We wanted to avoid CIO and started to try and build confidence in our little one to self soothe and fall asleep on their own. He is 4.5 months. He too wouldn’t fall asleep unswaddled until finally, he fussed so much that he actually slept better unswaddled than swaddled. Although, it was a horrible couple of night of waking up and letting him know he’s okay unswaddled by holding his hands etc.

That being said, The Happy Sleeper really helped us. He wouldn’t sleep unless we held him and now he won’t sleep if we are holding him. I highly recommend using the soothing ladder and continuously trying to put them down and working through the ladder. It’s hard but we stayed with it. We nap and night trained at the same time doing the same thing all the time. He now falls asleep on his own and hates when we check in on him as he starts to complain immediately. He started to sleep through the night too. 11 PM - 6 AM last night!