thing ever. We had unswaddled our baby a few weeks earlier due to rolling, and she wasn't too put out by it but she wasn't exactly dependent on the swaddle. Otherwise, we went cold turkey on all other associations. It took about 4 nights...it seems like the "one armed trials" could take longer than that.
Honestly, you know your baby and what you are comfortable with. But I feel that when you get to the point when you are trading sleep associations for one another, then you might as well bite the bullet and teach baby to fall asleep on its own. You don't have to do naps or night weaning at the same time, however, in case you were worried about that.
GOOD LUCK! Baby sleep is insane.
posted by Mrs. Rattery at 3:37 AM on May 12, 2019 [2 favorites]
Honestly, you know your baby and what you are comfortable with. But I feel that when you get to the point when you are trading sleep associations for one another, then you might as well bite the bullet and teach baby to fall asleep on its own. You don't have to do naps or night weaning at the same time, however, in case you were worried about that.
GOOD LUCK! Baby sleep is insane.
posted by Mrs. Rattery at 3:37 AM on May 12, 2019 [2 favorites]
I would try the Merlin sleep suit. It's not really weighted, just padded and snuggly. Our kid can move his limbs around in it, but can't like flail his arm to startle himself. I know a lot of parents that have used it for the awkward post-swaddle but baby still loves swaddling time.
Alternatively, go for sleep training! We did kid 1 at 5.5 months and kid 2 at like, not quite 4 months. We read the Ferber book and then basically modified his plan to suit us (because we didn't want to night wean at the same time). It worked great for us, doesn't always work for all kids, but worth a try if you're already considering doing it at some point.
posted by cpatterson at 4:43 AM on May 12, 2019
Alternatively, go for sleep training! We did kid 1 at 5.5 months and kid 2 at like, not quite 4 months. We read the Ferber book and then basically modified his plan to suit us (because we didn't want to night wean at the same time). It worked great for us, doesn't always work for all kids, but worth a try if you're already considering doing it at some point.
posted by cpatterson at 4:43 AM on May 12, 2019
First, I gotta say that anything you did to enable yourself to get more sleep with an infant was not a mistake, so don't kick yourself for it.
My kids were very fussy and bad sleepers. I didn't know that swaddling was seen as dangerous when they're older until just now, and swaddled my daughter's arms until after she was TWO. Is it considered safe to use sleep positioner wedge things at his age? If so, I'd keep on postponing giving up the swaddle.
Do you still have the SNOO? If not, is it worth trying it without swaddling to see if that helps?
If you decide to cry it out, I'd actually recommend it now instead of later... when I tried it with my son in desperation at eight months, he cried until he puked, fell asleep after a few hours of crying due to exhaustion, and woke up half an hour later to repeat crying until he puked a few times, all night long. (We gave up after five nights because he was losing weight.) I think doing it earlier might have gone better.
posted by metasarah at 4:47 AM on May 12, 2019
My kids were very fussy and bad sleepers. I didn't know that swaddling was seen as dangerous when they're older until just now, and swaddled my daughter's arms until after she was TWO. Is it considered safe to use sleep positioner wedge things at his age? If so, I'd keep on postponing giving up the swaddle.
Do you still have the SNOO? If not, is it worth trying it without swaddling to see if that helps?
If you decide to cry it out, I'd actually recommend it now instead of later... when I tried it with my son in desperation at eight months, he cried until he puked, fell asleep after a few hours of crying due to exhaustion, and woke up half an hour later to repeat crying until he puked a few times, all night long. (We gave up after five nights because he was losing weight.) I think doing it earlier might have gone better.
posted by metasarah at 4:47 AM on May 12, 2019
A lot of people had success with Merlin but we just went straight to sleep sacks and sleep training at around 5 months, because our baby hated the Merlin. So YMMV. But our baby also hated being swaddled.
I just wanted to comment on the notion that using the Snoo was a big mistake. I think until around 4 or 5 months is just whatever-will-get-the-baby-to-sleep time. I worried so much about inflicting long-lasting problems on the baby from one decision or the other - but it all just seemed to come out in the wash. Things might be temporarily hard now - but I hardly swaddled at all and that 4 to 5 month period was just really hard for me and almost everyone I know. And while your baby may be fussier than others, every baby has its issues. I know I'd have killed for ababy that slept right through the night with only one wake up at that point. It took us a lot longer to get to that point, almost nine months, with lots and lots of sleep training. And I know babies still waking up twice a night to feed at 21 months! So don't compare, know that it's hard in different ways for everyone, and take it one day and night at a time. You'll emerge from the fog eventually, promise.
posted by peacheater at 4:51 AM on May 12, 2019 [10 favorites]
I just wanted to comment on the notion that using the Snoo was a big mistake. I think until around 4 or 5 months is just whatever-will-get-the-baby-to-sleep time. I worried so much about inflicting long-lasting problems on the baby from one decision or the other - but it all just seemed to come out in the wash. Things might be temporarily hard now - but I hardly swaddled at all and that 4 to 5 month period was just really hard for me and almost everyone I know. And while your baby may be fussier than others, every baby has its issues. I know I'd have killed for ababy that slept right through the night with only one wake up at that point. It took us a lot longer to get to that point, almost nine months, with lots and lots of sleep training. And I know babies still waking up twice a night to feed at 21 months! So don't compare, know that it's hard in different ways for everyone, and take it one day and night at a time. You'll emerge from the fog eventually, promise.
posted by peacheater at 4:51 AM on May 12, 2019 [10 favorites]
Baby sleep is hard! Swaddling or relying on a specific product isn’t “ruining” anything. I’d try the Merlin suit - they’re designed for this specific post-swaddling pre-sleep training stage.
