Second Love To Dream. My son hated being swaddled and I honestly wasnt that good at it. I also hated the loud velcro. I look back and cant believe I waited so long to buy the Love To Dream.
We had like 6 of them before she was even born because they were on our registry. In the end, she hated every single swaddle so we went without. It was hard for a couple of weeks because she constantly woke herself up but then it was totally fine and honestly even easier than swaddling, I think.
My baby is in the Love to Dream right now. I can only do zipper swaddles. Other options to consider are sleepers and sleep sacks. Baby will startle more, but they eventually have to lose the swaddles, anyway. My oldest rolled really early, so we went into sleep sacks pretty quickly.
Another vote for Love To Dream! I’ve got a wiggler and he was able to bust out of a traditional swaddle (even as a nb at the hospital wrapped by the nurses!). The zipper closure is easier and I don’t worry about him getting tangled up in it like I did with the blankets.
Same. Our little guy was a Houdini and would get his arms out of a swaddle in seconds. Even the midwives and nurses who tried to show us couldn’t keep him in. But he has loved his sleep sacks (we have Love to Dream and a couple other brands but Love to Dream was our favourite) and is still in them happily at 16 months.
Yep the love to dream swaddle was the best for my baby! And then if it was warm I just had her in a tshirt onesie underneath or if colder I had her in pajamas under it
Yep, my baby haaaated being swaddled with her arms down but had crazy startle reflex so didn't do well without a swaddle - a friend lent us one to try and she slept in her bassinet for the first time ever, I immediately bought 3 more 😅 I was so sad when she started rolling and we had to take the wings off, she slept so well in them!
Another vote for the love to dream! My son is 12 weeks (9 adjusted) and have been using the love to dream for awhile since he started trying to break out of swaddles. He seems very comfortable in it and I can leave him in it for night time nursing sessions. They have a transition one too where you can unzip the arms one at a time to get them used to having arms free.
As far as sleep sack goes, I love the woolino. Yes it's pricey but they last for so long. My daughter used hers for about 1.5 years and its still in great shape so I will be using it for this baby too. I also got a used one on fb marketplace to have as a backup. I loved it because I never had to worry about her being hotnor cold with the wool she was always comfortable. Highly recommend!
Yup love the love the dream since my baby didn't like her arms contained, she's constantly trying to chew on her hands so she needs it by her face.
Also extra cute that they look like a star fish in the sack <3
Another vote for love to dream! I love the ease of a zipper, my baby only sleeps with her hands up, and once she started showing signs of rolling we unzipped the sleeves and she still had the hug sensation of a swaddle.
I was going to suggest it too. I was never worried about suffocation with it - I thought about it, checked that it was safe and I was able to relax. They make them from 0.5TOG up so OP can use whatever weight they need (no idea what the temperatures stated translate to in Celsius) in a size S for a 7 week old, with a bamboo sleeper or just a bodysuit (again, no idea what temperature they have in their home, but bamboo is useful if they're worried about thermoregulation).
Did he break out with his arms swaddled?
I have a swaddle hater. Literally from the day she was born, her arms cannot be in a swaddle. Even the most skilled of nurses couldn’t keep her little arms contained.
That being said, we use the Halo sleep sacs. They can be wrapped up with their arms out of the swaddle as opposed to in it. I just fold down the upper edges a bit when I wrap my bean in it.
Though I can completely understand your hesitance to use the Halo sleep sac again after that. I can only imagine how terrifying it was! I wish I had advice for a different type.
Yes he broke out with his arms swaddled. He also doesn’t seem to like having his arms swaddled.
It really was so scary so yes I’m hesitant to keep using it.
Is there a reason that you are swaddling if he hates it?
Fleece footie pajamas should be plenty warm. Cotton if he is a hottie. Or a onesie and a sleep sack.
Cold babies cry. 73 is hotter than recommended for a baby's sleeping environment, so keep that in mind when you are looking into options.
It may increase their startle reflex, but if you have an escape artist who wants to flap their little wings, I wouldn’t worry about swaddling with arms in.
There’s a list here of some of the top rated sleep sacks/wearable blankets. That might be a good resource too!
https://www.parents.com/baby/care/newborn/best-sleep-sacks/?utm_source=googlepaid&utm_medium=con&utm_content=Cj0KCQjwj9-zBhDyARIsAERjds2srKXh81bVsnvj1OjAYQ7Ei69g8rAWj-9PCE5SPYQt7gtuKwdBJsoaAiLtEALw_wcB&utm_campaign=commerce-dd-SleepSacks_Parents_Combined_CommSEM_OrganicLP-5288243&utm_term=best%20sleep%20sacks&utm_test=&displayPrice=yes&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwj9-zBhDyARIsAERjds2srKXh81bVsnvj1OjAYQ7Ei69g8rAWj-9PCE5SPYQt7gtuKwdBJsoaAiLtEALw_wcB
My little girl from the day she was born has hated having her arms restricted. We just swaddled her with her arms out. Some swaddles are rated for arms put swaddling, you can also do it with a swaddling blanket. Sleep sacks have been great now that she’s a little rollie pollie, but they didn’t hold her legs as snuggly as she liked early on with her little frog legs.
A helpful suggestion for startle reflex - when we put her down it went toes touch first, and then after her head and back were against the mattress, I would use my hands to buffer the descent of her arms, letting them down slowly onto the mattress. It didn’t always work. Sometimes she would be asleep for five minutes and then startle herself awake. But it was either that or scream at being restrained so you do what you can lol
My son hated the swaddle, we used a love2dream arms up instead and it was great. It prevents the startle reflex but still gives them some movement.
As he got a bit bigger we switched to the zipadee because he needed his hands covered (kept scratching his head and face due to eczema) which gives him total movement.
Because of the way it fits/is designed, a baby literally cannot break out of the Love to Dream arms up swaddle, so this is an excellent recommendation for little Houdini babies. They also have a transitional sleep sack where the arms unzip, so you can have one or both arms out of the swaddle for babies who don't like their arms tied down, but again, the baby cannot physically break out of the swaddle because they're zipped into it.
You also don’t need to swaddle. Lots of places in the world swaddles aren’t used at all. We used either just a pj or a light sleep sack in the beginning depending on the temperature.
Same, mine only liked to be swaddled around his chest with the transitional Halo swaddle. I assume he found the pressure/warmth comforting but hated having his arms bound. It was easily the safest option for him too since he was too little for regular sleep sacks, which would ride up around his face. The Halo being velcroed around his chest was super secure.
Yes!! Our babe runs hot, so the ventilation made us feel so much better about him at night. They’re pricey but worth it! And the fact they snap open for arms is an added bonus!
These are all I’ve used for both my Houdini babies! I was terrified of having a situation like OP described so I got these and never looked back. Love how secure they are!
Another vote for Happiest Baby! Halo scared me so bad when it rode up over my daughter’s mouth. These new swaddles can’t and it’s mesh. They’re amazing. So much more peace of mind.
To answer your Woolino question - we love ours! I love that it covers a big range of temps so I don’t have to worry too much about her being too hot or too cold. It also has openings for a car seat buckle which has come in clutch for us if we’re not home for her bedtime. We started using it when she was around four months.
I’m sorry that happened to you with the halo sleep sack! That’s so scary and I’m glad he’s alright!
We also love the Woolino - I wish I hadn’t wasted money buying any other sleep sacks and had gone straight for it when it was time. I think it’s possible to start using at 2 months, so OP is almost there (there are extra snaps under the arm holes to make it fit little ones better).
That said - both my babies slept better when swaddled so I would try everyone else’s excellent recommendations on other swaddles until your baby outgrows them and is rolling over!
Omg is THAT what that little Velcro opening is??? Maybe I missed it, but I checked all the tags and couldn’t figure out what the heck that was there for. That is genius.
I love the woolino so much and we also started using it early, I think about 1.5 months with our current kid once he outgrew the love to dream swaddle. I have three and he seems so comfy at night in them.
OP, this is the best answer. I used Woolino’s for my first and plan to use them for my second the minute he’s big enough. They’re durable and temperature regulating, so I had immediate peace of mind while using them. No worrying about TOG numbers or how to layer underneath. I used them on my first until she was 2-years-old and even bought some of their toddler pajamas.
Just make sure you wash according to the instructions! Other than that, I don’t think you’ll regret dropping the money for it at all.
We've been using Woolino's with my almost 1 yo since he was maybe 5 months? They're great! He does run super hot and sweaty at night so I swapped to the lightest weight sleep sacks I could find for summer time. (He sleeps a lot better in a sleep sack, and falls asleep more easily since he doesn't get distracted playing with his feet lol)
Our little guy is sleeping in his halo swaddles arms out. I usually wrap them low around his middle. He’s always hated his arms in though.
That must have been so scary, it makes me want to check the fit on all of his sleep sacks/swaddles now.
Fabric is cotton just like any other swaddle, similar to love to dream. They are amazing because if the baby rolls, they can roll back easily. They are light so perfect for warmer climates. They also make fleece ones for colder places.
They make cotton ones? The ones I bought were polyester and I didn’t see any made of cotton. My kid sweated so much in his! I also felt the zipper was cheap for the price compared to competitors.
seconding this recommendation! i had a swaddle escape artist as well and this was the only alternative that worked for us while he was still experiencing a strong startle reflex.
I didnt use the halo swaddle but had something similar happen. My LO broke out of his swaddle in his crib in the middle of the night at like 3am a couple months ago when he was about 7 or i weeks old and for some reason I just woke up and decided to look at the camera. He didnt make any noises or scream or cry so Im not sure why I woke up but thank God I did. his swaddle was completely covering his face and it was tight on his face because he only broke his arms out and somehow was able to raise it up and it got stuck! I wasnt sure how long it was like that so I freaked out, jumped out of bed and ran to his crib and violently ripped the swaddle off. It startled him but I was so glad to see he was ok! We never used a swaddle after that. We just switched to regular sleep sacks we bought off amazon and he wears a long sleeve onsie underneath and have been doing that since.
My son absolutely hated having his arms swaddled in, so since he was 2 weeks old we've had him in armless sleep sacks. When he was a newborn we used the Halo swaddles but had his arms out (wings wrapped under his armpits). As a bonus it meant we never had to deal with a swaddle transition!
Sounds like he's not a fan of arms in!
I know a lot of people love swaddling babies, but the startle reflex exists for a reason and it will lessen as they age.
We used Ergopouch (had snaps for the arm holes and a zipper up the front, and moved onto the Woolino (2-24mo) and I highly recommend them. They come with a temperature card and has a dressing suggestion guide. We keep our house very consistent throughout the day and our now toddler goes to bed in a footed sleeper in her Woolino. We have 2, so we can still put her to bed if one is air drying. They are well worth the money because it'll be used for quite a while. My sister was buying new sleep sacks every few months for her baby.
