I just started unswaddling my LO (11 weeks) and the good news is she's been sleeping great! But she loves to rub her face A LOT in her sleep and she's been waking up with scratches on her face. I try not to put mittens on her because I thought maybe she would like to suck on her hands but I hate seeing her face all scratched up. I do file her nails all the time but those baby nails are sharp! Do you put mittens on you LO to sleep? How do you help prevent scratches?
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We did mittens on the early days for DD but by that age we had stopped since they were making her hands smelly! Both my kids were scratchers, but they grew out of it..
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I was using mittens but then just made sure to double swaddle so he wouldn't scratch in his sleep.
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Our LOs are the same age and mine rubs her face like it's her job. We have a few sleepers with foldover cuffs and those work great. When those are all dirty, we use mittens, and when we run out of mittens, we use socks! The mittens fall off constantly. We have Gerber and Carter's brand, and neither are that great. A family friend recommended Luvable Friends brand mittens, but I haven't tried those yet. I'm hoping LO grows out of this scratching/rubbing phase soon. In the meantime, when she does get scratches, we put a little Earth Mama Angel Baby Bottom Balm on them and they heal very quickly.
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Thanks ladies! I'm hoping DD will grow out of scratching phase soon too.
@msinformation: I agree, the gerber mittens suck. They are constantly falling off her hands! I love the Satsuma organic mittens. They are kind of pricy but we got them as a gift and it has never fallen off her hands, ever!
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I simply used socks for my LO's hands when he started scratching his face. The mittens came off too easily.
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LO is doing the same to his face. I don't want to use mittens as they can be a choking hazard...so just trying to keep the nails cut.
Luckily the scratches heal quickly. -
@wheres_c: choking hazard...oh I had never thought about that!
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Socks always stayed on J's hands better than those terrible Gerber mittens.
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@Mrs. Chen: That's what the hospital told us....I maybe worry too much though...
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LO scratches her head too, so we've been putting socks on her hands at night. They seem to stay on. Though come to think of it, lately she just rolls onto her tummy to sleep, so maybe the socks can come off soon! She would leave these long scratches on her poor little head even though I try and keep her nails short.
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My son is 10 weeks and he does the same thing. I do put mittens on him only when he is sleeping. When he is awake, I take them off so that he can play with his toys. I think it is important that he can feel the things he touches to support his fine motor skills.
Two weeks ago, he scratched his face very bad, left a mark from his forehead down to his cheek. My husband called him phatom. hehehe The reason that happened was I forgot to put his mittens on when he was asleep.
I don't know if there are better solutions out there. If you are worried about your dd sucking on her hands, I would observe first to see if it happens,then decide if you want to move forward with putting mittens on her during her sleep.
@yin-yes, the socks are so much better and they stay on infinitely until you take them off.
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My LO scratched herself the first night of swaddle weaning but hasn't done it since. She loves to put her hands in her mouth so I was very concerned about the choking hazard with mittens so we don't use them. I figure a scratch is a whole lot better than choking!
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