You may know, first-hand, the benefits of swaddling your newborn baby. Swaddling, the practice of wrapping your infant tightly* in a blanket to limit his arm and leg movements, is known to help soothe babies. It’s also known to help babies sleep better (something we’re all very interested in doing, right?) Swaddling prevents your baby from flailing or “startling” awake, which can mean better, longer naps and more sleep at night. But, when should you stop swaddling?
When to Wean Your Baby From Swaddling
There comes a time, though (around 4-6 months, on average) when swaddling stops being the magical cure-all it once was. You may find that your baby starts “busting out” of her swaddle, getting an arm or a leg free. That can be sign that you need to get a better swaddling blanket or to learn a better swaddling technique; it can also be a sign that it’s time to stop swaddling.
Or, you may find that your baby starts fighting the swaddle — she may cry after being swaddled or strain to get an arm or a leg out. If she truly hates the swaddle (and isn’t crying from overtiredness), then swaddling isn’t likely to improve her sleep.
Finally, some parents reach a point at which they have to wean their baby from the swaddle simply because the baby’s getting so big; those swaddle blankets only go up to a certain size, after all! And, if your baby is rolling, it can become a safety hazard.
How to Wean Your Baby From Swaddling
You don’t necessarily need any specialty products to wean your baby from his swaddle. You can use the old tried-and-true method of swaddling him with his legs out (leaving his arms wrapped). Once your baby’s comfortable with that, you can swaddle him with legs free and one arm free. Some parents also start with one arm, but keep the legs wrapped, which can work, too. Either way, eventually, you’ll be able to take away the swaddling blanket altogether.
Doesn’t that sound easy? So straightforward! So simple! At least, it is for some babies; for others, the process of weaning away from the swaddle is nothing but hard. If that’s the case for your baby, it may be worth investing in a specialty product, one that’s designed to help your baby transition away from swaddling. We have come across two products (no affiliation) that may help in your upcoming adventure and you have a chance to win one (see below)!
The Swaddle Strap
One swaddle weaning product we love is the Swaddle Strap by Anna & Eve. This is an “arms only” swaddling product, making it perfect for transitioning your baby from a full swaddle to no swaddle, when you want to start with allowing the legs to be free, first.
The Swaddle Strap’s unique two-strap design ensures baby’s safety, while the little “arm pillows” fit snugly over baby’s arms, making it virtually impossible for baby to break free of the swaddle. As Anna and Robert (creators of the product) put it, even their own daughter, a “baby Houdini”, couldn’t worm her way free from the Swaddle Strap!
The Swaddle Strap’s design makes it ideal for warm weather (something those of us in the U.S. are experiencing right about now), since it doesn’t require you to wrap baby in a heavy blanket. And, since your baby’s legs are free, it’s easy to keep him swaddled during diaper changes (something swaddle blankets don’t allow for).
This video clip shows how easy it is to use the Swaddle Strap. It’s worth watching, if only so you can catch the baby’s adorable little giggle at the end! 😉
The Zipadee-Zip
Another product we think is completely cool: the Zipadee-Zip! Innovative product? Super cute name? Yes to both! The Zipadee-Zip is specially designed to wean your baby away from her snug swaddle blanket. It’s sweet star-shape design allows a baby freedom of movement, while still keeping baby feeling snug and safe.
Zipadee-Zip comes in two materials: lightweight, breathable cotton (to ensure baby stays cool) or heavier fleece (perfect for colder weather!) Even better? Zipadee-Zip blankets are available in a variety of cute patterns, so it’ll be easy to find one your baby loves. And when we say “your baby”, we of course mean “you.” 😉
If you’re planning to use a Zipadee-Zip to wean your baby from his swaddle, note this tip from the Zipadee-Zip site:
“SIZING TIP: A smaller fit often aids in the transition from swaddle-time to sleep-time. Many parents will get a size Small and a size Medium so that once the transition is made off of the swaddle, the baby can be moved to a size Medium for full arm extension and freedom of movement.”
