Find out when and how to drop baby’s swaddle and still have your baby sleep well. Sleep doesn’t have to be ruined just because the swaddle is dropped!
Dropping the swaddle can be a scary thing if your baby is sleeping very well. Personally, when my baby is sleeping well, I do not want to change a thing!
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Using a swaddle has so far been very helpful in getting your baby to sleep well. It helped prevent the startle reflex, also known as the moro reflex, from waking baby up from naps early.
The swaddle is especially helpful for newborns. It mimics the womb and helps comfort newborns.
Some day, however, the time comes when a baby needs to drop the swaddle. This can be for a variety of reasons:
- Baby starts to dislike being swaddled
- Baby starts to roll to tummy while swaddled, which can be a dangerous sleeping position without arms free. Increased mobility leads to increased need to drop the swaddle
- Baby is just ready to drop it
- Insert your reason here
Post Contents
- Signs Baby is Ready to Drop the Swaddle
- Common Ages for Dropping the Swaddle
- Methods for Dropping the Swaddle
- One-Arm Weaning
- Sleep Aid or Transitional Swaddle
- Cold Turkey
- Combo
- Blankets After Dropping the Swaddle
- Will There Be Fussing When Dropping the Swaddle?
- Conclusion
- Poll Results from This Blog
- Reader Questions on Dropping the Swaddle
- Related Posts
Signs Baby is Ready to Drop the Swaddle
What are signs your little one is ready to drop the swaddle? You can see some reasons in my post When To Stop Swaddling Your Baby.
Here is a short list:
- Rolling To Tummy While Swaddled: If your baby starts rolling to her stomach, she might be ready to drop the swaddle. This doesn’t necessarily mean your child is ready, but this is a big reason people stop swaddling–ready or not. A baby on her tummy without her hands available isn’t safe. If your baby can roll over, it might be time.
Once your baby starts rolling over during tummy time, watch for this to happen during naps. - Improved Motor Control: When baby has improved motor control and baby’s arms to randomly flail about, it is a good sign baby is ready to try to slseep without the swaddle. When baby’s startle reflex is gone, she might be ready.
Most babies seem to be ready to drop the swaddle between 3-6 months old (but don’t live by that age range–that is most, not all). All babies develop fine and gross motor skills at an individual rate. - Sleeping Habits: If your child is sleeping well and happily, you probably don’t need to push dropping the swaddle.
If your child is sleeping fitfully, consider dropping it. This is especially true if your child was sleeping well and then suddenly starts not sleeping well. There are, of course, other reasons for poor sleep, but make this a consideration.
Brinley showed no signs when I started her first arm out, but after a couple of weeks of that she started getting mad sometimes at nap time. It wasn’t a huge thing, but it was out of character. It wasn’t until I dropped the swaddle all together that she went back to happy.
Note that some people worry about baby being swaddled and reaching milestones on time. Brinley was swaddled for a long time and still met her milestones.
Common Ages for Dropping the Swaddle
Like I said, most babies seem to be ready to drop the swaddle sometime between 3-6 months of age.
There are, however, babies younger who drop the swaddle and babies older who drop the swaddle.
Most of all, don’t feel pressure to drop the swaddle or to keep the swaddle. If your baby needs to be swaddled longer than “most,” don’t worry about it! In a poll I did, reader Danielle commented:
“Looking back, I don’t know why I felt such pressure to stop swaddling her at 3 & 6 months. She clearly wasn’t ready at either of those times. I was letting other people’s comments make me feel insecure about my decision to swaddle. I should have known it wasn’t a big deal and that eventually when she was ready we would stop.”
I think this is the perfect comment for us to remember. She is absolutely right.
If your baby isn’t ready, so long as there is not a safety concern, you don’t need to push it. Your baby will be ready someday.
If you suspect your baby is ready to drop the swaddle, give it a try!
If you try and it doesn’t go well, go back to swaddling.
Methods for Dropping the Swaddle
The final big question people have is “How do I do it?”
I always like to do my testing during the final nap of the day–so typically the third or fourth.
This is often a “cat nap” (meaning it is 30-60 minutes long) and it is right before bedtime, so it isn’t going to throw the whole day off if things don’t go well.
