All About Our Swaddling Experience - Transitioning with Swaddle UP

Jett is now four months old and has been sleeping through the night (hooray!!) since around 2.5 months! I count my blessings everyday with my sleeping baby, and I know that we lucked out with a naturally good sleeper, but I'm a big believer in getting Jett to stick to a routine, knowing he really thrives on a good schedule and that ultimately it translates to a good night's sleep. I am not super-strict about his schedule - if we have to deviate a little bit - that’s ok, but I do try to stay in a predictable flow as much as possible.

Another huge component of his good sleeping regimen has been finding the right swaddle that works best for him..which is ever-changing as he continues to grow and get older. I have had so many questions about how we swaddle Jett and how we have transitioned him over the last several weeks and it definitely has been a bit of trial and error as we have found some swaddles working better than others at each stage. I remember in the early weeks, the thought of eventually moving to no swaddle at all seemed both scary and daunting - I imagined Jett waking himself up constantly and envisioned no sleep for anyone! Thankfully, this has not been our experience, and I thought I would share our swaddling journey through the last four months, and address some of the questions we have received about it.

We first started with a swaddle with the velcro wrap which worked really well when he was small. He grew out of the newborn size so quickly. What I first noticed about Jett's sleeping habits was that at around 8 weeks or so he really hated to have his hands swaddled to his sides. I did some research about other swaddles than his standard sleep sack because I knew he probably wasn't ready to sleep entirely swaddle-free, but wanted to see if there were any other options out there that might work better for him.

My online-searching led me to find the Love-to-Dream Swaddle Up which allows babies to be swaddled and feel safe and secure but with their arms up instead of down to their sides. When I saw the design, I knew I had to try it and I ordered our first Love-to-Dream swaddle when Jett was about 2 months old.

We first tried it with a nap and Jett happily and peacefully snoozed away in his Love-to-Dream Swaddle Up! I was so happy that he could finally sleep with his arms not pinned to his side, and he woke up all smiles as if to say - thanks mom!! I put the video of his post-nap smiles in his swaddle on my Instagram stories, and it still today is my FAVORITE clip of him of all time. Just a happy little boy in what we called his "starfish"! I had so many questions about it, as it seems a lot of other mama's experience the same with their little ones - some babies just want their arms up when they sleep!

After our successful nap we then graduated to nighttimes in his Love-To-Dream Swaddle Up and Jett did great with the transition! We soon cut out our 2 am feeding as he reached around 2.5 months and was sleeping continuously through the night 7:30- 5:00.. with his wake up time slowly stretching out until around 6, which is where we are at today.

About three weeks ago, we decided it would be time to try one arm out- one arm in. He is close to rolling over from back to front so we knew it was time to start moving toward swaddle free sleep and wanted to make the transition easier by starting with one arm out. Love-to-Dream also has a transitional 50/50 swaddle made just for this purpose with zip off arms, so we decided to try it since we had success with the full one. We had one or two failed attempts (it could be that I just didn't give him enough time to settle) but we kept trying and before we knew it he was sleeping through the night with ease! We now zip off his right sleeve so that his right arm can be out (his favorite hand to suck on to self-soothe in the middle of the night).

Currently were close to being swaddle-free completely thanks to our slow-transition process. On nights where he seems extra tired we have tried no -swaddle with success! - that first night he slept in nothing but his footy pajamas, I can't tell you how proud and excited I was!! We still are using our Love to Dream 50/50 Swaddle Up for his naps and on nights that I can tell he needs a little extra comfort, but very happy with our progress and I know it won't be long now!

If you think your baby hates to have their arms pinned and may benefit from sleeping with his/her arms up, definitely give the Love to Dream Swaddle Up a try! You can find them here on the Love to Dream website, or in your local Target or Buy Buy Baby!

So proud of baby Jett! Way to sleep little fella!! We love you!