Nap strike due to Merlin suit transition?

Looking for suggestions/recommendations for our formerly perfect sleeper who is now on a multi-day nap strike. Up until now, she has been sleeping in the Magic Merlin sleep suit since about 3mo for both naps and bedtime. To say she loves that thing is an understatement - when we used to put it on she would start smiling and wiggling with excitement, then would fall asleep almost immediately. It really was magic. Unfortunately, this past Saturday she learned how to flip over in the suit (cute photo below), which means we need to transition her to a sleep sack. And since then, her napping habits have become a complete nightmare. She refuses to sleep during the day and spends the time we put her in her crib on her stomach trying to crawl in the sleep sack. Thankfully it hasn’t disrupted her night sleep yet - she still sleeps through the night just now on her stomach in the sleep sack (which drives me nuts but our pediatrician says it’s fine), but her timing is all off now because she’s so exhausted from essentially no naps during the day that she’ll fall asleep around 5pm and sleep until 4am instead of her former 7pm-6am schedule.

Has anyone else experienced issues transitioning from the Merlin sleep suit to a sleep sack? If so, what helped?

Thank you in advance!

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Mine won't even do a sleep sack :/ she sleeps whenever she wants and has no routine except that she doesn't usually want to sleep until around 2am until around 930 or so.

As they get older they just start dropping naps.

Yes my baby loved his suit so much but he was doing the same thing so we did a sleep sack but we did the dreamland baby weighted sleep sack and my baby is back on track after a week of getting it back together. Just took some time but you’ll find the right one our pediatrician recommended the weight because the Merlin was a little heavier also.

I’d get on Reddit and see. I’ve seen threads on this and it’s honestly why I never did the Merlin suit. I’ve heard they’re haaaard to transition out of. Give it time, she’ll settle. I’d think it’s similar to transitioning from swaddle to sleep sack. It’s just going to take time as they get used to the movement. That said, once my baby was free to move at night — man! Crawling sitting etc EXPLODED. Give that baby free movement! But I hope you sleep soooooon!!!!

AAP advises against weighted

Have you tried a transition sleep sack? They’re normally for transition out of the swaddle but the long sleeves might help her feel more secure since she’s used to the Merlin.

wow, I had no idea this was so common! What a helpful Reddit thread - thank you for the redirect

not yet, I didn’t realize there were transition sacks with arms! I’ll do some research and see if that helps. Thank you!

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Ok, this might get a bit long, and a bit bumpy, so get comfy and buckle up.

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