I think we tried sleep training somewhere between 6-10 months and it worked fine. If you’re not comfortable doing it now you still have time.
posted by Metroid Baby at 5:26 AM on May 12, 2019
I think we tried sleep training somewhere between 6-10 months and it worked fine. If you’re not comfortable doing it now you still have time.
posted by Metroid Baby at 5:26 AM on May 12, 2019
We also used the Baby Merlin’s Magic Sleep Suit as a transition between swaddle and no swaddle. It’s great because the baby can still move their arms, but the padding mutes/slows the movement enough that it doesn’t (generally) wake them up. It’s safe to use as long as they can’t roll in the suit - and most babies who can roll without the suit can’t roll in it for a while. I’d recommend trying to borrow one from a friend or neighbor to see how it works for you.
I also agree that you did nothing wrong by renting the Snoo! You made a decision that worked for you at the time, and that’s great. If you hadn’t rented the Snoo, perhaps you would have had a miserable last 2.5 months of sleep and you might still be having difficulty now. Some babies just aren’t good sleepers, and if the Snoo helped you for a couple months, that’s great!
posted by insectosaurus at 6:22 AM on May 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
I also agree that you did nothing wrong by renting the Snoo! You made a decision that worked for you at the time, and that’s great. If you hadn’t rented the Snoo, perhaps you would have had a miserable last 2.5 months of sleep and you might still be having difficulty now. Some babies just aren’t good sleepers, and if the Snoo helped you for a couple months, that’s great!
posted by insectosaurus at 6:22 AM on May 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
Nthing Merlin for this stage!! It’s not weighted!
posted by curtains at 7:15 AM on May 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by curtains at 7:15 AM on May 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
Parenting is mostly about trial and error and what works for you, your baby, and your child. Renting the Snoo helped, so don't second guess it. What are the risks if you leave your baby swaddled longer? Could you borrow a Baby Merlin's Sleepsuit? You do not see children headed to school still needing to be swaddled! You will find a solution, but doing so with interruptions in sleep is a big pain.
And, I just have to tell you, that my difficult and fussy baby grew into a determined and driven child, who is graduating from high school next month, with almost a full ride to college, and all sorts of great experiences from being the kid who was difficult and fussed through most of her first 18 years. These types of babies and kids are at times hard to parent- but this is when the nature vs. nurture parts of personalities really play out. Your baby will sleep. This time will pass. You will find the solution that works for your family, just keep trying.
posted by momochan at 7:34 AM on May 12, 2019
And, I just have to tell you, that my difficult and fussy baby grew into a determined and driven child, who is graduating from high school next month, with almost a full ride to college, and all sorts of great experiences from being the kid who was difficult and fussed through most of her first 18 years. These types of babies and kids are at times hard to parent- but this is when the nature vs. nurture parts of personalities really play out. Your baby will sleep. This time will pass. You will find the solution that works for your family, just keep trying.
posted by momochan at 7:34 AM on May 12, 2019
"Do we just say “Eff it,” dump him in a crib, and start CIO?"
Well, that's what we did. Our pediatrician said that swaddles were to be discontinued at first roll or 16 weeks whichever came first, and she rolled at exactly 16 weeks, we put her to bed in a sleep sack in her non-moving bassinet and prayed. There was a lot of crying to extinction but she did eventually sleep.
We moved to the crib about four weeks ago at 22 weeks as she was flipping around so violently in the bassinet that she was in danger of tipping it over. This was where the magic happened; YES she cried and cried and cried, but then she discovered her thumb. Now, once she is asleep, she sleeps for long periods despite her nocturnal gymnastics as long as she keeps that thumb in or near her mouth.
Sleep training is more agonizing for you than your kid. Do your best to take care of yourself, maybe even get out of the house after putting him down for a bit to try and maintain your sanity.
posted by juniperesque at 7:59 AM on May 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
Well, that's what we did. Our pediatrician said that swaddles were to be discontinued at first roll or 16 weeks whichever came first, and she rolled at exactly 16 weeks, we put her to bed in a sleep sack in her non-moving bassinet and prayed. There was a lot of crying to extinction but she did eventually sleep.
We moved to the crib about four weeks ago at 22 weeks as she was flipping around so violently in the bassinet that she was in danger of tipping it over. This was where the magic happened; YES she cried and cried and cried, but then she discovered her thumb. Now, once she is asleep, she sleeps for long periods despite her nocturnal gymnastics as long as she keeps that thumb in or near her mouth.
