Hi all, Our baby is almost six months old and for a few months now he has had to be swaddled in order to sleep. This has been working a treat for quite a while since he's such a fidget, the swaddle keeps him still enough to get off to sleep without fiddling around! However, now he's getting bigger he is regularly escaping from his swaddle, namely by pulling his arms out. This results in him waking a couple of times a night and us having to re-swaddle him. I know he can't be swaddled for ever and I am quite keen to try and wean him off it and get him into a sleeping bag, but he finds it very hard to sleep with "free arms" because he's always waving them around, pulling out his dummy, and generally keeping himself awake! I'm guessing that the only way out of this is to just put him in a sleeping bag and just spend a few broken nights of sleep while he gets used to it, but does anyone know of anything else that might work or help him get to sleep without the swaddle? Thanks, Jess x

Thanks ellieamber and mumshelper for your replies. We went cold turkey with the swaddle and we had a tough few daytime naps and nights -- it wasn't fun for a while! -- but it seems to be working. For his daytime naps he is now wrapped in a blanket below his armpits, so he has his arms free, and at night he's in a sleeping bag. We give him a dummy which he inevitably pulls out, but we also give him a teddy bear to keep his hands occupied and this seems to work. If there are times when he's really not getting to sleep we turn him on his tummy and he nods off almost instantly because he can't wave his arms around so much. I'm happy to do this with him now as he can roll over on his own anyway. By the way, I did try the socks on hands but they were off within a minute! So my advice for anyone is just perseverance. It doesn't seem like a magical solution and it's not the easy way but it will kick in after a little while! Jess x

Hi, I am just dealing with this problem at the moment with a client. Yes, the only way now that he has come out of the swaddling is to put him in a sleeping bag, but cover his hands with white cotton socks, so that he can not put his hands in his mouth, but also so he can not pull the dummy out of his mouth. What I would say is that you will have to have a few broken nights sleep, but he will eventually get used to not being swaddled. Also, what you don't want to do is keep going back in to put the dummy back in his mouth. It might be worth trying to settle him without the dummy - and again will involve a few broken night's sleep, but eventually he will get used to settling himself and you won't be running into his room every time the dummy falls out. Baby sleeping bags are aailable from most baby shops now and you can buy the right tog for the temperature of his room.

Hi Jess, OH MY GOD, your little boy sounds like just like mine, he too is almost six months and no matter what will not sleep without being swaddled. I am currently in the process of control crying and upto now it has been ok, but only four nights in! I too am keen to get Charlie out of the swaddle and he is a real fidgit, always knocking his dummy out. So i have started a strict routine with him. He gets up at 7am for breakfast and playtime, he has a mid morning nap between 9am and10.30am, usually on the way back from school, in his pushchair, without a dummy or swaddle, i wake him at 10.30am, change him, feed him and play until about 12.30pm, when i put him to sleep in his cot, without the dreaded swaddle. At first he cried for a while, but today is the first time he has fallen asleep without the swaddle or his dummy. So daytie i hope is cracked and if he can do it in the day he can do it at night. I gave him his tea at 4pm today, 45 minutes earlier and kept him going until 6pm when i bathed him and got him ready for bed. He was so tired that he polished his bottle off and fell straight to sleep without the swaddle or dummy, and upto now i have only been back in once to give him his dummy. My advce is to do it in the daytime when you are not so tired and when he cracks that one go straight onto the night time. Good luck and let me know how your little man does! take care..xxxx