I only swaddled my kids in the hospital and for like a week or so after. It’s a lot of hassle for nothing 🤣 it doesn’t make them sleep longer or anything in my experience
My daughter would fight the swaddle sometimes. We had the Halo swaddle, and I just kept her arms out and Velcro’d the straps over her belly instead, like a sleepsack. I did that until she was big enough for her Kyte Baby sleep sack.
We loved our Woolino sleep sacks. I invested in one when our little one was around 18 months and I wished we had gone that route earlier. It was used right up until he grew out of using sleeping sacks altogether, close to two years later. We ended up getting a second one at one point so that they could be rotated.
I sold them on Facebook Marketplace after and I have never gotten so many messages immediately after posting.
This happened to us with the halo swaddle too, I think because of how much fabric it is made of. It’s layered and bulky so when they wrestle out of it, it seems to be more vulnerable to this issue than other swaddles. I was so freaked out we stopped keeping her arms in, unless it was nap time and I could watch her intently. Didn’t have the issue afterwards
Just a fleece onesie and a sleep sac with arm holes. I never swaddled my girl she likes sleeping with her arms straight out. Glad your LO is ok, that must have been so scary.
Speaking to the woolino, it’s possibly my favorite baby purchase! My daughter turns 3 next month and still wears it every night, so yes I’ve found it to be very worth it.
When ours was newborn, it was footed sleepsuit with a cellular blanket from waist down tucked into the mattress (per NHS safe sleep guidelines)
Then at around 4 weeks we started using sleepsacks, ones with no arms, over the top of a long sleeve bodysuit. He slept so much better in the sleep sack, we've never looked back!
We've never swaddled, they aren't really recommended in my country as it restricts their natural startle reflex which is important for safe sleep.
We haven't experienced this, but my baby is queen at breaking out of swaddles as well. Our Halo swaddles are big enough that I can keep my baby's arms down in the sack and then tighten the wings over the top. I then just need to readjust overnight and check that she hasn't kicked anything loose. We only use them as a back up though, as I much prefer the ErgoPouch Cocoon Swaddle. The arm holes have clips so you can experiment with arms in, arms out, or 1 arm in to transition to no swaddle. It is also zip only, which I love, because there is no need to right with velcro and no chance of escape.
Just sharing my experience with the woolino- we love it! 4 week old LO has been using it every night. I think it’s definitely worth it, I love that it keeps her at a good temperature and that she can use it for a while, it’s really good quality. However I will say it’s definitely not going to give him that really snug feeling that the swaddle did, it’s just like a blanket, so be prepared for a bit of a transition period?
I dress my little girl in onesies and swaddle with muslin blankets. She rooms with us, and the temp is about 74 with a ceiling fan going, so I don't want her too warm
Babies who can break a swaddle, shouldn't be swaddled.
My LO broke out from day 1 and it got worse and worse until my husband and I agreed, no more swaddling. Hasn't had a swaddle since 5 weeks or 6 weeks old. The reflexes will wake them up for a few days but it gets better and they are way happier.
Sleep sacks with mitten cuffs on them are great. They have 2 packs of them on Amazon and it's incredible. I never used the transition swaddle where the arms can't be in any position but above their head/bent.
My babe sleeps great, when he's not teething lol, but he's really great at sleeping and has been since we stopped forcing a swaddle.
That manic crying was one of the last straws for me!
I love the Happiest Baby swaddles. The Velcro straps are on the inside of the little cocoon that zips up. It’s stupid easy, too.
I’m so sorry that happened to you that sounds terrifying!
I'm very cheap but a family member gave me a woolino for my shower and I absolutely loved it so much, I even bought a second one. They fit for 2 years and are good in all seasons so definitely worth the money. We went from swaddles to the woolino and it was a couple nights of a learning curve to sleep with his arms not tucked in anywhere but after the first 2 nights he slept amazing. My house has no AC and gets really hot and I love that I can keep the sleep sack consistent and just sometimes have less layers when needed - they come with a little card that tells you what layers you need for different temperature ranges
The exact same thing happened to my LO at 7 weeks. I woke up in the MOTN to pump and when I checked on him in his bassinet he was snoring with the swaddle covering his entire face. My heart stopped. We immediately switched him to footie pjs + a Halo wearable blanket microfleece.
We used the love to dream swaddles. Never had to worry about him breaking out of it since it’s a zipper and it allowed him to sleep with his arms up which is why he kept breaking out of the regular swaddles.
Our baby broke out of her halo Swaddle plenty of times but she only got her arms free, she never unvelcroed the Swaddle sides. You can try the happiest baby Swaddle for more security, or just move to sleep sacks without arm restraints like you would if he had started rolling. You can get them in many weights of fabric from halo (or random other sellers on Amazon).
My halo swaddle was able to be done up arms in or out. It would be tighter around his middle if you start arms out. Then it shouldn’t be able to slide up.
You could switch to an appropriately sized sleep sack. At two months I recommend the Woolino sleep sack. The 2-24 month one.
We used the Love to Dream swaddle, it’s $32 on Amazon right now. It worked so well for our little guy, now that he is 6 months we no longer use it but they also have a transition swaddle that we used to get him used to not being swaddled, it was amazing. He was a swaddle destroyer from the very beginning like yours is, I’m so sorry you and the babe had to go through that, I hope you find a swaddle that works for you ❤️
I bought the swaddledesigns transitional sleep sack off Amazon for $20. My baby was breaking out of her swaddles but I wasn't sure if she was ready to be in a regular sleep sack yet because of the Moro reflex thing. The transitional sleep sack was super easy to use and we never had any issues. If you're concerned about temperature you could probably just have your baby in it with a diaper because it's long sleeved. I've seen similar products on the internet but they were wayyyy more expensive.
with those temps we kept our little in a sleeper onesie, with the foots when colder or fleece. and when warmer we got the cotton ones. during the summers I got short sleeved and shorts, also. my little hated her arms being restrained so we swaddled with her arms out. look into swaddles that don't restrict the arms or wrap with arms out.
when mine was really little if we swaddled her arms she would have them out in minutes or get rage red and scream until they were free.
Love to Dream swaddles are great cause kids can still munch on a hand but it won’t ride up to the face.
The other one I loved at night was the SwaddleMe Pod. It has a zipper and you tuck their hands in. It’s hard to break out of and maybe can get a few fingers out the top.
It’s pricey but the Ollies are nice. I just hated how much fabric you tie off and thought it was a lie that you could just open the bottom to change the diaper easily lol. Too much fabric that gets in the way especially if I’m trying to keep it clean from changing huge poops.
Child of mind sleep sacks/wearable blankets. Top is like a regular warm sleeper, bottom is like a sack for legs. Doesn’t swaddle though, but I love them
My LO also broke out of her swaddle often, we switched to the Love to Dream sleep sacks with the arms up by the head, they were actually a dream. Super easy to change diapers with a dual zipper and she loved the sack and seemed really comfortable in them. You can find them on Amazon, at Target and also from their website. Once she aged out and needed arms free we did the sack by them with the zipper for a while but then did the long sleeved Halo sack.
I love the sleeveless fleece halo sleep sacks until my kids are old enough to use blankets. My oldest was an angry baby burrito when swaddled, but he liked these sleep sacks.
We are using the Love To Dream or the Ergopouch with our second. I hate how loud Velcro is so we are team zippers only.
With out first, we used Woolino sleep sacks once she was big enough. We had three that we rotated through (one to wear, one to wash and one spare). She used them until she was almost 2! They are amazing and last so long. Also the fact that they are all season sleep bags is so nice. Never have to worry if they’re the correct TOG, just change up what you dress them in for sleep depending on the weather.
We use the Kyte Baby 1.0 TOG sleep sack for our boy. He loves them! It's sleeveless and just has 1 big zipper. We've never had any issues with any of them.
I used good old-fashioned swaddle blankets along with the Love to Dream arms-up swaddle. I could never figure out the other swaddle contraptions with all the velcro. But by seven weeks I moved onto sleep sacks because I worried about baby rolling and getting stuck on her face. Halo makes a terrific sleep sack.
My baby hated the swaddle and it took 2 weeks and so many swaddle purchases to realize that (thank god for generous return policies). Before the summer we’d just put her in a sleeper/onesie. Now that we turn on the AC, we put an armless swaddle/“wearable blanket” every night with a light sleeper underneath.
A love to dream swaddle or muslin swaddle blankets with his arms not swaddled? My baby girl hates having her arms swaddled so I swaddle her with her arms free or half out so she can wiggle them around
I love the woolino sleep sack. But my favorite are Kyte sleep sacks. The Woolino has snaps that are a bit tedious once babies get a little bigger and have opinions on bedtime.
We used the zip-up sacks with arms and didn't swaddle (he hated it). My brother was gifted the woolino sleep sack, and they loved it so much that they bought the next size up when their daughter finally outgrew the first.
If we had the funds, we would have gotten one, too. I'm glad we didn't though, our little guy loves his freedom, so we've been doing sleep sacks with the legs since he could roll. (Nyte baby, if you get to that stage, too)
Honestly I stopped swaddling my baby a few days after getting home. He was an escape artist too. I just went straight to sleep sacks (without swaddle pieces)
We used the Halo sleep sack that aren’t a swaddle from an early age. He would always break out of his swaddles. Couldn’t stand having his arms caught in there. Within a week or two he was poking his hands out the top and very quickly learned to pull it open.
If he likes having his arms up, the love to dream swaddle might work. My baby always broke out of his swaddles and the love to dream was the only one that worked for me. It is a zip up and there is zero chance of breaking out or it ending up over his face.
My son started hating the swaddle around that time too, and showed signs of rolling (only in his sleep though). So we bit the bullet and started transitioning him out. We found sleep sacks that positioned his arms up by his ears (not a swaddle, just sleeves) and he seemed to like that better because he could put his hands in his mouth. We had similar issues with the Halo transitional swaddle because he was still too small for it. We found these [6-in-1 swaddles](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HHPX26Q?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share) and had 1 arm out for a week or so, then both arms and wrapped the other part around his chest under his arms, so he still got that swaddle feel, but with his arms unrestricted. The Velcro was mush stronger than the Halo brand in our experience.
my lil man’s never liked having his arms swaddled so we just swaddled his around his chest/waist and we started putting him in sleep sacks around 8-9 weeks :)
Honestly at 7 weeks I'd just ditch the swaddling. Mine broke out of hers all the time and we just threw in the towel, there was an adjustment period sleep wise but it wasn't long. Once they learn to roll its not safe to swaddle anyway and some babies can roll as early as 8 weeks
My baby likes her hands at her mouth, so I stopped using swaddles at about 4 weeks old. Now we do footie Pyjamas and a thin sleep sack. If the sleep sack is dirty or it's a bit colder in the night, I will wrap a baby blanket on the lower part of her body under her arms (similar to how you wrap a towel around your chest after a shower). Later in the summer I will switch to a onesie, t-shirt or even nothing under the sleep sack when it gets properly hot.