Whether you use a product to wean your baby from her swaddle or not, keep in mind that weaning itself, of any kind, can be challenging. Be prepared to be patient, and stay in tune with your baby. If the first few nights (or naps) of weaning from the swaddle are just terrible, there’s no shame in putting off the weaning by a week or two and then trying again! You’ll guide the process, obviously, but your baby’s a part of things, too. 🙂
Nicole’s Note:
“As with many new things, it will take your baby time to adjust. The first few days may be the most difficult, but if you slept with a pillow for a long time and then your doctor told you you couldn’t, wouldn’t you take a few days/weeks to adjust, too? :)”
*Babies who are regularly swaddled very tightly can develop a condition called developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). This serious condition can lead to limping, pain, and arthritis. Check out this article for more information.
Please be sure to pick up your FREE copy of 5 (tear-free) Ways to Help Your Child Sleep Through the Night, our e-Book with tear-free tips to help your baby sleep better. For those persistent nighttime struggles, check out The 3-Step System to Help Your Baby Sleep (babies) or The 5-Step System to Better Toddler Sleep (toddlers). Using a unique approach and practical tools for success, our e-books help you and your baby sleep through the night and nap better. For those looking for a more customized solution for your unique situation with support along the way, please consider one-on-one baby and toddler sleep consultations, where you will receive a Personalized Sleep Plan™ you can feel good about! Sometimes it’s not that you can’t make a plan. Sometimes you’re just too tired to.
Giveaway
As an added extra bonus, we will be giving away one Zipadee-Zip and one Swaddle Strap. Use the entry form below to enter to win one of these adorable swaddling products. Giveaway ends Monday, July 16 at 11:59 pm ET.
Disclosure: The Baby Sleep Site received a complimentary Swaddle Strap and Zipadee-zip for review purposes but has not been otherwise compensated for its reviews of these products.
These 2 products look really good. I swaddled my baby in a SwaddleMe product from 4 months (when she started waking lots!) and it worked amazingly well. She fought it about 2 mins but then she’d just give up and go to sleep! Tha only lasted a few nights. It ended 2 hourly Wakings immediately! She used to fuss so much, rub her eyes and tug her long hair. At roughly 5.5-6 months, she fought it so much she would start to wake herself so I bought a Woombie, which is a 4way stretchy sleeping bag ith no arms. It was perfect. She was sleeping through the night amazingly, answer to my prayers! I was so worried about stopping completely ur restricting her, but I had to at about 7 months as she kept rolling on her front. I used a Transitional Woombie and it was brilliant, she continued sleeping no problem. I would definitely swaddle from birth next time, and continue to do so though the well known 4-5 month wakeful period, I’m so certain it would help. Good luck to everyone! X
With my 21mo old we used the arms only method with a regular swaddle blanket and it ended up wrapped around his head! I freaked! So these products are looking like the route to choose for our 2 month old. She loves being swaddled all the time and really needs it for settling down. We use a Miracle blanket at night Not looking forward to weaning her off it
I used a wrap me UP swaddle with my lil fella and I started trying to wean him off it at 3 months, when he grew out of the ones I had but sleep went to heck so I bought the next size up and continued to use it until he one day rolled over onto his tummy while zipped in and I was worried he wouldn’t be able to roll back without his arms to help him.
That was at about 6 months. He was a bit unsettled for a few days but transitioned into a sleeping bag pretty easily.
I’m still swaddling my 18lb 1 year old with a traditional Woombie. He will NoT sleep without it. My dr says its ok to swaddle up to 18 months, but I’m wondering if he is too old now? He seems to like the swaddle even though he does fight it some nights. Any thoughts?
I forgot to mention that we keep the a/c lower also because baby is still swaddle and we don’t want him to get too hot.
We also really liked Baby Merlin’s Magic Sleepsuit to transition from swaddling. It worked very well for us. It did take a few days to transition out of the suit lately, but it went well.
