A month ago I had a physical therapist from Early Intervention come out and assess Princess to see if she was developmentally on-target for her adjusted age due to some concerns I had. During this appointment I asked when I should start transitioning Princess out of being swaddled. She was scooting around in her crib at night but she so loved being swaddled. The therapist said now was the time to transition her but that night was a nightmare for Princess and I that ended with a swaddled baby so we could get some sleep at 3 a.m. After this defeat I turned to my fellow mommies in my preemie support group online. Many moms said they waited for their child to let them know when they didn't want to be swaddled anymore and Princess was still young (4 months, 1.5 adjusted). Other moms shared with me special transitioning products like Merlin's Magic Suit and the Zipadee Zip suit. I, however, wasn't interested in buying special products and having to transition Princess out of those too. So I waited for the time when Princess would "tell" me she's over being swaddled (and prayed it happened before her 10th birthday haha).
So fast forward to a month later. She had been flopping around her crib like a fish out of water all swaddled up and her arms were making their way out a lot lately too. After googling swaddle transition I found these were my cues Princess was ready to be swaddle-free. So one night I swaddled her one arm out (I left out her left arm which finds its way out of the swaddle most). She slept so well I decided that the next night I would swaddle the left arm and keep her right arm out. She again slept great. So the next night I kept both arms out and she slept unphased. I will say it is taking her longer to soothe herself to sleep being unswaddled but at least she's sleeping as she normally would, unlike a month ago when I tried it and she would only sleep in 30 min intervals. I got the idea to transition her by pulling one arm out at a time from a mom in the support group. No fancy items needed, not to say they aren't helpful for others.