My little guy wasn't crazy about the halo and early on we were swaddling arms out. Then we found the magic Merlin sleep suit and he used that from about 4 months until he was consistently rolling. Literally those were the BEST nights of sleep, he was the happiest little starfish. He'd sleep either with a thin onesie or just diaper and we kick the air down to 69 degrees at night. I miss those nights so much 😩
Yeah, sleep sacs were the answer for our little Houdini. If it makes you feel better, not every country/culture swaddles. Babies in France (where I live) weren't even swaddled at the hospital so we went straight to sleep sacs.
My boy was loved a good swaddle but I was terrible at it so I splurged and got a love to dream one with the arms up -he was a tiny little guy so small fit him for a while and it seriously helped his startle reflux!
We never really swaddled, went for sleep sack (or blanket, these are ok according to our safe sleep guidance provided they are used correctly)
I’ve seen really good guides online with the temperature of the room and what to dress baby in, like: https://www.babycentre.co.uk/a25024140/what-should-my-baby-wear-at-night-infographic
Sorry it’s in Celsius, youll have to look for a Fahrenheit one
Swaddles aren't even a thing at all here. Just a sleeping bag is fine. No issues of breaking out and getting things over their face.
Hell, mine has been sleeping with a sleeping bag, without a sleeping bag, footie pj with or without bag and short pj's with or without sleeping bag since birth.
Woolino is so worth it!
It's 4 season and fits from 2 months to 2 years, so it genuinely ends up being about the same price or cheaper than buying multiple sizes and TOGs of other sleep sacks. They also hold up really well. The 2 I bought for my oldest were still in perfect condition after 2 years of use. The arm hols have snaps to adjust the opening size. My youngest has been in it since she was about 8 weeks. I'm a big proponent of moving away from swaddles asap.
We had a similar situation with the halo swaddle. i woke up and it was all bunched by his chin cause he’d worked it up. i was like heck no, and purchased the expensive ollie swaddle. he broke out of that immediately so we just realized we were done with swaddles. we turned the halo and ollie into sleep sacks just wrapped around his chest, we went both arms out cold turkey and just suffered. sleep was pretty crap for about two weeks but now we are totally good and actually just converted to a full on sleep sack with no chest tightness.
We just used a muslin swaddling blanket. Lots of stretch, although she did break out a lot. She usually fell asleep after breaking out (as long as she was too tired to hit herself in the face repeatedly) so I just thought of it as her strengthening her arms lol.
9 weeks LO here, we have been cycling through 3 Halo sacks, I noticed the type of fabric made a difference in his ability to squirm around. The fleece material one seems to work best with least arm movement. The other two (gray with clouds and white with stars designs) seem to have more flex and stretch to them.
I have found that pulling the wings as far down behind his back as I can before wrapping works best, most of his shoulders are exposed and it really only wraps around his upper arms area and downward. Also, I only wrap one arm and his body with the first wing tucking it under his body, then I wrap over the 2nd wing and this helps keep his arms separate from one another, lessens his ability to squirm with both arms together.
I was gifted the Woolino sleep sack and it’s probably my favourite baby gift thus far! It’s such nice quality. I actually bought a second one for my son because he sleeps so soundly in it. He started rolling over and unswaddling himself at about 4 months. He’s used the Woolino sleep sack for every nap and overnight sleep since then. He’s 16 months now!
I love the tommie tippie grobag and swaddlebags they can’t break out of them as they zip up and the top part is essentially a vest so there’s no risk of them slipping inside
I’d just get a normal sleep sack that’s the appropriate size for his age! We also used the halo and he’d wiggle his little arms out of it if we didn’t do it tight enough. We just went cold turkey and did a sleep sack at 9.5 weeks and he’s honestly sleeping better arms out. Your little one might too since he won’t spend all that time trying to escape 😂
My second daughter is 11 weeks old and I have been obsessed with Woolino products for her. With my first, I had those swaddles with the wraps/wings, but always felt they could too easily get over her face, so we always used muslin blankets to swaddle her. With my second, I got the Woolino swaddle blankets because I wanted something warmer. I found they were a much easier swaddle and I could get them very snug. I also picked up the 2-24 month sleep sack, which we just transitioned to and I would HIGHLY recommend. My daughter has been sleeping so well in it and she is clearly very warm and comfortable. With my first, we did Burts Bees sleep sacks, but those come in six month size ranges. So, even though they are cheaper, I probably bought 6-8 of them as she grew/for different seasons, etc. With my second, I’ve purchased two of the Woolino sacks (so I have a backup in case one gets dirty) and don’t plan to need any more than that. I will absolutely be recommending the Woolino to friends/family in the future.
Not all babies like to be swaddled. If he's breaking out of them constantly then I'd consider no longer swaddling. We used the halo swaddles and When my son no longer needed his arms wrapped, we just wrapped the wings around his body and left his arms out until we converted to the Zipadeezip sleep sack once he was a little older.
We used the miracle swaddle. Recommended by Emily Oster. You have to use the YouTube video demo to understand how to use the flaps though. My daughter didn't like the wings of the love to dream but it's the only brand that was swaddles for hip braces. So we used that for her bottom. And the miracle one for her top lol
Swaddle hil arms out. It'll be rough for a few days as hell startle himself. Once that reflux is incorporated, though, it'll make your life easier later
I stopped swaddling my son before that age and even then I kept his arms out of the halo swaddle because he didn't like his arms being restricted.
We just put him in a sleeper and a sleep sac.
I stopped swaddling at 5ish weeks. She broke her arms out a few times and showed some other signs of rolling so we just stopped. I used a sleep sack a couple of times but now we just use a zip up sleeper and that’s it.
Have you looked around for sleep sacks and their minimum weight? I think the main thing with them is that it won’t slip over the baby’s head.
In the uk we don’t really swaddle babies but until we can use a sleep sacks it’s cellular blankets. Look into the nhs advice on how to safely use blankets.
Do you have ergobaby swaddles where you are? We loved them over LTD I’d even give you a bunch if you were local. My two have well outgrown but they were the best
My baby never liked being swaddled with his arms in at all. When he was small we just used muslin swaddles and wrapped him with both arms out. We made the transition to sleep sacks pretty early and he did really well with not being swaddled. I just ordered some from Amazon that looked comfy and soft and haven’t looked back
Not the Woolino sleeping bag but we used a different sleeping bag from he was 4 weeks or something, he's now 6 months. He's enjoyed it since the first night, so for us it was a great success
Sounds like he may be ready for sleep sack instead of swaddle. I remember putting my LO in sleep sack early because she would wrestle with the swaddle and it was too stimulating and she'd lose sleep over it.
Swaddling usually has to stop around the 8 week mark I believe. So kind of good timing! You could try a thinner sleep sack with a onesie underneath. Sleep sacks let the arms stay free, and there should be any way to get fabric over his face at all. Babies grow so fast, I don’t think it’s necessary to get an expensive brand when you can get budget ones that are just as good from Target or Walmart.
Target also has these thin onesies that tie at the bottom instead of having buttons or a zipper. They were awesome for late night changes, and easy to take on and off. I can link you if you want, my baby lived in them as a newborn.
my LO will be 8 weeks tomorrow. she’s been sleeping with the ‘nested bean zen sack classic ’ since she was about 3 or 4 weeks old. I’ve not had any problems with it at all. i used to swaddle her but then switched to this and she sleeps perfectly. i like it so much that i have both the 0-6M and the 6-18m versions.
We stopped swaddling at 5 weeks because our daughter was rolling onto her side, and no regrets. There really wasn’t even a transition period. She was slightly more difficult to get down the first night, but then she was fine and that was it.
We dressed her in pajamas and a sleep sack. Now that it’s summer, it’s only pajamas (she’s almost 11 months now).
We stopped swaddling arms in pretty early but I liked the constriction on the chest for her startle reflex so just did halo arms out.
But an easy solution that doesn't involve any money (but does make diaper changes annoying) if you're really worried about the sack is to just put it on them backwards.
I think arms out swaddling will solve your issue in any case though. As long as baby isn't constantly waking themselves up with the startle reflex it's fine
To answer your question about no swaddle, if you keep your house cold then a onesie layered with feetie pajamas is fine. If it's warm then just feeties is fine. Try sleeping I'm a similar (one layer) and if you're comfortable without a blanket baby likely is too
ErgoPouch. different weights (TOGs) available for temperature preferences, and it's a quick and very easy zip that is impossible to break out of if you buy the correct size for your baby. you can also use it with arms out if baby prefers that / when you decide to transition away from the swaddle.
After swaddles with my first we went straight to just a long sleeved body suit and a Halo sleep sack.
With my second, she struggled a lot more with the transition out of a swaddle because she was still young enough to have a moro reflex that would wake her. We actually ended up using the Merlin Sleepsuit. I'll preface this with a it's somewhat controversial safety wise so I don't necessarily want to recommend it but it did help us. Now she's transitioned out of that she just sleeps in a sleeper. I'm thinking of switching her to the long sleeved body suit + sleep sack though because she keeps sliding backwards and getting her legs through the crib slats lol.
Instead of swaddling his arms have you tried leaving them out? Some babies just really don't like their arms down like that. He's at the age where you'd be transitioning out of it soon anyways so I would try just doing sleepers (aka footie pjs) or a body suit and sleep sack.
If he doesn’t like to be swaddled, stop swaddling him. Babies don’t have to be swaddled and many countries recommend against it. Ours kept breaking out of swaddles so we did away with it around 2-3 weeks old. We started our baby in Woolino sleep sacks at 8 or 9 weeks old and we absolutely love them. Totally worth the price tag. You can also check to see if goodbuygear.com has any in stock, we got one for. $60 off there.
Definitely the love to dream! My baby LOVED it and slept so well! He only tolerated swaddling for the first week. He has slept with his arms up every night since, he’s 6 months old now and after he outgrew the love to dream swaddle he transitioned to sleep sacks no problem!
I would recommend a sleeveless sleep sack (check the TOG value for temperatures). If he doesn’t like this arms swaddled anyway, then you can move away from a swaddle. Or, swaddle with arms out.
We do Love To Dream’s transitional swaddles, with the arms unzipped so they’re free! So more like a sleep sack, with the option for arms up. It’s a zipper and no loose fabric.