There were so many fewer choices just two years ago when we had our first. I believe it was the miracle blanket we used that was helpful during the transition period, because it allowed for leg movement.
@ Katie — thanks for sharing these specifics! We’ve heard loads of great things about the Woombie, too 🙂
@ Laura — we like the Miracle Blanket too! And yes, that’s the danger of swaddling with a plain old blanket; works for some, but the risk of putting a blanket in the crib seems too high for others.
@ amy — thanks for commenting! Sound like transitioning out of the swaddle wasn’t too excruciating for your little one 🙂
@ Angel — not sure what the upper limit for swaddling is. I know most people transition their babies out of it before the 12 month mark, but (as your doc mentioned), I don’t think that has to happen. Maybe other commenters will have more info on that…
@ Marie-France — that one looks cute, too 🙂 Thanks for commenting!
@ Vanessa — isn’t it amazing how quickly baby gear evolves? My oldest is 5 1/2, and I’m just amazed at how many cool new baby items there are out there now that didn’t exist when my oldest was a little baby.
We are working on weaning our 5 mo dd from her swaddle. We use a blanket and keep her arms out so she can roll and move and lift her head. I think the Zipadee Zip would be a great next step for her. I like the other product too,but DD likes her arms out. I think she likes the snugness around her body since a sleep sack didn’t really work for her.
I’m in the process of trying to wean my baby off the swaddle right now & it’s pretty rough going… These products both look good. Maybe I’ll win 😉
@ Mandy — isn’t the Zipadee Zip so neat? And I think it’s perfect for babies who (like your daughter) like some movement for their arms and legs.
@ Erica — Glad this article was timely! 🙂
We used the miracle blanket for 4 months, and it was a lifesaver! However, weaning from it was horrible. We both cried! 🙁 I do like the idea of the swaddle strap because that’s what we did with the miracle blanket-left his feet out. Still transitioning is hard on both parents and baby. I wish I would have known about these items when we transitioned tho!
@ Joni — sorry to hear transitioning from the swaddle was so hard 🙁 Makes you wonder how our grandmothers survived baby-raising with such limited, basic baby gear!
We swaddled for bedtime then after the first night feed swaddled with arms out then after a few days transition to bedtime with arms out the into a sleep sack after a few more days. The first week was the toughest but we stuck with it and it eventually stuck.
I am a new soon-to-be mom so I have not expirenced swaddling. But I am getting great advice from the other mom’s post for future reference.
@ Indya — good tips! Sounds like you had a nice progression to ease your baby gently from swaddling.
@ Monica Powell — so glad you found our site! Aren’t our readers great? Spend long enough trolling through our blog articles, and you’ll find LOADS of specific tips that’ll be helpful to you once your little one arrives. 🙂
I would love to wean my baby off the swaddle…she can sometimes get out of the miracle blanket which is pratically impossible. I just ordered a swaddle strap to see if it works!
I used a peke moe swaddle sack to allow him to suck his fingers and soothe while keeping warm. He is cozy and nice in it! Though he is growing long, i’m looking for alternatives. It was very difficult to wean him from the swaddle, and he needs to feel somewhat cozy and secure, so the peke moe worked best for us.
@ Shannon — yay! Hope it arrives soon. That product looks so cool to me, and the video demonstrating how to use it just melted my heart. That baby is ADORABLE.
@ Nina Aggarwal — I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the peke moe. Could you include a link to it, in case other moms might be interested? Thanks!
My 4mo old sleeps much better swaddled (in a SwaddleMe right now) and we’re looking for ideas for transitioning. The problem is he loves to suck his fingers which I think will be a big help with self-soothing, but neither of these products will allow for that. Any other ideas that could let him suck his fingers, but still give him a snug feeling? (And FYI he refuses binkies.) I am dreading this transition bc my 3yo was a thmb sucker that busted out of swaddling from the beginning so this is all new to me!