I am really a big fan of taking things slowly. I find taking things slowly with babies means you keep things as smooth as possible.
Some people prefer to go “cold turkey” and have a rough week or so and then have it behind them. I don’t like rough weeks, but we all have different preferences and personalities so pick a method that rings true to you.
The method you choose will also depend on your reason for dropping the swaddle.
You might have a baby rolling over and need to go cold turkey because it is a safety issue. Maybe you have a time deadline and need to work within that time constraint.
Whatever method you choose, absolutely feel free to tweak any method to work best with your baby and your family.
Also, keep your same sleep routine. You just cut out the swaddle part of the nap routine or bedtime routine.
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| 3 moth old Kaitlyn with one arm out |
One-Arm Weaning
This is the method I have used for all of my girls (Brayden was never swaddled).
- I start on the third (or last) nap with one arm out of the swaddle. If the nap goes well enough for my liking, we continue on with this for a week.
- The next week, I leave one arm out for the last two naps of the day. The test of this nap is that baby needs to make it through a transition (the 45-60 minute mark into the nap). With the final nap, baby doesn’t transition typically. I do this for a week, making sure baby can transition well with one arm out.
- The third week, I leave one arm out for the first nap (assuming we have three naps). So at this point, one arm is out for all of our naps. If this goes well, I do this for 3-4 days, then…
- I leave one arm out for night sleep. We do this for 3-7 days.
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| 4 month old Kaitlyn with two arms out |
By now, it has been about a month since we started one arm out. You see this is a long process! Next I move on to phase two.
- I start on the third (or last) nap with two arms out of the swaddle. I still swaddle the trunk of the baby’s body. If the nap goes well enough for my liking, we continue on with this for a week.
- The next week, I leave two arms out for the last two naps of the day. The test of this nap, again, is that baby needs to make it through a transition (the 45-60 minute mark into the nap).
- The third week, I leave two arms out for the first nap (assuming we have three naps). At this point, both arms are out for all of our naps. If this goes well, I do this for 3-4 days, then…
- I leave one arm out for night sleep. If things go well, then we are done!
With Kaitlyn and McKenna, once we started the one arm out, things progressed smoothly through the weaning.
With Brinley, she did well with one arm, then when I tried two she was not happy.
So we waited two weeks or so until she started getting upset and we moved on to having both arms out.
You can definitely take this method faster than I do if your baby is able. You could take it to every few days you change, or you could do it so all naps are one-arm at the start, wait a week, then do night, wait a week, then all naps both arms out, etc.
Tweak the idea to fit you. It is a long transition process, but it works well!
You can see a sequence of photos of Brinley following this method in the photos below.
Sleep Aid or Transitional Swaddle
There are many items out on the market that help baby transition from swaddling. You might be able to continue swaddling with a different swaddle blanket.
Two examples of transitional blankets are the Zipadee Zip and Baby Merlin’s Magic Sleepsuit.
Many people love, love, love these transition suits. I would find them very helpful in a situation where your baby is rolling while swaddled but isn’t really ready to sleep without a swaddle.
I considered these products for Brinley since she was getting older and still wanting to be swaddled. I thought it could be a good transition item.
It definitely could be. If she was my first or second baby, I probably would have gotten one because I could use it later. I couldn’t justify spending the money, though, when there was no real need for us. It would have been something else to transition out of in the future.
So I decided to stick with the swaddling until she was ready to drop the swaddle altogether. You might find it helpful to purchase one of these.
Cold Turkey
Another popular method for dropping the swaddle is cold turkey. This means you just take the swaddle away one day and don’t look back.
Many people find with this method that there are 3-7 days of rough naps and night until baby gets used to it.
Combo
Some people do some combo of these ideas. Some start weaning slowly, and then move to just finishing the process cold turkey.
Always trust yourself in what you think your baby needs. Try it, if it doesn’t work out, tweak it and move forward.
Also, it is still okay to use white noise for baby even though you won’t have a swaddled baby.
Blankets After Dropping the Swaddle
If your baby needs extra blankets after you drop the swaddle, look into a sleep sack (the Halo Sleepsack is popular) or some sort of wearable blanket so your baby can stay warm and safe.
Sleeping with loose blankets in the crib is still a hazard with your baby, so avoid using those. You still want to practice safe sleep recommendations and avoid suffocation.
