I have a couple of questions regarding swaddling. I have been reading Happiest Baby on the Block and it describes my LO to a t. I have been swaddling but I am concerned about how long each day I should keep her swaddled? How long each day do you swaddle your LO? My friend whose lo is 9 days younger, has hers swaddled nearly 20 hours a day and swears by it. Please help.
We basically swaddle for naps (and when we are trying to get him down for one) and take him out so he can play. If we want him to stay awake (usually after 5) we'll keep him unswaddled. So I'd say that he's unswaddled for about 4-5 hours during the day total + any diaper changes. If he's supposed to sleep after a bottle I keep him swaddled during the bottle too. This will gradually change as he gets older and stays awake more.
This is what we did with DS #1 as well and we cut the swaddle at night first cold turkey (we were sleep training, so we did it all during that time) and then during naps came about 3 weeks later when we had to sleep train for naps.
I swaddle at night when he sleeps and once in a while during the day when he is fussy and sleepy, but refusing to nap. Most of the time during the day he's not swaddled. He is either in tummy time, swing, on my chest. I use the halo sleepsack because I want his legs free to move and I'm terrible at swaddling with a blanket.
20 hrs a day seems excessive. We would swaddle for night time sleep and for naps in the crib. If LO was sleeping in the swing or bouncy chair we didn't swaddle, because it was a short period of sleep. One thing to remember for swaddling is to avoid pulling their legs straight, because that can cause hip dysplasia (can dislocate their little hips). Keep their legs in a comfy froggy position while they are newborn, and just swaddle the arms and chest tightly, but leave room for their legs to be loose.
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20 hours or at all during the day seems crazy. But dd is chill, so I guess if it makes a fussy baby calm then it's worth it. We swaddle at night. There have been about three times during the day where dd wouldn't fall asleep despite being up for awhile. I swaddled then and it helped get her down. She takes two hour naps unswaddled in her bouncer.
Re: Swaddling questions
We basically swaddle for naps (and when we are trying to get him down for one) and take him out so he can play. If we want him to stay awake (usually after 5) we'll keep him unswaddled. So I'd say that he's unswaddled for about 4-5 hours during the day total + any diaper changes. If he's supposed to sleep after a bottle I keep him swaddled during the bottle too. This will gradually change as he gets older and stays awake more.
This is what we did with DS #1 as well and we cut the swaddle at night first cold turkey (we were sleep training, so we did it all during that time) and then during naps came about 3 weeks later when we had to sleep train for naps.