I just wanted to leave a comment to say that my son started breaking out of his swaddle around 5 months (much like many others on here) which was causing him to wake up a lot – devastating to my husband and I cuz he had been sleeping through the night since he was about 6 weeks old! So we tried the Zipa-dee-Zip and we LOVE IT. It took a few night for him to adjust to it but he’s now 8 months old and he sleeps wonderfully through the night (about 10 hours) in his Zipa-dee-zip and he loves it. Just putting him in it seems to be a cue for him that it’s sleep time. I think he loves the freedom of being able to roll around and use his arms freely but still feels cuddled up since his arms and hands are fully covered. I recommend it to everyone and Stephanie (the creator) is great and super responsive to any questions/concerns you may have about the product!
We swaddled our daughter in a Swaddle Strap when a friend at a new mom’s group showed me hers. I thought it was safer to use with a wearable blanket, and our baby loved the swing when she was a newborn, and with the strap, we could put her in there swaddled and still secure the safety harness. Just as this article says, for a couple of weeks before we stopped swaddling, she would regularly pull her left arm out, and wake herself up by rubbing her face. We’d have to get up to re-swaddle once or twice a night. Finally, around 4 months, she learned how to turn over from her back to her stomach and the pediatrician told us we should no longer swaddle. So we stopped it gradually, by still strapping it around her chest, but not sticking her arms in. It was tough at first because she would roll over on her stomach and not know how to roll back over, and she would wake up and cry. But after about 3 weeks of that, she got the hang of rolling both ways, and we removed the strap entirely. But I tell you, she slept great all swaddled up in her little Swaddle Strap by Anna & Eve. Another bonus is that it is easy to carry around, doesn’t take up much space in a diaper bag or in a suitcase for travel. It’s a great product! Weaning was easy with the Swaddle Strap (besides the fact that our daughter learned how to roll the wrong way first). Most people would find it even easier than we did.
I’m still working on weaning, but I have been eying the Swaddle Strap for 2 months. I think it will help!
@angel – I think ul know when the time is right. Until you feel it is,I wouldn’t worry as the Woombie isn’t restrictive and I think that’s what you’re using? My lil one started to really fight the Woombie so I put her into the Woombie convertible,really expected her to start pulling her hair and ears but she adapted absolutely fine. Slept right through as usual.
@alyssa – perhaps a Woombie convertible? It’s 4wsay stretch so its snug but arms can be in or out (it has poppers). Or a SwaddleMe graduate. Arms can be out but you can still wrap the wrap around bit under the armpits (I found the one I bought the wrap around bit on the graduate was far too big). Or how about the swaddle strap (above) but just wrap it round the body under armpits so it feels snug on the body? Wow we can be creative wen we want sleep lol!! Good luck xx
@ Alyssa — looks like @ Katie has good advice for you (better advice than I would’ve been able to give!) Those two products might be worth checking out.
@ Negar — thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Zipadee Zip! Glad to hear it worked so well for you; we hope it’ll be the solution for other parents, too 🙂
@ Michelle — what a glowing review! Glad to know the Swaddle Strap was useful for you. And that’s a benefit I hadn’t thought of — that it’s easy to transport, being so small. Good call 🙂
@ Valerie — sounds like it might be time to take the plunge and buy one 😉
@ Kate — thanks for your helpful comment 🙂 I know it’ll be useful for other moms!
These tips are great! I haven’t been able to wean my baby yet, and I’m hoping this will help. Thanks
@ Molly Bussler — glad you found the article helpful! Good luck with the weaning 🙂
In the process of weaning my almost 4 month old. It is not a fun process, waking up every hour sometimes less and I am not a fan of cry it out.
@jessica – have you thought about waiting a while and trying again in a few weeks or month or 2? I only started swaddling at 4 months, not sure how else i’d have got through months 4-6! Some really useful products out ther to try, have a read if all the comments xx
@ Jessica — I second @ Katie; maybe try waiting a few weeks and then attempting again. Or, if you’re weaning because your baby’s suddenly started rolling over or something and you’re freaked out about having a blanket in the crib, you could consider switching to a different swaddle product that’d be safer (like the two we review in this article.)