Will There Be Fussing When Dropping the Swaddle?
People often wonder if fussing means baby just shouldn’t drop the swaddle. The answer is maybe. Some fussing can be expected and can be normal. But if your baby is really ready, it shouldn’t be extreme crying for more than a few days.
I asked people on this blog When you stopped swaddling baby, was there a period of crying/fussing (no matter the length of time)?
Results:
Yes: 84 votes (34%)
No: 166 votes (66%)
Total of 250 votes
In a follow up poll, I asked If baby cried at all while dropping the swaddle, about how long did it last?
Results:
1 day or less: 45 votes (45%)
2-5 days: 39 votes (39%)
6-10 days: 5 votes (5%)
11-14 days: 1 vote (1%)
2-3 weeks: 5 votes (5%)
4-6 weeks: 2 votes (2%)
6-8 weeks: 0 votes (0%)
two months or more: 2 votes (2%)
This poll should really be encouraging to you if you are trying to drop your swaddle with your baby. 84% of babies who cried cried for less than one week. 45 % for only one day or less! Hang in there!
Angipas said: We actually dropped the swaddle BECAUSE of crying. Santiago was 3 months when he started wrestling with me every time I put on the swaddle. The first few times I thought, he was just being fussy for being too tired or just because. After several naps, I tried leaving one arm out and he went to sleep much faster a few weeks later, he went back to crying and complaining. We left both arms out and naps were back to normal. So, no crying while dropping swaddle just crying TO drop swaddle.
Ashley said: As Angipas said we dropped the swaddle because it was a bit of a struggle once in a while. Teagan was only 6 weeks when we got rid of it, she was already sleeping 8 hours at night and just didn’t seem to need to be swaddled. There was no crying involved with dropping the swaddle for us.
Conclusion
If you suspect your baby is ready to drop the swaddle, don’t be afraid to give it a try! Just think of how much easier it will be to change diapers for diaper changes at night.
If it doesn’t work, swaddle her back up and try again when you think she might be ready in the future. And again, don’t stress about it. Your baby will drop the swaddle when she is ready as an individual–on her own time table.
Poll Results from This Blog
Here are the results of a poll I took on this blog: What Age Did You Drop the Swaddle Completely?
Results:
1-4 Weeks: 20 votes (14%)
5-8 Weeks: 24 votes (17%)
9-10 Weeks: 10 votes (7%)
11-12 Weeks: 5 votes (3%)
3-4 Months: 20 votes (14%)
4-5 Months: 18 votes (12%)
6-8 Months: 16 votes (11%)
9-12 Months: 0 votes
12 Months or older: 0 votes
Not Yet!: 27 votes (19%)
Total of 140 votes
Poll Results: What Method Did You Use to Drop the Swaddle?
Results:
Cold turkey: 28 votes (29%)
Gradual weaning: 9 votes (9%)
Unwrap arms but leave trunk wrapped: 23 votes (23%)
Stopped nights/swaddled naps: 2 votes (2%)
Stopped naps/swaddled nights: 11 vote (11%)
Other: 6 votes (6%)
Still swaddling: 17 votes (17%)
Total of 96 votes
Poll Results Swaddling Discussion – 63 votes
- Did you swaddle your baby?
YES: 56 (89%)
NO: 7 (11%) - If yes, at what age did you stop swaddling your baby?
1 MONTH: 1 (2%)
2 MONTHS: 4 (7%)
3 MONTHS: 12 (21%)
4 MONTHS: 14 (25%)
5 MONTHS: 8 (14%)
6 MONTHS: 7 (13%)
8 MONTHS: 1 (2%)
9 MONTHS: 2 (4%)
N/A (hadn’t started yet): 8 (14%) - If yes, what method did you use to wean baby from swaddle? (examples are one-arm, cold-turkey, etc). Feel free to elaborate.
One-arm or another version of weaning: 20
Cold Turkey: 19
One-arm followed soon by cold turkey: 4
Transitioned into another type of sleep aid (like the Merlin’s Sleep Sack): 3
Baby Led: 1 - If yes, at what age was baby swaddle free?
