Man, the things I never knew existed until becoming a parent. For example: babies may have a hard (understatement of the century) time being weaned from the swaddle.
I had such great intentions of starting the guest bathroom soon, but then this little situation abruptly “interrupted” my plans.
When Kennedy was about 5-6 weeks old we were introduced to The Happiest Baby on the Block. 
It was like voodoo magic on how to hush a crying baby…and we loved it (hushing the crying baby, not the voodoo)! Ever since then, Kennedy has been faithfully swaddled for each nap and nighttime sleep.
A short time ago Kennedy started to roll from her back to her stomach and we knew that it was time to stop the swaddling. Another reason we needed to stop is because she has a little bit of plagiocephaly from her torticollis. Basically she has a flat spot on the side of her head from her early days of only turning her head in one direction.
We went cold turkey the first try. Yeah, that was no good for anyone.
I read every article on the first 4 pages of Google when searching for how to wean babies from swaddling. I tried everything– one arm out, legs only out, cry it out….yadda, yadda, yadda. Nothing was working and it just left both Kennedy and myself in tears by the end of the day & I’d give up and swaddle her so she could at least get some rest at night.
I read about the Baby Merlin’s Magic Sleepsuit, but Kennedy was already rolling over so that was not an option for her. Then I kept seeing people talk about the Zipadee-Zip. I was desperate. The website was convincing. So we bought one.
It arrived late yesterday.
Today was my first day using it.
Today has been significantly better than the past two days. Nowhere near perfect, but better.
So, all that to say it may be another few days before I can start back with the bathroom.
Oh, and how cute is my kid? It’s ridiculous. She melts me & fills me with so much pride!
5 responses to “Hold the Bathroom — I’ve got a baby to unswaddle”
Don’t tell anyone but we swaddled Ryder until he was 6 months old. #thestruggleisreal #swaddleanddon’tcare
Courtney! Kennedy will be 6 months in less than 2 weeks! If she didn’t have flat head problems I bet we’d still be swaddling;-)
Emily, we still swaddle, shush, sway, side, and suck! Lol! K still screams. I feel your pain, confinement, and tiredness. I’m right there with you…even quit my job due to lack of sleep!
One thing I have started doing is swaddling K to get her to sleep and then undo the swaddle off because she gets so hot. She will sleep 3-4 hour increments. Granted, she’s never slept through the night! Let me know how it works out!
swaddle then unswaddle once she’s asleep…now that’s an idea! 🙂
My daughter Maggie will be 5 months this weekend and just barely rolled over from back to tummy this past weekend. We are AVID swaddlers. I have been dreading this ‘weaning from swaddle’ moment for months. I have also seen the zip a dee zip thingamabob and almost bought one – but then paused at check out because of the price. I would love to hear if this is the magic ticket or not. When Maggie is unswaddled at bedtime her hands are all over her head, her ears, her face and keeps herself up. I also tried the one arm out trick, but then she got a cold and was having trouble sleeping, so put the arm back in. Cold is almost over so thinking about trying the one arm out trick again. Let us know how it goes!!