Do you swaddle LO for sleeping?

Cara1024 · March 2014

sehudson821 · March 2014

I want to give @peanutmuse‌ a huge THANK YOU for sharing her swaddling stories. I was convinced that DS didn't like to be swaddled arms in, but gave it another go after reading some of her posts. Now he falls asleep in half the time and stays asleep about 2-3 hrs longer than what he was doing. He seems to be getting used to it quickly and doesn't really fight it anymore.

erika_sue · March 2014

Only for night sleep. She naps on her belly.

daltosostarby · March 2014

We swaddle with swaddle sleep sacks, and swaddling blankets. Aeneas swings his arms around ALOT if we don't, and wakes himself up because of it. If we don't swaddle he'll sleep for 2-3hr stretches, with swaddling he sleeps for 5-6hr stretches.

RedSaffron · March 2014

DD hates being swaddled now and she sleep ok so we don't swaddle. But we did when she was born.

r0zz · March 2014

erika_sue said:
Only for night sleep. She naps on her belly.

Same. She either sleeps on us tummy time style or in her RnP.

thegosiers · March 2014

My little man loves him a swaddle! During the day it calms him down almost immediately.

jaclynwas17 · March 2014

I know I'm in the minority, and after reading Peanuts story we decided to retry swaddling with arms in. It didn't work. I do it when he's aleady sleepy, rock him and he goes to sleep. 20 min. later he's screaming and literally fighting with legs straight out until I undo his arms and re-calm him down. I have the one baby in the world who hates being swaddled...

CeeJC121013 · March 2014

We swaddle only at night. She naps in the swing during the day.

jblank03 · March 2014

No swaddles during naps here, just at night, although it's more just because he usually starts falling asleep playing and I don't want to wake him up.

jwp325 · March 2014

Sleep sack or DUDU swaddle with A&A blanket st night. Looser swaddle for naps and she usually naps in the RNP. I've found that the tighter she's swaddled the better she sleeps when on her back.

wifetomrb101 · March 2014

At first I didn't until she started flailing more. Now we swaddle. And she's often loosely swaddled with arms out ( I guess that's not really swaddling anymore) for most of the day because it's cold.

khunter11 · March 2014

jaclynwas17 said:
I have the one baby in the world who hates being swaddled...

Make that 2.

LO sleeps unswaddled in his swing or on his side next to me after nursing.

ababymaybe · March 2014

@ovenrack - did you just figure out the 3am thing via trial and error? I find it interesting as DS sleeps fairly well (swaddled) the first half of the night but is quite restless in the last half.

Toribaker171 · March 2014

We did only at night when she was first born, stopped for co sleeping since she slept 6-8 hours without it, and just started again for her first week in her crib at night. So far so good! We'll stop again when she can sleep without it.

peanutmuse · March 2014

khunter11 said:

I have the one baby in the world who hates being swaddled...
Make that 2. LO sleeps unswaddled in his swing or on his side next to me after nursing.

@khunter11 -- well my kid sleeps unswaddled in those 2 situations too. But for no more than 2 hours. We get 9-10 hours now with the swaddle.

I am a swaddling snob, for sure.

ETA: That's 9-10 hours straight, to be clear.

katags · March 2014

My baby will wake herself up by trying to free her arms. But she also wakes herself up panicking and fighting when she realizes she strapped in anywhere - car seats, bouncers, baby carriers, swings, etc. She just doesn't like being contained.

khunter11 · March 2014

peanutmuse said:

khunter11 said:

I have the one baby in the world who hates being swaddled...
Make that 2. LO sleeps unswaddled in his swing or on his side next to me after nursing.

@khunter11 -- well my kid sleeps unswaddled in those 2 situations too. But for no more than 2 hours. We get 9-10 hours now with the swaddle.

I am a swaddling snob, for sure.

ETA: That's 9-10 hours straight, to be clear.

@peanutmuse That's awesome. We've never had more than a 5/6 hour stretch - I blame his reflux, my anxiety, and him not being swaddled... and the fact that we live in one, big 1500 sqft room. When we move in April things are due for a change!

cnctf · March 2014

We only swaddle at night.

brittanydec2012 · March 2014

We only swaddle at night. Using swaddle me's ATM but LO is slowly outgrowing them so we are working on our swaddling skills with the A&A swaddle blankets. I think I will have to swaddle wrap him with arms out as the material has so much give compared to the tightness of the swaddle me's that LO doesn't seen to stay secure inside. Not sure how to get it tight enough, or if swaddling with arms out is our best option. I'm not the worlds greatest swaddle wrapper. I've watched countless YouTube videos and practice a lot!

laowaigringa · March 2014

I had also stopped swaddling after the first few days; she didn't seem to like it and always fought to get her arms out. I'd swaddle from the arms down only. But then decided to try again last week and she doesn't seem to mind it anymore, and I do think it's helping her sleep longer. She'll now sleep for a 4-5 hour stretch at night rather than a 3-4 one. Not a dramatic difference, but I'll take what I can get! I have found that swaddling does help calm her down though if she's really fussy and unhappy. I'm glad I gave it another try!

slmille4 · March 2014

I swaddle but I swaddle arms out. Which the hospital insisted in. LO is so rolly though is be scared to do arms in, she always manages to end up on her side against the side of the crib.

chicki1012 · March 2014

DS hated been swaddled from the beginning!! So we just used sleep sacks at night with arms out!! During naps no swaddling.

peanutmuse · March 2014

FTR, if arms are out, it's not technically swaddling. Arms in is the point. And of course babies hate the act of being swaddled. Brennon does too. But I pick him up, bounce and shush aggressively and he's out like a light. Every.single.time. When I had anxiety about swaddling, wasn't sure about it, didn't do it tight enough -- it didn't work.