1 MONTH: 1 (2%)
2 MONTHS: 1 (2%)
3 MONTHS: 8 (14%)
4 MONTHS: 12 (21%)
5 MONTHS: 5 (%)
6 MONTHS: 7 (13%)
7 MONTHS: 5 (9%)
8 MONTHS: 2(4%)
9 MONTHS: 2 (4%)
10 MONTHS: 2 (4%)
N/A (not done yet): 10 (18%) - In retrospect, do you have any advice for parents in regard to swaddling? One great piece of advice that was frequently given was essentially to stick with swaddling even if you aren’t so sure your baby likes it. I completely agree with this. There are a couple of comments about their baby not being swaddled and it being okay, so if you are vascilating on deciding if you should swaddle or not, reading through comments might bring you some insight.Another great piece of advice frequently given was so get a good swaddle blanket. My favorite advice given came from Danielle. She said:“Looking back, I don’t know why I felt such pressure to stop swaddling her at 3 & 6 months. She clearly wasn’t ready at either of those times. I was letting other people’s comments make me feel insecure about my decision to swaddle. I should have known it wasn’t a big deal and that eventually when she was ready we would stop.”
I love this comment! It really spoke to me because I feel that pressure with Brinley right now. She still has one arm swaddled and is NOT ready for two arms yet. I haven’t even had a comment from anyone about it–I just feel this pressure or like something is hanging over my head.
Reader Questions on Dropping the Swaddle
Emily said: Any advice on how to break the swaddle? My daughter has decided (at 7 weeks) that she HATES it, but she can’t handle without it b/c her arms are so spastic. So I’m letting her CIO with no swaddle and instead of the usual 5-15 minute cry, she’s crying as long as I let her….for both of her naps today I’ve gotten her after an hour and put her in the swing to put her to sleep. Now she’s wailing again! Is it too young for her to get “used” to having her arms out? Should I stick it out for a few more days? She hates her tummy so I don’t know if tummy sleeping would work. Thanks for your help!
Babywise Mom said: Emily, I would either try different forms of swaddling (there are lots of different blankets out there) or try different degrees of the swaddle. One arm partially out, one arm fully out (and which one), one arm fully out with the other partially…Find what her preference is. Good luck!
Abby said: We are in the process of trying to drop the swaddle with our 5.5 month old. It is not going well. We have started by just taking her arms out for naps. The few times we have tried she never goes to sleep. She will lay in there for two hours and go back and forth between screaming and then tapering off into a whine. She normally does not cry for naps at all. Do you think that we should just go back to the full swaddle or is she just going to have to CIO until she learns to get to sleep without the swaddle? Anyone have experience with this?
Babywise Mom said: It depends on the reason you are dropping the swaddle. If you think there is a saftey issue involved (some babies will roll over swaddled then be unable to roll back for example), then I would stick with it. If you were just trying it out, I think I would go back to swaddling for a bit and try again later.You could also try just having one arm out first. I did that with Kaitlyn for a while. Odd, but it is what she liked 🙂
Abby’s Mom said: Thanks for the advice. I am not really worried about a safety issue because she doesn’t roll over from back to tummy yet even when she is not swaddled. I went back to the full swaddle yesterday and she is going down easily again. Still takes her a half hour to go to sleep, but at least she goes to sleep and there is no crying! Guess I am just getting paranoid picturing her wanting to be swaddled still at 12 months! 🙂 She is a very big baby 28 inches and 20 lbs. We had to cut up a bed sheet to get something big enough and cool enough to swaddle her in!
Krystal said: Abby, My daughter is 8mo. now, but when we stopped swaddling her the only thing that finally worked was to put her down on her belly. I know that they say you shouldn’t do that, but it’s what she likes. I started only doing it for naps, and then continuing to swaddle at night, but around 6mo. we stopped swaddling completely. Now that she rolls, she sleeps on her side/tummy/and back. You might give it a try during a couple naps and see what happens. Maybe set up the playpen in a room where you are so that you can keep a close eye on her if you are worried about her being on her belly.
Babywise Mom said: You might try lengthening playtime just a bit. Whenever Kaitlyn would start to play before a nap suddenly, I would lengthen her playtime by only 5 minutes. That was usually enough to get her to go right t sleep.