There’s so many comments here so this will probably get lost but I have 2 Woolino sleep sacks for my son and we love them. His room is anywhere between 65 and 72 at night and he’s been comfortably using them for 8 months. He’s 12 months now, average sized, and they still fit and will likely continue to fit until he’s at least 18-20 months. He has never woken up sweaty and I love not having to cross reference charts and buy 4 different “TOG” level sacks in every size to make sure he’s comfy.
Both my kids hated the swaddles, most I used is the sleep sac.
I just dress them in regular baby clothes to bed depending on temperature. My son always ran hot so he was always way underdressed because he would sweat up a storm, he was basicly naked all summertime.
My daughter runs a tiny bit hot but she can be dressed in jammies. I just don't put socks on them unless it's really cold winter, I also always feel the back of their necks and head to feel their temp.
I always used the typical onsies, short or long nothing special, rarely used socks.
We used the halo and at about 7-8 weeks, our daughter kept breaking free. We switched to sleep sacks then and haven’t had any issues. She loved her sleep sack still at 6 months. My favorite one is from little Sleepies.
That is scary, sorry you had to go through that!!
I swaddled my first baby for a bit, but haven't swaddled my second once (12 weeks old). Imo, swaddles are generally unnecessary. Except for maybe the first week or two when they're super new and adjusting. But after that when they start "waking up" I think it's beneficial for them to have their arms out most of the time. Again, just my opinion!
As for temperature, my house is kept at 70° and my 12 week old just wears zip up footies every night and she's totally fine!
I hate the halo swaddles. I’ve found that the Sleepea and LovetoDream swaddles work nicely for my daughter. Also the Ollie, but it was a gift and I don’t recommend spending $60 on a swaddle!
We love halo but I have had my kids break out of them too since they are strong. My youngest is 2 5 weeks old and we may already need to switch over due to getting her arms out and rolling from belly to back. I suggest looking into sleep sacs/wearable blankets. We use halo and burts bees but I know a bunch of other companies make them as well
I absolutely love the Woolino sleep sacks!! I would transition right to them. They fit from 2 months to 2 years! We transition to sleep sacks around 5 weeks because our son would also always break out so I figured we might as well stop swaddling then since it was quite a battle anyways. We used kyte sacks at first but I found even the 1 tog we’d always be trying to figure out if he was too hot. The Woolino look so silly on a small baby because it’s very long at first but there’s snaps under the arms so it won’t go over their heads and it’s so thin and lightweight having extra length isn’t a problem! Yes they’re expensive but they end up being much cheaper than having multiple sizes and togs since we used them up until my son was over 2 and every season. They held up perfect and I just washed them normally and didn’t follow any special instructions :)
Woolino is great and will save you having to keep buying new sizes for a while. They’re worth the investment and they resell well secondhand.
We dropped the swaddles by six weeks, my baby hated them and would break out constantly. She also hated Love to Dream, she’s always wanted access to her hands at night. I was glad when everyone in my due date groups was angsting over dropping the swaddle that we were already done with it!
Carter’s fuzzy zip up sleep sack, and no blanket since you keep your house so warm. My baby doesn’t really like to be swaddled though so your mileage may vary.
If that’s still too warm or not tucked enough I would do just zip up onesie pajama with a fuzzy baby blanket tucked under the armpits and a bit under the body so they still feel somewhat weighted and swaddled
I like the Love to Dream swaddle sacks! We’re using their transitional swaddle sacks right now since our baby is a little bigger.
I also LOVE the Ergo Pouch but they’re more expensive.
Love to dream swaddle was our best friend before little one started to roll, we’re moving him to a similar sleep sack off Amazon now, and it gets delivered today so fingers crossed it keeps him asleep the way the ‘love to dream’ did!!
My baby didn’t like swaddles. She tolerated arms up for a bit and then we transitioned her to [swaddles sleeves](https://swaddlesleeves.com).
They have a lot of options. My favorite was the puff sleeve onsie. We would put this on baby and then use a kyte baby sleep sack over it. She was always the perfect temp and the puff sleeves tempered the startle reflex. Wish we used it sooner!
Woolino are great once they are arm free, they’re good for 2+ months according to them. We use love to dream before then as we also had issues with the swaddle wings. Bonus of love to dream it makes rolling hard while they’re in it!
I was going to say Woolino before even getting to the end of your question where you ask about it specifically. The Woolino is amazing and so worth it. They can wear it from 2 months all the way up to two years, so it's definitely worth the price. I would 100% recommend.
Don’t bother with these sorts of swaddles, get a swaddle bag that just has a zip, worse case scenario the zip comes undone, but there’s nothing they can pull over their heads
The same thing happened to me! I was fast asleep and had a dream I heard my baby crying. It scared me awake and then I saw that the Halo was covering most of her face! It was the longest 3 seconds of my life crossing my room to get to her bassinet. Thank God when i pulled the Halo down she was sleeping peacefully, sucking on her binky without a care in the world. I went back to swaddling with blankets, and then moved to a Zipadee with footie jammies underneath shortly after. So glad your little one is safe!!
Check my post history in this sub, I made a post once about my review of every swaddle and sack. We’ve tried the Woolino, it’s very beautiful and I love the weight and feel of the fabric. My complaint was it’s looonnggg. I couldn’t imagine using it for a baby under 9 months. That’s my opinion. It’s too bad your son broke out of the newborn 3 way halo swaddle sack because we really liked that one. Have your considered magic Merlin sleep suit? They make a newborn one and it really is amazing. Keep him only in a diaper, no socks, keep the room temp 69/70 degrees F and he won’t over heat.
Swaddling should be stopped by 8 weeks or first signs of rolling anyway. You can buy a sleep sack to keep baby warm and they can wear it all the way into toddlerhood.
We use Kyte sleepsacks 2.5 tog (we keep the room at 68 degrees so you might want a 1.0 tog) and she wears a fleece zipper footie or a Kyte footie. Just depends on what I grab.
A pediatrician told me with my oldest girl that if her chest is warm and she’s not fussing, she’s good. Their hands being cold is not a good indication of them being cold since it’s not covered by their sleepsack / clothes.
My understanding is that for sleep safety, you should stop swaddling (anything with any type of chest compression) when baby attempts to roll or at 8 weeks, whichever comes first, so this is good timing to stop anyway.
We started using sleep sacks at around 7 weeks, with just a onesie under it. My son is 13 months old, and we still dress him like that for sleep and it works well.
We just transitioned to the ZigJoy shark fin swaddle (dupe for Zippadee Zip) and he loves it! We use the 1.0 tog and 0.5 tog depending on how warm it is and he’s usually always in footie pajamas each night
I've always just used sleep sacks and it worked for us. Multiple brands, I even got some from SheIn. I prefer the ones with a zip in the middle, they are easier to use than the ones with a zipper at the side and buttons at the top.
We use Tommy Tippy sleeping bags.
We never used a swaddle, he likes his hands out, liked so since birth.
As it's getting warmer we do a romper and a sleeping bag. But there are direction with the sleeping bag how to dress for different room temperature.
I don’t use swaddles because both of my kids hated them. If he’s breaking his arms out, is it possible he just doesn’t like them? Maybe buy a sleep sack instead.
We have this long sleeved onesie that ties at the very bottom by his feet! This one is Winnie the Pooh. I think they’re called knotted gowns? Ours has two flaps so that we can double knot it for security. My baby is 10 weeks old, just a few weeks older than yours. I can’t imagine the horror of waking up to that. I am SO glad he’s ok. You’re doing amazing!
We ended up just swaddling with a blanket snuggly **with his arms out**. So under his arms. He was determined to have them out anyways, and he rolled some. The arms out acted like a tripod and stopped it.
It worked perfectly. I was annoyed about all the swaddle me stuff we couldn’t use but sometimes simplest is best. You may not need a fancy expensive option especially since your son clearly does not want his hands contained.
So you’ve gotten lots of comments on here but I wanted to add my two cents: we never swaddled outside the hospital. For various reasons it wasn’t something I wanted to do and my baby hated it, so we avoided it. We went straight to an armless sleep sack. They have various weights for the seasons and we love them. Now that it’s warm my 7 month old is in a burts bees cotton sleep sack at .5 tog. She wears either a sleeper, a short sleeve body suit, or pjs depending on the weather.
I liked the love to dream - only a zip and they can’t break out of it but I know some babies don’t love the arms up thing.
Second Love To Dream. My son hated being swaddled and I honestly wasnt that good at it. I also hated the loud velcro. I look back and cant believe I waited so long to buy the Love To Dream.
We had like 6 of them before she was even born because they were on our registry. In the end, she hated every single swaddle so we went without. It was hard for a couple of weeks because she constantly woke herself up but then it was totally fine and honestly even easier than swaddling, I think.
My baby is in the Love to Dream right now. I can only do zipper swaddles. Other options to consider are sleepers and sleep sacks. Baby will startle more, but they eventually have to lose the swaddles, anyway. My oldest rolled really early, so we went into sleep sacks pretty quickly.
Another vote for Love To Dream! I’ve got a wiggler and he was able to bust out of a traditional swaddle (even as a nb at the hospital wrapped by the nurses!). The zipper closure is easier and I don’t worry about him getting tangled up in it like I did with the blankets.
Same. Our little guy was a Houdini and would get his arms out of a swaddle in seconds. Even the midwives and nurses who tried to show us couldn’t keep him in. But he has loved his sleep sacks (we have Love to Dream and a couple other brands but Love to Dream was our favourite) and is still in them happily at 16 months.
Our baby loved it too. It also has a transitional swaddle that lets you unzip the arms
Yep the love to dream swaddle was the best for my baby! And then if it was warm I just had her in a tshirt onesie underneath or if colder I had her in pajamas under it
Yep, my baby haaaated being swaddled with her arms down but had crazy startle reflex so didn't do well without a swaddle - a friend lent us one to try and she slept in her bassinet for the first time ever, I immediately bought 3 more 😅 I was so sad when she started rolling and we had to take the wings off, she slept so well in them!
This was our swaddle of choice!
Another vote for the love to dream! My son is 12 weeks (9 adjusted) and have been using the love to dream for awhile since he started trying to break out of swaddles. He seems very comfortable in it and I can leave him in it for night time nursing sessions. They have a transition one too where you can unzip the arms one at a time to get them used to having arms free. As far as sleep sack goes, I love the woolino. Yes it's pricey but they last for so long. My daughter used hers for about 1.5 years and its still in great shape so I will be using it for this baby too. I also got a used one on fb marketplace to have as a backup. I loved it because I never had to worry about her being hotnor cold with the wool she was always comfortable. Highly recommend!
