My daughter (11 weeks) used to love being swaddled into a tight bundle. Now, she hates it and it wakes her up because she has discovered thumb/finger sucking and when she can't get her hands to her mouth, she cries and her sleep is over.
If you're not or did not swaddle your baby, how do they sleep at night? Does their startle reflex still kick in?
I'm thinking of stopping the swaddle altogether.
cherry / 159 posts
My son was swaddled in the NICU and as soon as he came home he was never swaddled. He was fine, i never saw him get startled and jump or anything. He is 3 months now nad sleeps with me...i know, i know a bad habit but he's spoiled.
cherry / 228 posts
hmm.. why don't you try swaddling with one arm out? so she can still get to her thumb? And then eventually you can swaddle with both arms out etc.
question- how do you know she is hating it? My son is 9 weeks old and he just recently discovered his fist! When he plays, he would put his fist in his mouth... I think he may soon hate to be swaddled and I just want to know how to recognize that..? He sometimes struggles when I soothe him down for a nap anyway.. so I'm afraid I won't be able to tell?
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
I think that is exactly what happened with my niece so they just stopped swaddling her. As Reggie says, do one arm out first and then the other arm.
hostess / eggplant / 11068 posts
@Reggie: We tried one arm out but she still fusses relentlessly. I think she hates the swaddle because she fights it like crazy until we have her all wound up. We have a woombie and it used to work wonders for her but now...She wants to be free. When we swaddle her with a blanket, she ends up breaking out of it...
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
a lot of babies start hating swaddling at that age. maybe try switching her to a sleep sack?
cherry / 228 posts
we use the miracle blanket at night, Eli can't get out of that. but during the day, we use the aden and anais and i try my absolute best to make it tight so he can't get out. He still does sometimes though but then I let him be and see if he would fall back asleep on his own. sometimes when he is sleepy enough, he would still fall back asleep even though he bothers himself with his hands.. i tried putting him in his sleep sack one time just to see.. boy was it bad.. he couldnt fall asleep in it! my friend holds her baby's hands down until he falls asleep.. maybe that's an option? or... I don't know if you plan on sleep training him.. you can do that all together when you sleep train him.. let me know how it goes!
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
i never swaddled my baby and she sleeps well. she started sleeping 6 hour stretches at 6 weeks and started sleeping 12 hours at 5 months.
cherry / 190 posts
We stopped swaddling at about 3 weeks and switched to footie pajamas. DD loves sprawling out while she sleeps, a la "starfish baby". We only swaddle her if she starts getting fussy and can't be consoled.
cherry / 175 posts
Ha. We swaddled until 9 months. I kept thinking surely he had outgrown it and would try a night here and there without the swaddle... but he just didn't sleep as well.
It may be worth swaddling with one arm out. I think the tight bind around their middles is comforting even if it's NOT solely to keep their arms from flailing. Or she may just be ready to move on 
persimmon / 1255 posts
I bought 4 swaddle blankets thinking that we would swaddle our LO. She tolerated it the first two days after delivery but started fighting them and breaking free afterwards. Seems like she just likes her arms and legs to be free so we stopped trying to swaddle her. She does move around quite a bit but sleeps fine.
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
We finally stopped swaddling at 2 1/2 months. And that's when she started sleeping through the night, a full 12 hours! She found her thumb, and life is a lot better for everyone. She might wake up, but she'll always find her thumb and we never have to help her get back to sleep anymore.
pomegranate / 3980 posts
I didn't swaddle my daughter after the first few days, she liked to be free. She slept wonderfully and she actually started rolling a lot sooner than most babies I know.
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