Sleep training is more agonizing for you than your kid. Do your best to take care of yourself, maybe even get out of the house after putting him down for a bit to try and maintain your sanity.
posted by juniperesque at 7:59 AM on May 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
nthing Baby Merlin Magic Sleep Suit! It's thick/firm but not weighted(??). Very safe, prevent rolling, hands are free but secure. Everyone who ever saw our daughter in it laughed hysterically - it DOES look ridiculous - but boy does it work!
posted by srrh at 12:31 PM on May 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by srrh at 12:31 PM on May 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
Came in to nth all the suggestions for the Merlin. It saved our sleep.
posted by makonan at 9:31 PM on May 12, 2019
posted by makonan at 9:31 PM on May 12, 2019
We did a Merlin sleep sack for about a month, until it a) stopped working and b) got way too warm. Then we went straight to light muslin sleep sacks. We had sleep trained early, when she was still swaddled, and we had to go back to that protocol for a couple of days when she got out of the Merlin. Sleep was certainly not perfect after that, but the swaddling stopped being an issue.
posted by oryelle at 5:58 AM on May 13, 2019
posted by oryelle at 5:58 AM on May 13, 2019
Response by poster: Thank you, everyone!! I can’t mark best answer as I’ve still no idea how we’ll manage this yet, but I appreciate all of you taking the time to type out your best sanity-saving tips for us. We tried CIO for one night and had to immediately revert the next night once we realized I had no chance of making it through a day of work on that little sleep, so we’re taking the suggestion of just knuckling down during a long weekend and doing it.
For those of you who used the Merlin, did you have any concerns about flat head (our kid has a slightly flat head due to hating tummy time)? I’m also concerned this would just be postponing the need for CIO but maybe the purpose is to use it as a transition method for at least getting him into his own room?
posted by Yoko Ono's Advice Column at 6:28 AM on May 13, 2019
For those of you who used the Merlin, did you have any concerns about flat head (our kid has a slightly flat head due to hating tummy time)? I’m also concerned this would just be postponing the need for CIO but maybe the purpose is to use it as a transition method for at least getting him into his own room?
posted by Yoko Ono's Advice Column at 6:28 AM on May 13, 2019
Re: flat head and the Merlin -- both our kids used the Merlin and they both had flat spots before we starting using it (our ped was concerned we would need to get a helmet for our older daughter), but once they were both able to sit up (they both sat on their own on the early side, which was around 5 months - we did a lot of practice on our bed), it was much less of a concern for us. Since our older kid's flat spot was more pronounced (plus she had torticollis), we would go in the room once she was asleep and very gently roll her head from the side she preferred to the side she did not prefer (we sometimes did this several times a night) and it really made a difference.
Also, I think using the Merlin to help him transition out of the swaddle is not an impediment to eventually CIO and sleep training.
Honestly, the worst part about the Merlin is that you can't put it in the dryer (I scoffed at this and then...the stupid thing did actually shrink), so if it's possible, get two for when your child inevitably pees or vomits on it.
posted by vakker at 8:16 AM on May 13, 2019
Also, I think using the Merlin to help him transition out of the swaddle is not an impediment to eventually CIO and sleep training.
Honestly, the worst part about the Merlin is that you can't put it in the dryer (I scoffed at this and then...the stupid thing did actually shrink), so if it's possible, get two for when your child inevitably pees or vomits on it.
posted by vakker at 8:16 AM on May 13, 2019
Response by poster: So for any future baby sleep advice seekers:
We decided to do a modified cry-it-out method over a long weekend. We placed him in a Halo SleepSack and agreed to only pick him up once for feeding (he’s underweight so the middle-of-the-night feeding is still essential). On the first night, he cried for a short period while we checked in at 2, 5, and 8-minute intervals; slept for 4 hours; and then slept again for 2 hours after feeding and some more crying. We were cautiously optimistic. The next night he dropped to sleep as soon as we put him in the crib, slept until feeding at 2 am, and went back to sleep as soon as he was done. It’s been like that ever since. We anticipate setbacks on occasion but so far we’re all actually getting sleep.
So anyway: the cry-it-out method worked with no fuss and we worried ourselves over nothing but made it through thanks to guidance from this team right here. Future advice seekers, good luck!
posted by Yoko Ono's Advice Column at 6:28 PM on May 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
We decided to do a modified cry-it-out method over a long weekend. We placed him in a Halo SleepSack and agreed to only pick him up once for feeding (he’s underweight so the middle-of-the-night feeding is still essential). On the first night, he cried for a short period while we checked in at 2, 5, and 8-minute intervals; slept for 4 hours; and then slept again for 2 hours after feeding and some more crying. We were cautiously optimistic. The next night he dropped to sleep as soon as we put him in the crib, slept until feeding at 2 am, and went back to sleep as soon as he was done. It’s been like that ever since. We anticipate setbacks on occasion but so far we’re all actually getting sleep.
So anyway: the cry-it-out method worked with no fuss and we worried ourselves over nothing but made it through thanks to guidance from this team right here. Future advice seekers, good luck!
posted by Yoko Ono's Advice Column at 6:28 PM on May 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
« Older They wouldn't not let me in, right? | Mystery novels where you_ can_ figure it out, but... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by robertthebruce at 12:18 AM on May 12, 2019