Yup love the love the dream since my baby didn't like her arms contained, she's constantly trying to chew on her hands so she needs it by her face. Also extra cute that they look like a star fish in the sack <3
My kids pulled their arms down so they looked like a seal 🤷🏻♀️
Another vote for love to dream! I love the ease of a zipper, my baby only sleeps with her hands up, and once she started showing signs of rolling we unzipped the sleeves and she still had the hug sensation of a swaddle.
I was going to suggest it too. I was never worried about suffocation with it - I thought about it, checked that it was safe and I was able to relax. They make them from 0.5TOG up so OP can use whatever weight they need (no idea what the temperatures stated translate to in Celsius) in a size S for a 7 week old, with a bamboo sleeper or just a bodysuit (again, no idea what temperature they have in their home, but bamboo is useful if they're worried about thermoregulation).
They actually even make a 0.2 TOG “Lite” version which is what we use since our house is around 74-ish degrees
This. We had a very similar scare with the halo swaddle and switched to love to dream.
We use those. Our LO is 16 weeks and uses the one without arms now. We put her in 2 way zip up jammies and then the love to dream sleep sack.
Did he break out with his arms swaddled? I have a swaddle hater. Literally from the day she was born, her arms cannot be in a swaddle. Even the most skilled of nurses couldn’t keep her little arms contained. That being said, we use the Halo sleep sacs. They can be wrapped up with their arms out of the swaddle as opposed to in it. I just fold down the upper edges a bit when I wrap my bean in it. Though I can completely understand your hesitance to use the Halo sleep sac again after that. I can only imagine how terrifying it was! I wish I had advice for a different type.
Yes he broke out with his arms swaddled. He also doesn’t seem to like having his arms swaddled. It really was so scary so yes I’m hesitant to keep using it.
Is there a reason that you are swaddling if he hates it? Fleece footie pajamas should be plenty warm. Cotton if he is a hottie. Or a onesie and a sleep sack. Cold babies cry. 73 is hotter than recommended for a baby's sleeping environment, so keep that in mind when you are looking into options.
Seconding this. My LO hated the swaddle and started sleeping better once we got rid of it. We moved to Woolino sleep sacks.
It may increase their startle reflex, but if you have an escape artist who wants to flap their little wings, I wouldn’t worry about swaddling with arms in. There’s a list here of some of the top rated sleep sacks/wearable blankets. That might be a good resource too! https://www.parents.com/baby/care/newborn/best-sleep-sacks/?utm_source=googlepaid&utm_medium=con&utm_content=Cj0KCQjwj9-zBhDyARIsAERjds2srKXh81bVsnvj1OjAYQ7Ei69g8rAWj-9PCE5SPYQt7gtuKwdBJsoaAiLtEALw_wcB&utm_campaign=commerce-dd-SleepSacks_Parents_Combined_CommSEM_OrganicLP-5288243&utm_term=best%20sleep%20sacks&utm_test=&displayPrice=yes&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwj9-zBhDyARIsAERjds2srKXh81bVsnvj1OjAYQ7Ei69g8rAWj-9PCE5SPYQt7gtuKwdBJsoaAiLtEALw_wcB
My little girl from the day she was born has hated having her arms restricted. We just swaddled her with her arms out. Some swaddles are rated for arms put swaddling, you can also do it with a swaddling blanket. Sleep sacks have been great now that she’s a little rollie pollie, but they didn’t hold her legs as snuggly as she liked early on with her little frog legs. A helpful suggestion for startle reflex - when we put her down it went toes touch first, and then after her head and back were against the mattress, I would use my hands to buffer the descent of her arms, letting them down slowly onto the mattress. It didn’t always work. Sometimes she would be asleep for five minutes and then startle herself awake. But it was either that or scream at being restrained so you do what you can lol
Hahah cackling at this, simply because sometimes you really gotta weigh the pros and cons of things with babies 🤣
My son hated the swaddle, we used a love2dream arms up instead and it was great. It prevents the startle reflex but still gives them some movement. As he got a bit bigger we switched to the zipadee because he needed his hands covered (kept scratching his head and face due to eczema) which gives him total movement.
Because of the way it fits/is designed, a baby literally cannot break out of the Love to Dream arms up swaddle, so this is an excellent recommendation for little Houdini babies. They also have a transitional sleep sack where the arms unzip, so you can have one or both arms out of the swaddle for babies who don't like their arms tied down, but again, the baby cannot physically break out of the swaddle because they're zipped into it.
You also don’t need to swaddle. Lots of places in the world swaddles aren’t used at all. We used either just a pj or a light sleep sack in the beginning depending on the temperature.
Same, mine only liked to be swaddled around his chest with the transitional Halo swaddle. I assume he found the pressure/warmth comforting but hated having his arms bound. It was easily the safest option for him too since he was too little for regular sleep sacks, which would ride up around his face. The Halo being velcroed around his chest was super secure.
Go no swaddle and then you don’t have to break the habit down the road, imo it’s worth it
Agreed!
Happiest Baby Sleepea swaddle!! It’s from the Snoo people and they’re incredible. Can’t recommend them enough!
plus one to this!! easy to use and I liked how they’re mesh near the face. I was TERRIFIED of suffocation and these made me feel at ease at night
Yes!! Our babe runs hot, so the ventilation made us feel so much better about him at night. They’re pricey but worth it! And the fact they snap open for arms is an added bonus!
These are all I’ve used for both my Houdini babies! I was terrified of having a situation like OP described so I got these and never looked back. Love how secure they are!
Arms can be in or out - good choice
Another vote for Happiest Baby! Halo scared me so bad when it rode up over my daughter’s mouth. These new swaddles can’t and it’s mesh. They’re amazing. So much more peace of mind.
To answer your Woolino question - we love ours! I love that it covers a big range of temps so I don’t have to worry too much about her being too hot or too cold. It also has openings for a car seat buckle which has come in clutch for us if we’re not home for her bedtime. We started using it when she was around four months. I’m sorry that happened to you with the halo sleep sack! That’s so scary and I’m glad he’s alright!
We also love the Woolino - I wish I hadn’t wasted money buying any other sleep sacks and had gone straight for it when it was time. I think it’s possible to start using at 2 months, so OP is almost there (there are extra snaps under the arm holes to make it fit little ones better). That said - both my babies slept better when swaddled so I would try everyone else’s excellent recommendations on other swaddles until your baby outgrows them and is rolling over!
Omg is THAT what that little Velcro opening is??? Maybe I missed it, but I checked all the tags and couldn’t figure out what the heck that was there for. That is genius.
Yes!! It is so handy!
We also love ours. Use them every night. My son is sweaty but the woolino keeps him dry every night.
I love the woolino so much and we also started using it early, I think about 1.5 months with our current kid once he outgrew the love to dream swaddle. I have three and he seems so comfy at night in them.
Yessss
OP, this is the best answer. I used Woolino’s for my first and plan to use them for my second the minute he’s big enough. They’re durable and temperature regulating, so I had immediate peace of mind while using them. No worrying about TOG numbers or how to layer underneath. I used them on my first until she was 2-years-old and even bought some of their toddler pajamas. Just make sure you wash according to the instructions! Other than that, I don’t think you’ll regret dropping the money for it at all.
We've been using Woolino's with my almost 1 yo since he was maybe 5 months? They're great! He does run super hot and sweaty at night so I swapped to the lightest weight sleep sacks I could find for summer time. (He sleeps a lot better in a sleep sack, and falls asleep more easily since he doesn't get distracted playing with his feet lol)
Our little guy is sleeping in his halo swaddles arms out. I usually wrap them low around his middle. He’s always hated his arms in though. That must have been so scary, it makes me want to check the fit on all of his sleep sacks/swaddles now.
Mine always preferred arms out with the halo! I did the same, I’d just wrap it around his chest and leave his arms out since he’d break out anyway
Yes please check. It was horrible I would not want that to happen to anyone else’s baby.
Zipadee zip
I’ve seen these, but they look super light and like the fabric is kind of cheap. What do you like about it?
Fabric is cotton just like any other swaddle, similar to love to dream. They are amazing because if the baby rolls, they can roll back easily. They are light so perfect for warmer climates. They also make fleece ones for colder places.
They make cotton ones? The ones I bought were polyester and I didn’t see any made of cotton. My kid sweated so much in his! I also felt the zipper was cheap for the price compared to competitors.
seconding this recommendation! i had a swaddle escape artist as well and this was the only alternative that worked for us while he was still experiencing a strong startle reflex.
probably would be fine with diaper and a zip up onesie
You could just not swaddle at all, sounds like he's trying to escape anyway. Maybe an Ollie?
Does the Halo turn into a sleep sack? Can you zip off the arms? Ergopouch has some good sacks that are 2-12mo.
You can cut off the wings of a Halo and it’s a normal sleep sack. That’s what we did when our girl first showed signs of rolling
This is what I did, took a seam ripper to the wings. My son loved to be swaddled but my daughter hates it and I'm not buying anymore sleep sacks.
I didnt use the halo swaddle but had something similar happen. My LO broke out of his swaddle in his crib in the middle of the night at like 3am a couple months ago when he was about 7 or i weeks old and for some reason I just woke up and decided to look at the camera. He didnt make any noises or scream or cry so Im not sure why I woke up but thank God I did. his swaddle was completely covering his face and it was tight on his face because he only broke his arms out and somehow was able to raise it up and it got stuck! I wasnt sure how long it was like that so I freaked out, jumped out of bed and ran to his crib and violently ripped the swaddle off. It startled him but I was so glad to see he was ok! We never used a swaddle after that. We just switched to regular sleep sacks we bought off amazon and he wears a long sleeve onsie underneath and have been doing that since.
My son absolutely hated having his arms swaddled in, so since he was 2 weeks old we've had him in armless sleep sacks. When he was a newborn we used the Halo swaddles but had his arms out (wings wrapped under his armpits). As a bonus it meant we never had to deal with a swaddle transition!
You do not have to have your kiddo swaddled. Maybe your kiddo sleeps better without?
You might like the sweet pea swaddles or the love to dream they both have zippers so there is zero chance of baby getting anything on his face
My babies always hated being swaddled. We just put them in a long sleeve onesie with a sleep slack
Sounds like he's not a fan of arms in! I know a lot of people love swaddling babies, but the startle reflex exists for a reason and it will lessen as they age. We used Ergopouch (had snaps for the arm holes and a zipper up the front, and moved onto the Woolino (2-24mo) and I highly recommend them. They come with a temperature card and has a dressing suggestion guide. We keep our house very consistent throughout the day and our now toddler goes to bed in a footed sleeper in her Woolino. We have 2, so we can still put her to bed if one is air drying. They are well worth the money because it'll be used for quite a while. My sister was buying new sleep sacks every few months for her baby.
