Ok, I know some of you are wondering....isn't Callum 6 months?? It feels "old" to be swaddling for me too. Here's the situation. I've always swaddled my babies. (Unless they are in bed with me! :) ) Liam and Fiona both grew out of it on their own at just over 4 months. Callum hasn't. He is however, now old enough and strong enough to pull himself out of the swaddle and then proceed to have an endless screaming/crying fit because he won't fall asleep like that. [whatwacko] I have tried just eliminating the swaddle entirely, and it was a complete bust. He didn't go to sleep for *hours*. We're talking more than three. (Not to worry...I didn't just let him cry the whole time. ;) )

Just looking for input....what would you do here? Would you just treat this like any other 'sleep training' issue? With the weather warming, I don't want to be swaddling him for much longer anyway. He is just so stubborn on this issue...it's going to be a tough habit to break.

My second was like that!! Until 8 months I had to wrap him up and have him scream when he unwrapped....finally he outgrew it....for awhile though, I had to get x-large flannel receiving blankets that were really light weight for summer! and use those...since they were bigger, he didn't get out as bad....I just started wrapping them looser and looser and after a couple of months slowly loosening them he came around....
Good luck!

Hmm...I was wondering if I was going to have to go the route of the bigger blanket. As much as it would just be easier for him to figure it out, I'm not sure I'm willing to deal with the battle right now....

E liked to swaddled too until he was almost a year, obviously he wasn't wrapped just as tightly as you would a newborn or younger baby but we would just use a large peice of cloth. Looking back now I kind of understand why he wanted to be swaddled for that long!
He still loves his blankets and will sleep with 3 comforters on his bed on top of him :)

You could give the "Miracle Blanket" a try. I think Target sells them around here. They actually have "poclets for their hands and feet, then the blanket wraps around them, to keep them from unwrapping themselves.

Jayne, I've already started to wonder if Callum is going to be a "blankie" kid as opposed to a "stuffie" kid. His blanket is soooo important! lol

I'll have to google the "miracle blanket" Jen....I've never seen/heard about that and we don't have target here in Canada.....

Kim- check out speciality boutiques for the miracle blanket as I've seen it out here in Alberta. I don't know how big your bub is- but walmart sells a miracle knock off... but I think it's made for smaller babes. (But too big for my shrimp when he was swaddled) It too has velcro and is fairly light weight.

Danou....I think we have the Walmart knockoff....Callum outgrew it months ago. He is a big boy....the same size as most 12mth olds right now. :D

kim-- would a sleep bag work. with my youngest we swaddled her in a light weight blacket fastened with velcro, and then she had a light weight sleep bag.( looks like a girls jumper that is enclosed at the bottom,and has a zipper in the front. with grayce we used it until she moved to her big girl bed at almost 17 months. someone made the bag for us.

I've been wondering about that, Lori. What makes me hesitate is 1)I just can't see me finding the time to figure out how to make one right now 2)expense of buying one - those things are expensive!! 3)Callums biggest issue is his *arms* need to be tucked. Not his feet. So not sure it would really help. I don't think having the sleep bag over the swaddle would limit his ability to wiggle his arms out. He wiggles them straight up, not disturbing the swaddle much at all. [whatwacko]

So....we'll keep trying. Maybe he'll grow out of it soon. (And maybe pigs will fly, right? [rofl] )

If you are wanting to keep swaddling him. You might want to try something stretchy. I had a receiving blanket that was stretchy and it worked way better for swaddling. Poor ds got it all the time even though it was pink. :-D It is way harder to wiggle out if it has a bit of stretch. I thought it was cool how the miracle blankets work, maybe try wrapping his arms like that, but your own blankets. (cut up an old xl t-shirt, jersey sheets??)

http://www.miracleblanket.com/instructions.htm

:-D