Let us know how it goes, and what ends up working for you!
We have had great success using the Zippadeezip! Our son was swaddled from day 1 until around 5 months when he became strong enough to break his arms free & wake himself up. He transitioned wonderfully to his “zippy” & we haven’t gone back to the swaddling one time since. Highly recommend this product!
@ Jessica — thanks for commenting! Nice to have a first-hand endorsement for the Zipadee Zip 🙂
I used the SwaddleMe wraps with both of my kids to help them sleep for more consecutive hours at a time. But, with both, we had to quit the swaddling “cold turkey” at about 3 months old because they were so good at rolling over, they would roll over in their sleep all swaddled up (and both are tummy sleepers still today). It took a few weeks of horrible sleep for them to learn to sleep unswaddled.
@ Morgan — thanks for commenting! Glad to hear you survived the weaning process. 😉
I haven’t actually weened my daughter from the swaddle. She is currently in e swaddleme wraps but can bust out easily. She’s 4 months old right nie. I am looking for something to help,usmtransitiom.
@ Kristel — Thanks for commenting!
I haven’t had to wean them yet, but loved reading all these comments for great tips!
Glad you found the post (and comments!) helpful, Christy. Thanks for commenting!
We found the Zipadee-Zip during our research on weaning our little guy off of the swaddle. He was almost 4 months old at the time. It didn’t work out when we first tried it out, but we waited a few weeks, and presto….magic! He is now 6 1/2 months old, and he loves his Zippy!
@ Jennifer Burch — Awesome! So glad to hear the Zipadee-Zip worked for you. And good call on the waiting a few weeks; sometimes, that’s all our little ones need 😉
The Zipadee Zip is awesome! It really only took a couple of days for him to get adjusted from the swaddle to the Zipadee Zip … it wasn’t bad at all. (Even during the dreaded 4 month sleep regression!) Now when we put him in it before naps and bedtime he smiles and coos. And after naps he doesn’t like it when I take it off right away! It has worked wonderfully for us!
I’m in the process of weaning my son from his swaddleme, and considering using the zipadee zip.
@ Erin and @ karin — Wow! So many votes of confidence for the Zipadee-Zip. Thanks for sharing, ladies — your recommendations are helpful to our readers. 🙂
we used a Peke Moe too – they have been around for quite a while (our first child we used it with is 6 now! haha) our youngest who is 7 months transitioned perfectily into it to. I think the zipadee thing is kind of simillar to the Peke Moe? looks similar. we got ours directly from New ZEaland via the website http://www.pekemoe.co.nz. some babies need these type of aids.. both of ours have.
@ Sarah — thanks for sharing that URL! Will be helpful to moms who want to explore all their options 🙂
We got the ZipaDeeZip for our son to transition from the swaddleme at 4 months. It was a bessing! He slept as well. We moved on to a sleep sac with free arms at around 7 months. Summer came with the heat and that was too hot. At 11 months, when crawling and standing up began to be much more fun than sleeping, we put him back in the Zip just wearing a diaper… We went from being up allnight to sleeping soundly again!!! I so recommend it!
@ Jules — thanks for sharing these details! Always nice to have first-hand recommendations like yours. 🙂
I would only like to comment on the ZipaDeeZip…tried to purchase recently and no luck, the money has not been collected from my PayPal account though and pity cos neither of my emails was answered. I was really desperate as my daughter was almost 9months old! What i did i took one of my longer t-shirts and have sawn the sleeves together and put a zip on the bottom and adjusted the neck line…believe me it did not need magic skills to do it but it works wonders for the transition time. ZipaDeeZip idea was great!!! First used it during the day for few weeks and then during night too and then finally got rid of it altogether:)
@ MONIKA S — Thanks for sharing this neat idea! Would be a good solution for all of our crafty readers who’ve been blessed with sewing skills. I’m definitely not, but I’m sure some of our readers are!
Thanks again for commenting, Monika!