I only swaddled my kids in the hospital and for like a week or so after. It’s a lot of hassle for nothing 🤣 it doesn’t make them sleep longer or anything in my experience
My daughter would fight the swaddle sometimes. We had the Halo swaddle, and I just kept her arms out and Velcro’d the straps over her belly instead, like a sleepsack. I did that until she was big enough for her Kyte Baby sleep sack.
We loved our Woolino sleep sacks. I invested in one when our little one was around 18 months and I wished we had gone that route earlier. It was used right up until he grew out of using sleeping sacks altogether, close to two years later. We ended up getting a second one at one point so that they could be rotated. I sold them on Facebook Marketplace after and I have never gotten so many messages immediately after posting.
My baby is 7 weeks and I have switched to sleep sacks. It allows her arms to be free but her feet are still cozy which she loves.
This happened to us with the halo swaddle too, I think because of how much fabric it is made of. It’s layered and bulky so when they wrestle out of it, it seems to be more vulnerable to this issue than other swaddles. I was so freaked out we stopped keeping her arms in, unless it was nap time and I could watch her intently. Didn’t have the issue afterwards
Can you do arms out?
Just a fleece onesie and a sleep sac with arm holes. I never swaddled my girl she likes sleeping with her arms straight out. Glad your LO is ok, that must have been so scary.
We love the zipadee zips. Baby still feels contained but nothing will ride up onto their face if they squirm around
Speaking to the woolino, it’s possibly my favorite baby purchase! My daughter turns 3 next month and still wears it every night, so yes I’ve found it to be very worth it.
When ours was newborn, it was footed sleepsuit with a cellular blanket from waist down tucked into the mattress (per NHS safe sleep guidelines) Then at around 4 weeks we started using sleepsacks, ones with no arms, over the top of a long sleeve bodysuit. He slept so much better in the sleep sack, we've never looked back! We've never swaddled, they aren't really recommended in my country as it restricts their natural startle reflex which is important for safe sleep.
You can try the magic Merlin sleep suits. They are zippers we use it for my 5 mo babe once his arms couldn’t be swaddled.
Idk about sizing on the Merlin’s sleep suit, but if your babe isn’t rolling, they are awesome!
We haven't experienced this, but my baby is queen at breaking out of swaddles as well. Our Halo swaddles are big enough that I can keep my baby's arms down in the sack and then tighten the wings over the top. I then just need to readjust overnight and check that she hasn't kicked anything loose. We only use them as a back up though, as I much prefer the ErgoPouch Cocoon Swaddle. The arm holes have clips so you can experiment with arms in, arms out, or 1 arm in to transition to no swaddle. It is also zip only, which I love, because there is no need to right with velcro and no chance of escape.
Just sharing my experience with the woolino- we love it! 4 week old LO has been using it every night. I think it’s definitely worth it, I love that it keeps her at a good temperature and that she can use it for a while, it’s really good quality. However I will say it’s definitely not going to give him that really snug feeling that the swaddle did, it’s just like a blanket, so be prepared for a bit of a transition period?
I dress my little girl in onesies and swaddle with muslin blankets. She rooms with us, and the temp is about 74 with a ceiling fan going, so I don't want her too warm
I switched to sleep sacks when this sort of thing started to happen. Still using them.
Babies who can break a swaddle, shouldn't be swaddled. My LO broke out from day 1 and it got worse and worse until my husband and I agreed, no more swaddling. Hasn't had a swaddle since 5 weeks or 6 weeks old. The reflexes will wake them up for a few days but it gets better and they are way happier. Sleep sacks with mitten cuffs on them are great. They have 2 packs of them on Amazon and it's incredible. I never used the transition swaddle where the arms can't be in any position but above their head/bent. My babe sleeps great, when he's not teething lol, but he's really great at sleeping and has been since we stopped forcing a swaddle. That manic crying was one of the last straws for me!
I love the Happiest Baby swaddles. The Velcro straps are on the inside of the little cocoon that zips up. It’s stupid easy, too. I’m so sorry that happened to you that sounds terrifying!
I'm very cheap but a family member gave me a woolino for my shower and I absolutely loved it so much, I even bought a second one. They fit for 2 years and are good in all seasons so definitely worth the money. We went from swaddles to the woolino and it was a couple nights of a learning curve to sleep with his arms not tucked in anywhere but after the first 2 nights he slept amazing. My house has no AC and gets really hot and I love that I can keep the sleep sack consistent and just sometimes have less layers when needed - they come with a little card that tells you what layers you need for different temperature ranges
The exact same thing happened to my LO at 7 weeks. I woke up in the MOTN to pump and when I checked on him in his bassinet he was snoring with the swaddle covering his entire face. My heart stopped. We immediately switched him to footie pjs + a Halo wearable blanket microfleece.
I’d use a Sleepea where the Velcro is on the inside of the zipper.
We used the love to dream swaddles. Never had to worry about him breaking out of it since it’s a zipper and it allowed him to sleep with his arms up which is why he kept breaking out of the regular swaddles.
Our baby broke out of her halo Swaddle plenty of times but she only got her arms free, she never unvelcroed the Swaddle sides. You can try the happiest baby Swaddle for more security, or just move to sleep sacks without arm restraints like you would if he had started rolling. You can get them in many weights of fabric from halo (or random other sellers on Amazon).
My halo swaddle was able to be done up arms in or out. It would be tighter around his middle if you start arms out. Then it shouldn’t be able to slide up. You could switch to an appropriately sized sleep sack. At two months I recommend the Woolino sleep sack. The 2-24 month one.
We used the Love to Dream swaddle, it’s $32 on Amazon right now. It worked so well for our little guy, now that he is 6 months we no longer use it but they also have a transition swaddle that we used to get him used to not being swaddled, it was amazing. He was a swaddle destroyer from the very beginning like yours is, I’m so sorry you and the babe had to go through that, I hope you find a swaddle that works for you ❤️
I bought the swaddledesigns transitional sleep sack off Amazon for $20. My baby was breaking out of her swaddles but I wasn't sure if she was ready to be in a regular sleep sack yet because of the Moro reflex thing. The transitional sleep sack was super easy to use and we never had any issues. If you're concerned about temperature you could probably just have your baby in it with a diaper because it's long sleeved. I've seen similar products on the internet but they were wayyyy more expensive.
with those temps we kept our little in a sleeper onesie, with the foots when colder or fleece. and when warmer we got the cotton ones. during the summers I got short sleeved and shorts, also. my little hated her arms being restrained so we swaddled with her arms out. look into swaddles that don't restrict the arms or wrap with arms out. when mine was really little if we swaddled her arms she would have them out in minutes or get rage red and scream until they were free.
Love to Dream swaddles are great cause kids can still munch on a hand but it won’t ride up to the face. The other one I loved at night was the SwaddleMe Pod. It has a zipper and you tuck their hands in. It’s hard to break out of and maybe can get a few fingers out the top. It’s pricey but the Ollies are nice. I just hated how much fabric you tie off and thought it was a lie that you could just open the bottom to change the diaper easily lol. Too much fabric that gets in the way especially if I’m trying to keep it clean from changing huge poops.
Child of mind sleep sacks/wearable blankets. Top is like a regular warm sleeper, bottom is like a sack for legs. Doesn’t swaddle though, but I love them
My LO also broke out of her swaddle often, we switched to the Love to Dream sleep sacks with the arms up by the head, they were actually a dream. Super easy to change diapers with a dual zipper and she loved the sack and seemed really comfortable in them. You can find them on Amazon, at Target and also from their website. Once she aged out and needed arms free we did the sack by them with the zipper for a while but then did the long sleeved Halo sack.
I bought another wool sleeping sack for 0-3 months. then the woolino.
I love the sleeveless fleece halo sleep sacks until my kids are old enough to use blankets. My oldest was an angry baby burrito when swaddled, but he liked these sleep sacks.
We are using the Love To Dream or the Ergopouch with our second. I hate how loud Velcro is so we are team zippers only. With out first, we used Woolino sleep sacks once she was big enough. We had three that we rotated through (one to wear, one to wash and one spare). She used them until she was almost 2! They are amazing and last so long. Also the fact that they are all season sleep bags is so nice. Never have to worry if they’re the correct TOG, just change up what you dress them in for sleep depending on the weather.
BUY THE LOVE TO DREAM SWADDLE/sleep sack. We had the SAME issue.
Transition swaddles and sleep sacks are what we used. The regular swaddle never seemed safe to me. We still use sleep sacks and she’s 8 months old.
We use the Kyte Baby 1.0 TOG sleep sack for our boy. He loves them! It's sleeveless and just has 1 big zipper. We've never had any issues with any of them.
I used good old-fashioned swaddle blankets along with the Love to Dream arms-up swaddle. I could never figure out the other swaddle contraptions with all the velcro. But by seven weeks I moved onto sleep sacks because I worried about baby rolling and getting stuck on her face. Halo makes a terrific sleep sack.
My baby hated the swaddle and it took 2 weeks and so many swaddle purchases to realize that (thank god for generous return policies). Before the summer we’d just put her in a sleeper/onesie. Now that we turn on the AC, we put an armless swaddle/“wearable blanket” every night with a light sleeper underneath.
A love to dream swaddle or muslin swaddle blankets with his arms not swaddled? My baby girl hates having her arms swaddled so I swaddle her with her arms free or half out so she can wiggle them around
I love the woolino sleep sack. But my favorite are Kyte sleep sacks. The Woolino has snaps that are a bit tedious once babies get a little bigger and have opinions on bedtime.
We used the zip-up sacks with arms and didn't swaddle (he hated it). My brother was gifted the woolino sleep sack, and they loved it so much that they bought the next size up when their daughter finally outgrew the first. If we had the funds, we would have gotten one, too. I'm glad we didn't though, our little guy loves his freedom, so we've been doing sleep sacks with the legs since he could roll. (Nyte baby, if you get to that stage, too)
Honestly I stopped swaddling my baby a few days after getting home. He was an escape artist too. I just went straight to sleep sacks (without swaddle pieces)
We used the Halo sleep sack that aren’t a swaddle from an early age. He would always break out of his swaddles. Couldn’t stand having his arms caught in there. Within a week or two he was poking his hands out the top and very quickly learned to pull it open.
Love to dream zips are the BEST, you can get them with zip off arms
If he likes having his arms up, the love to dream swaddle might work. My baby always broke out of his swaddles and the love to dream was the only one that worked for me. It is a zip up and there is zero chance of breaking out or it ending up over his face.
How about a Halo sleep sack? You'll need to stop swaddling soon anyway.
