How to get a baby to sleep after stopping the swaddle
Stopping the swaddle when a baby starts rolling often causes constant waking and nap refusal, leaving infants unable to stay asleep in the crib for longer than an hour. This sudden sleep disruption forces exhausted parents into desperate attempts like endless rocking, walking, and resorting to nightly cosleeping just to get some rest.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1trying every possible way to make the baby sleep like rocking, walking, and swayingDid this help you?
- 2leaving one arm out of the swaddle first, then two armsDid this help you?
- 3transitioning to a sleeping bag or sleep sackDid this help you?
- 4cosleepingDid this help you?
- 5adjusting bedtime earlier or laterDid this help you?
- 6trying different sleeping sacks or magic merlin suitsDid this help you?
- 7Swaddling arms outDid this help you?
- 8Using a transition swaddle like the Zipadee-ZipDid this help you?
- 9Accepting broken sleep from the startle reflexDid this help you?
- 10Breastfeeding the baby to sleepDid this help you?
- 11Having the baby nap in a pram while on a walkDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Ever since he started to roll and we had to discontinue use of his favorite arms up sacks, he will not stay asleep in the crib at bedtime and beyond for longer than an hour.”source ↗
“We’ve been cosleeping with him almost every night since 3.5 months while still attempting the crib every single night.”source ↗
“My 9.5 month old baby has only ever napped on me”source ↗
“My issue is, I can get very little done during the day (ie prep her meals which u already find overwhelming) because she needs to nap on me or on a walk”source ↗
“the arms to cot transfer 9 times out of 10 doesn’t work. She either wakes immediately or about 10 - 20 minutes after.”source ↗
“We were in the same boat. My daughter just turned 6 months and we’re still co sleeping.”source ↗
“We were only able to swaddle for like 2 weeks and the amount of startling awake was awful, but at least we didn’t have to transition out of it I guess.”source ↗
“she hasn't slept since around 9:30 in the morning. I’ve tried every possible way I can think of, with the swaddle, without the swaddle, rocking, walking, swaying, everything… but unfortunately, nothing seems to be working.”source ↗
“I’m constantly crying and thinking, what am I doing wrong? Why is my baby not sleeping?”source ↗
“Result: she hasn't slept since 9.30 in the morning”source ↗
“I swaddled them arms out last night in the halo but the startle reflex made it tough for them to stay asleep.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 10How to transition a toddler from baby bottles to cups
- 5When is it actually okay to move a baby to their own room?
- 2How do you take care of a newborn all alone?
- 5How to keep a crawling baby safely contained while doing chores
- 16Why won't my baby sleep in the crib?
- 10Why won't my baby nap anywhere except being held?