Abby’s Mom said: I am not sure that Abby would go to sleep on her belly, as she absolutely HATES being on her belly still. I am sure this is the reason she is still not rolling over. Tummy time is always a struggle and she will usually only tolerate it for about 5 minutes at a time. Seems strange since she is getting close to 6 months. I am wondering if it is something I should mention to her pediatrician.Val- I think I may try different wake times and keep a log. I have just been putting her down when she starts rubbing her eyes which is always about 60-75 minutes after she woke last. Only problem with that is that she has never been a 2 hour napper. Naps are usually 45-75 minutes. She ALWAYS wakes during the transition (between 30-45 minutes) but will go back to sleep some (65%) of the time.
Krystal said: Abby, My daughter didn’t like being on her belly during her awake time either, but when I put her on her belly after about 10 min. of crying (the first time) she went right to sleep for 2hrs!! You might try it a couple of times just to see if she likes it. 🙂 good luck w/ whatever you try!
Jodie said: Hi, My daughter is 6.5 months old and still relies on being swaddled to fall asleep. We swaddle just one arm during the day to try and wean her off swaddling and she seems to be going ok. Though she often pulls her dummy out of her mouth then cries or spends ages staring at her fingers!! She is strong enough to get out of the swaddle during the night and often wakes up crying and unswaddled.Any other tips on how I wean her off at night? I’m not game to yet as she still isn’t sleeping through the night. But I’m worried she’s getting too old to swaddle…..Any thoughts on what age we should stop waddling baby? I wanted to get her unswaddled before she goes to day care but that may not be possible…..Jodie
Babywise Mom said: Jodie, it can take time for some babies. You just have to hang in there. If she likes being swaddled, you don’t HAVE to break it unless it is becoming a safety issue. As for age…it just depends on baby. Some say 3 months, but not all babies are ready by 3 months. At 6.5 months, a baby with no health issues should be able to sleep with out the swaddle without worry about reflexes messing up sleep.
LindsayJay said: Looking for anyone’s advice! My 5 month old is still swaddled, but is now waking at night (usually a 12 hour straight sleeper) because she has wiggled her arms out and it wakes her up–last night 3 times!!! We have decided to start dropping the swaddle (especially since she is rolling over), but our first attempt this evening was a failure! Put her in a sleeper sack, she went to bed and woke 45 mins into bedtime wailing. Waited for roughly 10 minutes before going in and deciding to swaddle her up again. So my question is this: do I just try and drop the swaddle cold-turkey again, or should I allow her to wiggle her arms out and then let herself put her back to sleep (thus basically helping her to sleep without the arms swaddled) I’m really concerned and I’m really wondering what I do. I am OK with CIO, but I’m not sure what avenue to take?
Babywise Mom said: I might try one arm at a time at first. But you also might want to be sure the waking is because of breaking out of the swaddle. Sometimes breaking out of the swaddle is a symptom of something else. So, she might be waking due to teething pain, then breaking out of the swaddle, then getting upset. If it is because of the swaddle, I would do one arm at a time, or just prepare yourself for some crying days.
Kameron said: My 8 month old still loves to be swaddled. She sleeps well like this and it still calms her down when she’s having a bad day. She can wiggle her arms out when she wants to, but sometimes prefers to stay bundled. My question is, if it’s working for her, do we need to drop it? What are some pros/cons on continuing to swaddle this long? I’m just curious for another opinion! Thanks!
Babywise Mom said: Many moms do swaddle until a year old. My concern with swaddling is just development physically. If she is developing and meeting physical milestones when she should, then there probably isn’t anything to worry about.
TnT said: I have a question, unrelated to swaddling. I wasn’t sure where to post it….sorry! I have a BW 5.5 month old who recently introduce to the jumperoo. He was in it for only about 20 mins. The next three days, he wouldn’t sit still in my lap anymore and is constantly doing that “jumping” motion. I want to train him to sit still in my lap for church, bible studies, restaurants, etc. Any advice for me? Should I introduce a form of discipline that communicates “sit still.” What would you do? Should I take away the Junperoo and put it back in the garage for a later day?