Eventually, this won't be a topic anymore around here. But until that happens, I will continue to be surprised that those of you who are only getting 3-4 hours of sleep or less won't give it a shot.

If your baby is STTN without a swaddle, then that's of course the goal and I am so happy for you.

I am writing this as I listen to him struggle against the swaddle. It happens quite a bit. But if I let him struggle for a bit (not crying, FYI) he falls back asleep.

Swaddling has helped him be a better sleeper, both during the day and night. I only swaddle him for one nap during the day right now but it used to be every time he slept.

But, like I said -- I am a swaddling snob.

MIT721 · March 2014

peanutmuse said:

SNIP

Swaddling has helped him be a better sleeper, both during the day and night. I only swaddle him for one nap during the day right now but it used to be every time he slept.

But, like I said -- I am a swaddling snob.

Yep. This is us too. We used to swaddle DD every time she went down. Now she only get swaddled during the day if she's incredibly fussy (post-shots) or hasn't napped well at all and needs something to stop her arms from waking her up. We always swaddle before bed at night and she struggles a bit but has consistently given us (and herself) 4+ hours of sleep.

mrsjenni · March 2014

I've never swaddled any of my kids. Then again, we've never had any sleeping issues (fat babies = pretty good sleepers) so, had they been terrible sleepers, I probably would have tried swaddling (or ANYTHING.)

bethughknee · March 2014

We swaddle at night and daycare swaddles for naps. I stopped doing froggy legs around 1 month, though. She sleeps much better with her legs down. I hate SwaddleMe's and so does DD. I'm just a champ with a blanket.

After two rough nights in a row of DD taking awhile to fall asleep (around 7 weeks) DH was convinced she was done being swaddled. I just had a feeling that was not our issue so I had him read the Troublesome Tots thing about how swaddling is almost universally comforting for babies if you use other soothing methods combined with it. We stuck with swaddling and moved bedtime 30 min later and here we are back again with our great sleeper.

jhjocelyn · March 2014

I use a halo sleep sack at night and pin her arms so that her fists are up but the sack holds her elbows so she can't flail. I usually get one 5-6 hour stretch and then usually a 4 hour stretch, until the last few nights, when she's decided that it's poopy time after the long stretch... then she's awake for an hour or so before going back to sleep.
For naps, it depends, I only put her down in her crib if she falls asleep well after eating (reflux), I'll swaddle her depending on how deep she's out and how warm the room is.

peanutmuse · March 2014

bethughknee said:
*snip* swaddling is almost universally comforting for babies if you use other soothing methods combined with it.

QFT.

My UO is that those who say swaddling does not work for them are probably not aggressive soothers like I am, haha. LOUD shushing, lots of big bouncing, heavy snuggling, loud upbeat music. Pacifier if needed -- probably 10% of the time. No lullabies in this house!

We are working on the more calming methods at nap time but I still do them for one long nap. I had to wake him after a 3 hr swaddled nap during the day yesterday, after only a 45 min nap unswaddled with soft music. (I needed him to nurse before I left for work.)

But if your baby sleeps well, I totally agree that swaddling is unnecessary.

Lena122 · March 2014

DS was swaddled until he was almost 6 months old. He was a flailer as a NB and he slept so well with it that we just kept swaddling until he became mobile.

DD doesn't flail nearly as much but we swaddle at night and will get 8-10 hours a night usually. She sleeps pretty well for naps without the swaddle.

Rebis58 · March 2014

We swaddle at night, but not for daytime naps. She doesn't like it at first and will fight it, but she settles quickly (I breastfeed her swaddled) and then sleeps for decent stretches (5-5.5 hours followed by a couple 2-2.5 hour stretches). For daytime she will sleep longer stretches (2-3 hours) but only in her swing. If she's not in her swing she wakes up in under 30 min unless I'm holding her.

pennstated912 · March 2014

We did in the beginning. However, Colin genuinely hated it. He screamed bloody murder until we would unswaddle him. We let this happen for 2 weeks (combined with shhh'ing, and pretty everything under the sun). He now sleeps in his swing with a blanket tucked around him for 4 hour stretches (and we've gotten a few 5s).

versed · March 2014

We swaddle with the A&A easy swaddle - LOVE it. We'll swaddle for a long while and then love to Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit that we used with DS1 (maybe about 4m we'll make the switch). The Sleep Suit also softens the startle reflex, and the babies are so adorable in them

Cara1024 · March 2014

peanutmuse said:

FTR, if arms are out, it's not technically swaddling. Arms in is the point. And of course babies hate the act of being swaddled. I am a swaddling snob.

@peanutmuse Exactly! I'm a huge swaddling snob too! haha. Its the ONLY way she will sleep. That's why I started the poll.

Cara1024 · March 2014

PHXmom2be said:

DD will be 9 weeks tomorrow. She sleeps swaddled in her RnP, in her nursery, for 9-10.5 glorious hours. I will swaddle her until the startle/moro reflexes are gone. Like Peanut, I'm a swaddle snob for sure. DD has reflux (now on Prevacid), and the swaddle always helped her sleep best despite the arching and discomfort. She naps in her swing (family room), unswaddled. We usually get a nice 3-4 hour nap, followed by a 1-2 hour nap, and then 1 or 2 cat naps (those aren't guaranteed). I'm sure if we swaddled for naps she would sleep even better, but I'm fearful that swaddling in the day may confuse her since she's only been swaddled at night since her first day home. I don't want to jeopardize our awesome night routine. She typically sleeps from 8-6, and I realize how lucky I am.

dang thats some good sleeping! Good for you!

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