A Guide to When to Stop Swaddling Your Baby
When a baby still has a Moro reaction, a baby swaddle helps keep them asleep. Additionally, it’s virtually always a good idea to swaddle your newborn! But regrettably, everything nice has an end, and ultimately it’s time to quit swaddling. This essay, which is based on my 10+ years of experience as a sleep consultant dealing with thousands of parents just like you, will help you determine when it’s time to stop swaddling and provide three easier ways to transition.
Swaddling your baby can be a wonderful way to calm and comfort him, but it can also develop into a regular sleep association that keeps him from sleeping through the night. If you keep your baby in a swaddle, they could find it difficult to develop self-soothing skills. Additionally, if they are using a pacifier, they won’t be able to re-insert it. This implies that you might stay up all night with the baby!
When to Stop Swaddling Your Baby Based on Age
- After the four-month sleep regression starts, a baby should typically stop being swaddled at roughly three or four months old. By five to six months of age, the majority are no longer swaddled.
- The Moro Reaction, a startle reflex present at birth, is present in all newborns. Typically, babies don’t outgrow it until they are 4 or 5 months old. Therefore, be cautious not to end the swaddle too soon.
- It’s not necessarily time to quit swaddling your baby if they manage to get out from under the blanket. Swaddling should be stopped or replaced with a safer swaddling blanket if your infant frequently manages to escape the swaddle each night and this indicates that you have loose blankets in the crib.
- Never put a swaddled baby to bed face-down. Therefore, stop swaddling your baby at once if they attempt to turn over or start to roll onto their stomach while they are sleeping. Always put safety first when swaddling a baby! Keep in mind that some newborns begin rolling from their backs to their stomachs as early as 2 months of age.
- Make sure your child is not wrapped in a swaddle all day. While it’s okay to swaddle a baby for sleep, especially when they’re newborns, babies also need time to move. So they can get stronger and improve their gross motor skills. If your baby is swaddled both while they are awake and when they are asleep, it may be time to gradually stop doing so.
- You should probably discontinue swaddling if you’re about to begin sleep coaching or sleep training. Helping your kid learn to soothe themselves is a crucial step in the sleep training process, and babies typically need to be unswaddled in order to do so.
