Not swaddling/startle reflex

Juliebird8307

My DD is 8 weeks old and I really want to stop swaddling her. She doesn't mind when I do it but she wakes up and doesn't want her arms in there so she's always fighting to get out. She recently started trying to suck her thumb and I think that's why she's been trying to escape more.

But, she still seems to have the startle reflex. I tried not swaddling her and I saw her arms fly in the air and woke herself up. Will she get used to that quickly? How often a night does that happen? I'm orb because I don't want her waking herself up ever 30 minutes because she scares herself, but I also don't want her waking up crying because she wants her arms free. I've heard about that Merlin sleep suit, but I don't know how it works and she's still too small for it.

SweetPeaK26

Dd3 startles easily, and dd2 was really bad with it, but we've never swaddled our girls. I don't know how long it takes for then to get used to it, but I do know that our girls have only very rarely woken (awakened?) themselves from it. So I'd think that she'll adjust after a few days or so.

ejb23

Can you try one arm free first then slowly stop using it?

Juliebird8307

ejb23 said:

Can you try one arm free first then slowly stop using it?

I did one arm free yesterday for a nap but didn't try it at night. It seemed to work well for the nap but I was afraid to try it at night and mess up her longer sleep.

aml8979

My lo does the same thing. He does not like to be swaddled so I use the sleep sacks. Maybe I will try tucking in his arms tonight.

Juliebird8307

I'm trying one arm out right now for this nap, and it isn't going well. I just decided to wrap up both arms. I'm not sure if it's the free arm or if she just doesn't want to sleep (even though she's so tired and can't keep her eyes open).

diamondhappy

I think you're actually talking about the Moro reflex. Startle reflex is actually caused by something...ie loud noise, ect. Moro happens when the babies arms flare out then back in, without stimuli. It's similar to the rooting reflex for example in that they don't get over it, they grow out of it.....this usually occurs around 4 mths

Juliebird8307

Yes, I guess it's the Moro reflex that I am referring to.

I have also let my DD sleep completely unswaddled and she loved it. Her arms were straight out too. But she woke up often. However, she hasn't been the best napper so maybe it's a coincidence. We haven't tried any if this at night yet.

blinnea23

I leave her unswaddled during the day. She does fine during her daytime naps but at night it's just easier to swaddle her.

Pockety

I stopped swaddling at about 4 weeks, because DD seemed angry at having her arms restrained. She's been fine. She sleeps up to 5 hours at a time, at 6 weeks old.

No one is going to have an answer for you, you're just going to have to either give it a try or not. If you're afraid of messing up her sleep, you'll never find out. It's okay to experiment, within reason!

Heffafish

From day one our little girl refused to have her hands swaddled. She was just too strong and would break free or cry until we freed her arms, so we have always just swaddled her body and left her arms free, so kind of like the best of both worlds. Perhaps that will help?