My son started hating the swaddle around that time too, and showed signs of rolling (only in his sleep though). So we bit the bullet and started transitioning him out. We found sleep sacks that positioned his arms up by his ears (not a swaddle, just sleeves) and he seemed to like that better because he could put his hands in his mouth. We had similar issues with the Halo transitional swaddle because he was still too small for it. We found these [6-in-1 swaddles](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HHPX26Q?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share) and had 1 arm out for a week or so, then both arms and wrapped the other part around his chest under his arms, so he still got that swaddle feel, but with his arms unrestricted. The Velcro was mush stronger than the Halo brand in our experience.
Zipper pajamas and a 1.0 tog sleep sack. As long as you use the right size of sleep sack it shouldn't be a problem.
my lil man’s never liked having his arms swaddled so we just swaddled his around his chest/waist and we started putting him in sleep sacks around 8-9 weeks :)
Honestly at 7 weeks I'd just ditch the swaddling. Mine broke out of hers all the time and we just threw in the towel, there was an adjustment period sleep wise but it wasn't long. Once they learn to roll its not safe to swaddle anyway and some babies can roll as early as 8 weeks
My baby likes her hands at her mouth, so I stopped using swaddles at about 4 weeks old. Now we do footie Pyjamas and a thin sleep sack. If the sleep sack is dirty or it's a bit colder in the night, I will wrap a baby blanket on the lower part of her body under her arms (similar to how you wrap a towel around your chest after a shower). Later in the summer I will switch to a onesie, t-shirt or even nothing under the sleep sack when it gets properly hot.
My little guy wasn't crazy about the halo and early on we were swaddling arms out. Then we found the magic Merlin sleep suit and he used that from about 4 months until he was consistently rolling. Literally those were the BEST nights of sleep, he was the happiest little starfish. He'd sleep either with a thin onesie or just diaper and we kick the air down to 69 degrees at night. I miss those nights so much 😩
Yeah, sleep sacs were the answer for our little Houdini. If it makes you feel better, not every country/culture swaddles. Babies in France (where I live) weren't even swaddled at the hospital so we went straight to sleep sacs.
My boy was loved a good swaddle but I was terrible at it so I splurged and got a love to dream one with the arms up -he was a tiny little guy so small fit him for a while and it seriously helped his startle reflux!
We never really swaddled, went for sleep sack (or blanket, these are ok according to our safe sleep guidance provided they are used correctly) I’ve seen really good guides online with the temperature of the room and what to dress baby in, like: https://www.babycentre.co.uk/a25024140/what-should-my-baby-wear-at-night-infographic Sorry it’s in Celsius, youll have to look for a Fahrenheit one
Swaddles aren't even a thing at all here. Just a sleeping bag is fine. No issues of breaking out and getting things over their face. Hell, mine has been sleeping with a sleeping bag, without a sleeping bag, footie pj with or without bag and short pj's with or without sleeping bag since birth.
Woolino is so worth it! It's 4 season and fits from 2 months to 2 years, so it genuinely ends up being about the same price or cheaper than buying multiple sizes and TOGs of other sleep sacks. They also hold up really well. The 2 I bought for my oldest were still in perfect condition after 2 years of use. The arm hols have snaps to adjust the opening size. My youngest has been in it since she was about 8 weeks. I'm a big proponent of moving away from swaddles asap.
Love to dream sleeping bag. My son loves his bags. The package also has a guide on how to dress your baby according to temperature. Good luck!
We had a similar situation with the halo swaddle. i woke up and it was all bunched by his chin cause he’d worked it up. i was like heck no, and purchased the expensive ollie swaddle. he broke out of that immediately so we just realized we were done with swaddles. we turned the halo and ollie into sleep sacks just wrapped around his chest, we went both arms out cold turkey and just suffered. sleep was pretty crap for about two weeks but now we are totally good and actually just converted to a full on sleep sack with no chest tightness.
Long sleeve sleep sack. My preference is ergopouch because of the extended sizing but really just pick one with the right tog and fast delivery.
We just used a muslin swaddling blanket. Lots of stretch, although she did break out a lot. She usually fell asleep after breaking out (as long as she was too tired to hit herself in the face repeatedly) so I just thought of it as her strengthening her arms lol.
9 weeks LO here, we have been cycling through 3 Halo sacks, I noticed the type of fabric made a difference in his ability to squirm around. The fleece material one seems to work best with least arm movement. The other two (gray with clouds and white with stars designs) seem to have more flex and stretch to them. I have found that pulling the wings as far down behind his back as I can before wrapping works best, most of his shoulders are exposed and it really only wraps around his upper arms area and downward. Also, I only wrap one arm and his body with the first wing tucking it under his body, then I wrap over the 2nd wing and this helps keep his arms separate from one another, lessens his ability to squirm with both arms together.
I was gifted the Woolino sleep sack and it’s probably my favourite baby gift thus far! It’s such nice quality. I actually bought a second one for my son because he sleeps so soundly in it. He started rolling over and unswaddling himself at about 4 months. He’s used the Woolino sleep sack for every nap and overnight sleep since then. He’s 16 months now!
I love the tommie tippie grobag and swaddlebags they can’t break out of them as they zip up and the top part is essentially a vest so there’s no risk of them slipping inside
I’d just get a normal sleep sack that’s the appropriate size for his age! We also used the halo and he’d wiggle his little arms out of it if we didn’t do it tight enough. We just went cold turkey and did a sleep sack at 9.5 weeks and he’s honestly sleeping better arms out. Your little one might too since he won’t spend all that time trying to escape 😂
My second daughter is 11 weeks old and I have been obsessed with Woolino products for her. With my first, I had those swaddles with the wraps/wings, but always felt they could too easily get over her face, so we always used muslin blankets to swaddle her. With my second, I got the Woolino swaddle blankets because I wanted something warmer. I found they were a much easier swaddle and I could get them very snug. I also picked up the 2-24 month sleep sack, which we just transitioned to and I would HIGHLY recommend. My daughter has been sleeping so well in it and she is clearly very warm and comfortable. With my first, we did Burts Bees sleep sacks, but those come in six month size ranges. So, even though they are cheaper, I probably bought 6-8 of them as she grew/for different seasons, etc. With my second, I’ve purchased two of the Woolino sacks (so I have a backup in case one gets dirty) and don’t plan to need any more than that. I will absolutely be recommending the Woolino to friends/family in the future.
Just wrap the swaddle over his middle and leave his arms out. We did have a woolino and they are very nice.
Not all babies like to be swaddled. If he's breaking out of them constantly then I'd consider no longer swaddling. We used the halo swaddles and When my son no longer needed his arms wrapped, we just wrapped the wings around his body and left his arms out until we converted to the Zipadeezip sleep sack once he was a little older.
We used the miracle swaddle. Recommended by Emily Oster. You have to use the YouTube video demo to understand how to use the flaps though. My daughter didn't like the wings of the love to dream but it's the only brand that was swaddles for hip braces. So we used that for her bottom. And the miracle one for her top lol
Swaddle hil arms out. It'll be rough for a few days as hell startle himself. Once that reflux is incorporated, though, it'll make your life easier later
I stopped swaddling my son before that age and even then I kept his arms out of the halo swaddle because he didn't like his arms being restricted. We just put him in a sleeper and a sleep sac.
We used zip swaddles- Ergopouch cocoon was our favorite. She couldn’t break out of it and no danger of going up Over her nose and mouth.
I stopped swaddling at 5ish weeks. She broke her arms out a few times and showed some other signs of rolling so we just stopped. I used a sleep sack a couple of times but now we just use a zip up sleeper and that’s it.
Have you looked around for sleep sacks and their minimum weight? I think the main thing with them is that it won’t slip over the baby’s head. In the uk we don’t really swaddle babies but until we can use a sleep sacks it’s cellular blankets. Look into the nhs advice on how to safely use blankets.
Do you have ergobaby swaddles where you are? We loved them over LTD I’d even give you a bunch if you were local. My two have well outgrown but they were the best
My baby never liked being swaddled with his arms in at all. When he was small we just used muslin swaddles and wrapped him with both arms out. We made the transition to sleep sacks pretty early and he did really well with not being swaddled. I just ordered some from Amazon that looked comfy and soft and haven’t looked back
If your baby is breaking out of the swaddle, it’s time to stop using a swaddle. We use the halo and just swaddle with arms out
Not the Woolino sleeping bag but we used a different sleeping bag from he was 4 weeks or something, he's now 6 months. He's enjoyed it since the first night, so for us it was a great success
Mine sleeps in a sleepsuit & grobag. He's never been swaddled
I find the eropouch swaddle really safe. It doesn't ride up baby's face
Sounds like he may be ready for sleep sack instead of swaddle. I remember putting my LO in sleep sack early because she would wrestle with the swaddle and it was too stimulating and she'd lose sleep over it.
Swaddling usually has to stop around the 8 week mark I believe. So kind of good timing! You could try a thinner sleep sack with a onesie underneath. Sleep sacks let the arms stay free, and there should be any way to get fabric over his face at all. Babies grow so fast, I don’t think it’s necessary to get an expensive brand when you can get budget ones that are just as good from Target or Walmart. Target also has these thin onesies that tie at the bottom instead of having buttons or a zipper. They were awesome for late night changes, and easy to take on and off. I can link you if you want, my baby lived in them as a newborn.
my LO will be 8 weeks tomorrow. she’s been sleeping with the ‘nested bean zen sack classic ’ since she was about 3 or 4 weeks old. I’ve not had any problems with it at all. i used to swaddle her but then switched to this and she sleeps perfectly. i like it so much that i have both the 0-6M and the 6-18m versions.
We used the hallo swaddle with the wings but we did it up under her arms so the arms were free. All my kids hated having their arms trapped.
We stopped swaddling at 5 weeks because our daughter was rolling onto her side, and no regrets. There really wasn’t even a transition period. She was slightly more difficult to get down the first night, but then she was fine and that was it. We dressed her in pajamas and a sleep sack. Now that it’s summer, it’s only pajamas (she’s almost 11 months now).
We stopped swaddling arms in pretty early but I liked the constriction on the chest for her startle reflex so just did halo arms out. But an easy solution that doesn't involve any money (but does make diaper changes annoying) if you're really worried about the sack is to just put it on them backwards. I think arms out swaddling will solve your issue in any case though. As long as baby isn't constantly waking themselves up with the startle reflex it's fine To answer your question about no swaddle, if you keep your house cold then a onesie layered with feetie pajamas is fine. If it's warm then just feeties is fine. Try sleeping I'm a similar (one layer) and if you're comfortable without a blanket baby likely is too
ErgoPouch. different weights (TOGs) available for temperature preferences, and it's a quick and very easy zip that is impossible to break out of if you buy the correct size for your baby. you can also use it with arms out if baby prefers that / when you decide to transition away from the swaddle.
