Typically I do, but I'm not sure I can articulate why. I think it's in part because DS hates having his arms bound. But I didn't last night (because I was still mostly asleep and it was easier to handle him) and he was fine with it. He didn't wake up as much, which made it easier to put him back down after the feeding.
I don't unswaddle DS for feedings. He's easier to hold, he doesn't wake up as much, & I can put him right back down to sleep. I do unswaddle him for his 6am feeding when he's ready to get up for the day.
I usually unswaddle him to feed on one side and let him stretch, then change his diaper (so he has to be unswaddled anyway). Then I usually reswaddle him and feed him on the other side. Typically re-swaddling will agitate him a bit so feeding him calms him down and allows him to drift off to sleep. Sometimes it can be a challenge to get him to eat at all after swaddling though - he can just fall back asleep - so if he didn't eat well on the one side I'll put off the swaddle until half way through the second side.
It's quite the process
I am a runner, knitter, scientist, DE-IVF veteran, and stage III colon cancer survivor.
I feed on one side swaddled, then change his diaper and feed on the other side with him in just his diaper. He loves skin to skin and it makes it easier to put him back down because he's so relaxed and sleepy.
When he wakes up, I unswaddle him, change his diaper, reswaddle, and then feed. He'll usually drift back to sleep when he's done (he nurses on both sides).
When he was littler, I left him unswaddled until the end. He had a hard enough time staying awake to eat without the comfiness of swaddling!
Night time feedings go like this: unswaddle, change diaper (we are using cloth diapers, and I have thicker fleece diapers for overnight), swaddle again, nurse, then put down to sleep. If he doesn't go to sleep right away I'll rock him to sleep then put him down.
I do. I can't figure out how to feed him while he's swaddled at 2 am. Plus I usually change his diaper before I feed him so I have to unswaddle him for that.
I usually don't, unless he's too sleepy and needs to be more woken up. We use a Halo Sleepsack Swaddle, so it makes for really easy swaddling and unswaddling, which is particularly handy during the night and for someone like me who sucks at swaddling.
Re: Bfeed/swaddle at night
I usually unswaddle him to feed on one side and let him stretch, then change his diaper (so he has to be unswaddled anyway). Then I usually reswaddle him and feed him on the other side. Typically re-swaddling will agitate him a bit so feeding him calms him down and allows him to drift off to sleep. Sometimes it can be a challenge to get him to eat at all after swaddling though - he can just fall back asleep - so if he didn't eat well on the one side I'll put off the swaddle until half way through the second side.
It's quite the process
I am a runner, knitter, scientist, DE-IVF veteran, and stage III colon cancer survivor.
When he wakes up, I unswaddle him, change his diaper, reswaddle, and then feed. He'll usually drift back to sleep when he's done (he nurses on both sides).
When he was littler, I left him unswaddled until the end. He had a hard enough time staying awake to eat without the comfiness of swaddling!
unswaddle... it's too bulky maybe? she struggles more & also need to wake to keep her feeding long enough
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