intro/delurk--advice on how and when to stop swaddling?

vindaloo

Hi all,

 I'm a long-time lurker, FTM, EBF my 14 week-old DS.  He's an extremely active baby--MIL says it's like he has a motor.  Sometimes I wish he was more mellow like my nieces and nephews!

So the problem is that at night, our little guy is a kicker and a "flailer" and he whips his head side to side like he's watching a tennis match with his eyes closed.  Sometimes the kicking is punctuated by toots--so I figure the kicking is just trying to work the gas out.  His eyes are often closed the entire time, or they'll open briefly and he'll close them again. Is this normal?

He's usually up twice a night to nurse--I nurse him when the nighttime activity escalates into fussiness but before it hits an all-out cry, because I don't want DH to wake up.   

We started with a regular swaddle, then moved to the Woombie, and are now using a miracle blanket.  He struggles with the swaddle and kicks his legs all night long.  As of two weeks ago, he usually gets one or both arms out of the miracle blanket at least once per night. When his arm/s get out, he starts flailing them up and down and wakes up fully.  He falls back asleep when I re-wrap him.

So we considered that maybe he doesn't like being swaddled.  But the truth is, he sleeps longer stretches when he's in the miracle blanket.  Also, I tried to put him to sleep in a sleep sack one night (so his arms would be free), and he fussed and flailed his arms until I gave up and put him back into the miracle blanket.  

Anyone have similar experiences?  Any advice on how or when to stop swaddling? one arm first, or cold turkey?  

Sorry this is so long, I just figured I may as well include all the details in case it helped with giving advice.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

 

Babalonia

Wow I could have wrote this post myself. DS is 3.5 months old. His problem isn't his arms it's his legs. He's been swaddled since the hospital. About a month ago middle of the night he'd get his arms out...so I started swaddling him chest down with arms out..he did great..but he still flails his legs. Well over the weekend we did two nights no swaddle and he did great, but the next two nights he got up crying etc and so we ended up feeding him (even though he's been STTN for a few weeks)..so I went back to swaddling chest down. Now i'm thinking maybe he's not waking up because of the no swaddle, maybe he's either going thru a growth spurt or the early 4MW...anyway, this morning he woke up crying (again) at 1:30am and after trying to comfort, burp, change, I fed him he ate like a champ and then slept from 2:30-7:00am..

Anyway while he's thrashing his legs he also does turn his head back and forth with eyes close..It seems like he does this most in the morning maybe when he's trying to wake up for not in so much of a deep sleep as thru the night.

Even though I don't know whats bugging DS as of now..I'm keeping him swaddled chest down (transitioning to crib tonight so at least he'll be swaddled and have something familiar)

And go from there...I have no real answer just that I learned from here is that it's really  not a big deal that he's still swaddled and not to overthink it to much.

 

AorL

My baby is a crazy mover at night, too, and is still swaddled nightly at 5 months...

I am thinking about trying to stop swaddling and actually just made a post asking when/how to do it...

We "double bundle" her at night, as we call it, to keep her swaddled and to keep her sleeping...we swaddle her in a receiving blanket and then put her in the miracle blanket (aka baby straightjacket) - she's never gotten out of the double bundle, though she definitely can get out of the receiving blanket swaddle alone or the swaddling blanket alone.

vanfox

Sounds like you're describing my DS. We didn't deswaddle him until he started to roll to his belly (at...16 weeks? I think.) and he'd stop his own startle reflex by rolling to his side or belly and sleeping that way. Now he barely has one and will often stay on his back without waking himself up when I put him down to sleep. There's probably no need to deswaddle your DS yet if he's still sleeping better in the MB. It's when that starts disrupting his sleep or he's rolling that you have to deswaddle.

vindaloo

Thanks for the responses, it's good to know that at least I'm not alone!

sweetpea2802

My lo ia over 4 months old and still loved to be swaddled so I bought a sleep sack. It is like the swaddle except. there are holes for the arms to go thru and it zips up with plenty of room for baby to move legs. Mine loves it and she can still move all around at night.

always4278

I can't get my LO weaned out of her swaddle and she's almost six months! lol she just sleeps so much better with it on that as long as her pedi says its ok for her to still be swaddled I'm not going to worry about it.  We have her six month appointment next week and I'm planning to ask about it then.I guess every baby is ready at their own time.