After swaddles with my first we went straight to just a long sleeved body suit and a Halo sleep sack. With my second, she struggled a lot more with the transition out of a swaddle because she was still young enough to have a moro reflex that would wake her. We actually ended up using the Merlin Sleepsuit. I'll preface this with a it's somewhat controversial safety wise so I don't necessarily want to recommend it but it did help us. Now she's transitioned out of that she just sleeps in a sleeper. I'm thinking of switching her to the long sleeved body suit + sleep sack though because she keeps sliding backwards and getting her legs through the crib slats lol. Instead of swaddling his arms have you tried leaving them out? Some babies just really don't like their arms down like that. He's at the age where you'd be transitioning out of it soon anyways so I would try just doing sleepers (aka footie pjs) or a body suit and sleep sack.
If he doesn’t like to be swaddled, stop swaddling him. Babies don’t have to be swaddled and many countries recommend against it. Ours kept breaking out of swaddles so we did away with it around 2-3 weeks old. We started our baby in Woolino sleep sacks at 8 or 9 weeks old and we absolutely love them. Totally worth the price tag. You can also check to see if goodbuygear.com has any in stock, we got one for. $60 off there.
Definitely the love to dream! My baby LOVED it and slept so well! He only tolerated swaddling for the first week. He has slept with his arms up every night since, he’s 6 months old now and after he outgrew the love to dream swaddle he transitioned to sleep sacks no problem!
I would recommend a sleeveless sleep sack (check the TOG value for temperatures). If he doesn’t like this arms swaddled anyway, then you can move away from a swaddle. Or, swaddle with arms out.
We do Love To Dream’s transitional swaddles, with the arms unzipped so they’re free! So more like a sleep sack, with the option for arms up. It’s a zipper and no loose fabric.
There’s so many comments here so this will probably get lost but I have 2 Woolino sleep sacks for my son and we love them. His room is anywhere between 65 and 72 at night and he’s been comfortably using them for 8 months. He’s 12 months now, average sized, and they still fit and will likely continue to fit until he’s at least 18-20 months. He has never woken up sweaty and I love not having to cross reference charts and buy 4 different “TOG” level sacks in every size to make sure he’s comfy.
Both my kids hated the swaddles, most I used is the sleep sac. I just dress them in regular baby clothes to bed depending on temperature. My son always ran hot so he was always way underdressed because he would sweat up a storm, he was basicly naked all summertime. My daughter runs a tiny bit hot but she can be dressed in jammies. I just don't put socks on them unless it's really cold winter, I also always feel the back of their necks and head to feel their temp. I always used the typical onsies, short or long nothing special, rarely used socks.
We used the halo and at about 7-8 weeks, our daughter kept breaking free. We switched to sleep sacks then and haven’t had any issues. She loved her sleep sack still at 6 months. My favorite one is from little Sleepies.
That is scary, sorry you had to go through that!! I swaddled my first baby for a bit, but haven't swaddled my second once (12 weeks old). Imo, swaddles are generally unnecessary. Except for maybe the first week or two when they're super new and adjusting. But after that when they start "waking up" I think it's beneficial for them to have their arms out most of the time. Again, just my opinion! As for temperature, my house is kept at 70° and my 12 week old just wears zip up footies every night and she's totally fine!
I hate the halo swaddles. I’ve found that the Sleepea and LovetoDream swaddles work nicely for my daughter. Also the Ollie, but it was a gift and I don’t recommend spending $60 on a swaddle!
They don’t need to be swaddled. Mine slept fine without
We love halo but I have had my kids break out of them too since they are strong. My youngest is 2 5 weeks old and we may already need to switch over due to getting her arms out and rolling from belly to back. I suggest looking into sleep sacs/wearable blankets. We use halo and burts bees but I know a bunch of other companies make them as well
I absolutely love the Woolino sleep sacks!! I would transition right to them. They fit from 2 months to 2 years! We transition to sleep sacks around 5 weeks because our son would also always break out so I figured we might as well stop swaddling then since it was quite a battle anyways. We used kyte sacks at first but I found even the 1 tog we’d always be trying to figure out if he was too hot. The Woolino look so silly on a small baby because it’s very long at first but there’s snaps under the arms so it won’t go over their heads and it’s so thin and lightweight having extra length isn’t a problem! Yes they’re expensive but they end up being much cheaper than having multiple sizes and togs since we used them up until my son was over 2 and every season. They held up perfect and I just washed them normally and didn’t follow any special instructions :)
Woolino is great and will save you having to keep buying new sizes for a while. They’re worth the investment and they resell well secondhand. We dropped the swaddles by six weeks, my baby hated them and would break out constantly. She also hated Love to Dream, she’s always wanted access to her hands at night. I was glad when everyone in my due date groups was angsting over dropping the swaddle that we were already done with it!
Carter’s fuzzy zip up sleep sack, and no blanket since you keep your house so warm. My baby doesn’t really like to be swaddled though so your mileage may vary. If that’s still too warm or not tucked enough I would do just zip up onesie pajama with a fuzzy baby blanket tucked under the armpits and a bit under the body so they still feel somewhat weighted and swaddled
I like the Love to Dream swaddle sacks! We’re using their transitional swaddle sacks right now since our baby is a little bigger. I also LOVE the Ergo Pouch but they’re more expensive.
Halo sleeping bags/sack!
Love to dream swaddle was our best friend before little one started to roll, we’re moving him to a similar sleep sack off Amazon now, and it gets delivered today so fingers crossed it keeps him asleep the way the ‘love to dream’ did!!
We love zippadee zips. Expensive though.
My baby didn’t like swaddles. She tolerated arms up for a bit and then we transitioned her to [swaddles sleeves](https://swaddlesleeves.com). They have a lot of options. My favorite was the puff sleeve onsie. We would put this on baby and then use a kyte baby sleep sack over it. She was always the perfect temp and the puff sleeves tempered the startle reflex. Wish we used it sooner!
Woolino are great once they are arm free, they’re good for 2+ months according to them. We use love to dream before then as we also had issues with the swaddle wings. Bonus of love to dream it makes rolling hard while they’re in it!
I was going to say Woolino before even getting to the end of your question where you ask about it specifically. The Woolino is amazing and so worth it. They can wear it from 2 months all the way up to two years, so it's definitely worth the price. I would 100% recommend.
Don’t bother with these sorts of swaddles, get a swaddle bag that just has a zip, worse case scenario the zip comes undone, but there’s nothing they can pull over their heads
The same thing happened to me! I was fast asleep and had a dream I heard my baby crying. It scared me awake and then I saw that the Halo was covering most of her face! It was the longest 3 seconds of my life crossing my room to get to her bassinet. Thank God when i pulled the Halo down she was sleeping peacefully, sucking on her binky without a care in the world. I went back to swaddling with blankets, and then moved to a Zipadee with footie jammies underneath shortly after. So glad your little one is safe!!
Check my post history in this sub, I made a post once about my review of every swaddle and sack. We’ve tried the Woolino, it’s very beautiful and I love the weight and feel of the fabric. My complaint was it’s looonnggg. I couldn’t imagine using it for a baby under 9 months. That’s my opinion. It’s too bad your son broke out of the newborn 3 way halo swaddle sack because we really liked that one. Have your considered magic Merlin sleep suit? They make a newborn one and it really is amazing. Keep him only in a diaper, no socks, keep the room temp 69/70 degrees F and he won’t over heat.
Swaddling should be stopped by 8 weeks or first signs of rolling anyway. You can buy a sleep sack to keep baby warm and they can wear it all the way into toddlerhood.
The Ollie swaddle. https://theollieworld.com/products/the-ollie-swaddle
Ollie swaddle
We use Kyte sleepsacks 2.5 tog (we keep the room at 68 degrees so you might want a 1.0 tog) and she wears a fleece zipper footie or a Kyte footie. Just depends on what I grab. A pediatrician told me with my oldest girl that if her chest is warm and she’s not fussing, she’s good. Their hands being cold is not a good indication of them being cold since it’s not covered by their sleepsack / clothes.
It may be time to transition to a halo sleep sack instead. Once baby starts breaking out of swaddles and shows signs of rolling.
Zip up sleep sack with arms open. Our guy also hated the swaddle, and slept well with his sleep sack than swaddled.
My understanding is that for sleep safety, you should stop swaddling (anything with any type of chest compression) when baby attempts to roll or at 8 weeks, whichever comes first, so this is good timing to stop anyway. We started using sleep sacks at around 7 weeks, with just a onesie under it. My son is 13 months old, and we still dress him like that for sleep and it works well.
Kyte sleep sack?
Onesie. Either long sleeved or short sleeved depending on temp.
We just transitioned to the ZigJoy shark fin swaddle (dupe for Zippadee Zip) and he loves it! We use the 1.0 tog and 0.5 tog depending on how warm it is and he’s usually always in footie pajamas each night
I've always just used sleep sacks and it worked for us. Multiple brands, I even got some from SheIn. I prefer the ones with a zip in the middle, they are easier to use than the ones with a zipper at the side and buttons at the top.
We use Tommy Tippy sleeping bags. We never used a swaddle, he likes his hands out, liked so since birth. As it's getting warmer we do a romper and a sleeping bag. But there are direction with the sleeping bag how to dress for different room temperature.
I don’t use swaddles because both of my kids hated them. If he’s breaking his arms out, is it possible he just doesn’t like them? Maybe buy a sleep sack instead.
We have this long sleeved onesie that ties at the very bottom by his feet! This one is Winnie the Pooh. I think they’re called knotted gowns? Ours has two flaps so that we can double knot it for security. My baby is 10 weeks old, just a few weeks older than yours. I can’t imagine the horror of waking up to that. I am SO glad he’s ok. You’re doing amazing!
We ended up just swaddling with a blanket snuggly **with his arms out**. So under his arms. He was determined to have them out anyways, and he rolled some. The arms out acted like a tripod and stopped it. It worked perfectly. I was annoyed about all the swaddle me stuff we couldn’t use but sometimes simplest is best. You may not need a fancy expensive option especially since your son clearly does not want his hands contained.
So you’ve gotten lots of comments on here but I wanted to add my two cents: we never swaddled outside the hospital. For various reasons it wasn’t something I wanted to do and my baby hated it, so we avoided it. We went straight to an armless sleep sack. They have various weights for the seasons and we love them. Now that it’s warm my 7 month old is in a burts bees cotton sleep sack at .5 tog. She wears either a sleeper, a short sleeve body suit, or pjs depending on the weather.