Babywise Mom said: TnT, I am honestly laughing because that is how Brayden was–but from three weeks old. Seriously!For home, would still have the jumperoo and let him get his workout in. It is just a new experience for him and he loves it. For church, you can do blanket time (see blog label) so he won’t be in a lap. Also, work on the art of distraction. At church, you want to respect others, so this is a context to use distraction.At home, practice sitting still for short periods so you can learn how to get him to do so and he can get used to doing it. Bring lots of toys and books with you places. When he gets old enough, he can have small finger foods, too. Good luck!
Anna said: My daughter is 7 1/2 months old and still likes to be swaddled too. I haven’t swaddled her arms for a couple of months now but she still likes her body to be swaddled. Should we be stopping since she’s getting a little older?
Babywise Mom said: Anna, my advice would be the same to you, with also the addition that Redheads brought up (Thanks Amy!). Safety can be a concern with swaddling–but with arms out, it shouldn’t be a big deal. Since her arms are out, I think you could do a sleep sack instead. We use the ones by Carters that have sleeves. Kiddopotomus make similar. If you live in a warm climate (or it is summer for you now), you might want to try the halo sleep sack because it doesn’t have arms.
lwicks said: We tried weaning our LO of the swaddle as he would get out in the middle of the night and have a hard time going back to sleep. I started with naps and tried just leaving his arms out, but he wakes up after 30-45 min and cries the rest of the time. Do they eventually get to the point where they can drop the swaddle on their own, or will it take CIO? I’m still curious as to Val’s suggestions, but so far here is what I’ve done to help minimize the swaddle issues. During the day for his naps, I’ve started letting him sleep on his tummy unswaddled (I know, I know, they tell you to put your baby on their back to sleep, but he’s almost 5 months old now, and we have the AngelCare movement sensor, so I figure we’re good :o) ). He sleeps really well for his naps this way, and I’m hoping it’s getting him used to not being swaddled. I tried having him sleep on his tummy the first night I had him on his tummy for his naps, but he woke up in the middle of the night and got mad since he isn’t a big fan on laying on his stomach. So at night I still swaddle him in his MiracleBlanket (which is a lifesaver! It’s worked the best of anything I’ve tried so far, and I’ve got a little houdini on my hands), and then I swaddle over his legs again with another blanket since he tends to kick out of the MiracleBlanket in the middle of the night (if there’s a way to break loose, this kid will figure it out – ha). Not sure if that helps anyone, but it’s what’s working for me so far!
Babywise Mom said: They will get used to it, but it can also be just an issue of not being ready. It sounds like you have seen some improvement. I would suggest you also see the blog label “swadding” for all of my advice on the subject.
AnneMarie said: I dropped the swaddle last night because my DD just learned to roll over. I have been dreading the day when it had to happen (she is 4 months) and I really worked myself up over it. I had tried last week to leave one arm out to see what would happen and she never went to sleep. I think I was making it a little bit more complicated than it was, at least for my daughter. This week, I noticed that every time I put her in the swaddle she would cry. She would go to sleep, but it was putting her in it that she hated. So, I made the hard decision with my husband to drop it last night and she did fabulous! She slept through the night! Since, I wanted to be consistent in my approach, I unswaddled her for her very first nap (very scary since this is her most important nap) and she took about 5min longer to get to sleep, but no crying, just singing herself to sleep. She has now been asleep for an hour! So, I know for me, I was making it more complicated then it had to be for her. 🙂
Sarah said: I have a four month old daughter, and we had to stop swaddling because she kept breaking out of the swaddle… a friend recommended the “baby merlin’s magic sleep suit” (google it!) and we got it yesterday. It is a miracle-worker!! I would recommend it to anyone who is having sleep problems and extra night-waking! The magic sleep suit works like a swaddle in that it muffles your baby’s movements and helps soothe them to sleep. But they can’t break out of it like a swaddle! If weaning from the swaddle really doesn’t go well, you could try the suit! It has ended up working even better for my daughter than the swaddle ever did.
Hannah said: We used the SwaddleMe for our son and decided to break him of it once he reached the weight limit on it (14 lbs). He was only 2 1/2 months but was starting to get an arm out every time he went down for naps and it would wake him early. So my husband and I decided to get rid of it. It took two nights of him waking every two hours, and then we would go in and put his paci back in, and by night three, he was used to sleeping without it. I just made sure he had warmer pajamas on so that he wasn’t cold if he kicked his blankets off. It worked for us!
