In my ongoing mission to make this next baby sleep better than my first child (we can dream, right?) I am reconsidering my position on swaddling. My son loved to be swaddled. He only slept in his crib when he was swaddled, and slept for the longest stretches when wrapped tightly. But he didn’t want to give it up. Once he was rolling we had to cut him off cold turkey because frankly my nerves couldn’t take it. At the time he was *gasp* sleeping in his crib the majority of the night and I checked on him constantly for fear he rolled over and couldn’t breathe. But the problem was that we lived in an apartment with squeaky floors. No matter how lightly you stepped you hit a creaking floorboard and it often times that woke him up. It was awful. After we stopped swaddling him he woke up every few hours again, down from sleeping in 6 hour stretches. And it just went downhill from there…. we were laying him in his crib and he fell asleep watching his aquarium, he regressed to nursing to sleep. Then he just started sleeping with us because I was exhausted.
I am terrified the next baby will rely on swaddling and the transition will ruin him too! In my son’s baby book he started “sleeping through the night” at a fairly young age. Til we stopped swaddling. Then it took him until he was a year old. Then he stopped again. I just can’t get an 8 hour stretch of sleep! I understand newborns aren’t meant to sleep all night, I am ok with that. I just want to begin healthy sleep habits to hopefully have an easier time of it this go around. So, do I swaddle this baby and stop sooner, or stop when they are “ready,” or just not swaddle past a couple weeks?
And, what blankets should I choose? There are a lot on the market, some which profess to be “miracles” so I am lost! I tried two brands with my son and we liked one of those.
Pros:
Easy to use. Highly rated.
Coms: $$$, looks like you have to remove all the way for diaper changes
Pros: Supposed to hold in the wriggliest baby. Well rated.
Cons: $$$, complicated
Kiddopotamus & Co. Organic Cotton SwaddleMe
Pros: My son’s favorite, simple, inexpensive.
Cons: Velcro tabs wore out from drying.
Pros: lightweight, beautiful, well rated.
Cons: $$$, traditional swaddling blanket so you actually have to “swaddle” lol
Go Mama Go Designs Snug and Tug Swaddling Blanket
Pros: cute, breathable, choice of materials
Cons: $$$, have to wrap around and then under baby
Cozy Cocoon® Organic Baby Bunting
Pros: Super adorable designs, matching hats
Cons: $$$, Put on like a sock for some models, not as easy to change diapers with,
So, any ideas? I am so not prepared for another 2 years of sleepless nights! I swear, 2 kids is my limit, I don’t think I can do it 3 times!
Each baby is different. This one might be born and HATE being swaddled from day 1. I vote that you play it by ear, and have one of those sleep sacks on hand in case he wants to be swaddled when he is old enough to roll around.
My kids- from day 1 never loved swaddling. So, I can’t really relate. I had a friend who stopped wrapping her kid at like 2 years old. no joke. lol.
Every kid is different. Baby #2 might not like swaddling as much. I would personally go with the Kiddopotamus. That first one seriously looks torturous.
My *guess* is that baby #2 will sleep better only because it is bound to be noisy while they are sleeping. If they aren’t used to dead quiet to sleep it might be easier to get them to sleep. With a older brother- it’s bound to get noisy during naptime (the squeeky floorboard comment made me think of this…)
My 2 share a room now– the older boy will be literally JUMPING on his bed… or running around and my younger one falls asleep. It amazes me.
I have 5 children and the first thing I’d say, the expensive swaddling options are NOT worth the money. The kiddopotamus swaddlers work perfectly fine. I do like swaddling blankets for the convenience and secure hold, but you don’t need to spend $60+ on one for that.
Something to keep in mind is, all babies are completely different. I wouldn’t let any negative experiences with your son effect what you do with the new baby too much. This baby is going to be a whole different child, different personality, different likes and dislikes… different everything. Some of my children hated to be swaddled and one of them wouldn’t sleep without being swaddled until he was like 10 months old. Just play it by ear when the new baby comes :).
I would offer advice but I really think it just depends on the kid. We swaddled Baby Evan until he could roll on his own (which meant he mostly slept on his stomach) because otherwise he would twitch his arms in his sleep and wake himself up. It was a loooooong time. I think by the time he was 7 months he could have gotten himself unswaddled pretty easily if he had tried but he liked it.
About the STTN thing, we JUST got to that point, at 15 months, and I really think it had a lot more to do with his being ready to be alone for 12 hours than any of the healthy sleep habits we tried SO HARD to enforce.
Oh, and we used the Kiddopotomus swaddles with great success. Don’t bother with blankets, that velco is a lifesaver.
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We’ve been swaddling for 4 months now. The only product we’ve used is the SwaddleMe blanket. We’ve not had any trouble with the velcro wearing out and we’ve been using the same 3 for the past 4 months. Our son has been a good sleeper from the start…slept all night every night (would go right back to sleep at night after feedings) and STTN at 2 months. He’s never slept unswaddled because he won’t. We’ve been waiting for the “he’s ready” thing, but haven’t gotten that far. He doesn’t try to roll over in it. People have suggested weaning him slowly…one arm out, then both arms out (just swaddled around the torso), then nada. So…. I don’t know if that helps at all…
FWIW–I think the woombie has a double zipper to open the bottom for diaper changes. We didn’t realize you could keep them swaddled with the swaddleme until a couple months in…then never bothered since we were used to unwrapping him.
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I had our 2nd boy this past April, so 3 months old and just started rolling. Reuben loves to be swaddled. It’s one of the few ways I know of to calm him down. It also signals “sleep time” to him. Once he’s wrapped, his eyes just close :o)
The thing is, my older son (2.5 yrs) HATED being swaddled! Shrieked and flailed his limbs around constantly until I got a grobag to keep him warm (winter baby).
So, I suppose I agree with these ladies. It depends on the baby. I don’t own any of these fancy wraps though. I refused to pay that much money for a blanket. I made my own.
Stopped in at Fabricland when they had their 50% off sale and bought a bunch of cotton flannel in patterns that I liked. The size is what counts. Never less than 36″ wide. The best is when it’s closer to 40″. Buy it squared and ask for the fabric to be ripped – not cut.
Then just take it home, quick wash and dry and then sew up the edges. I did borrow a surger from a friend for some of mine and that made the edges really pretty too.
I made tons of these for myself and friends – they are the talk of all the baby showers. My sister-in-law still swaddles her 3rd and he is 20 months old! The older ones didn’t like it nearly as much.
Good luck!
(Thinking of you in the hot weather:o)
My son never wanted to be swaddled.. not even the first day. My daughter swaddled at night for the first couple of weeks and we LOVE Aden and Anais blankets. We stopped swaddling her because she would kick the blankets around and wiggle. I walked in and she had the blanket up around her neck (not tight but still terrifying) so we switched to the A+A sleep sack which is perfect for the weather… since she was used to being swaddled (at least for the beginning of the night) we used a sleep positioner, nothing fancy just the cheap one from Target and she slept just fine… after a few weeks we took out the sleep positioner and at four months she sleeps 8 hours with just her sleep sack… all babies are different… but if you have room for a cradle in your room, I always felt better having my kids in there while they were swaddled.
I am in the same sinking ship when it comes to swaddling though I don’t have #2 on the way. We slept divinely until we unswaddled and we still nurse to sleep at night at almost 13 months and DD wakes up at least 3-5 times a night. I just want one good night of sleep per week! Just commiserating. I only used the swaddle me.
healthy sleep habit healthy child – excellent book. gives suggestions for whatever your preferences: cosleep or crib, breast or bottle, cry or no-cry. addresses sleep issues and problem prevention from newborn to school age. loved it for us.
swaddled my newborn with the miracle blanket (was a gift) until five or six weeks because her finger-sucking-self-soothing wasn’t working with the swaddling. miracle blanket was awesome – no velcro to wear out in the wash. i used to nurse one side, change the diaper, nurse the other side, swaddle, and she’d be back to sleep.
I swaddled my son until he was about 5 months. He just loved it and it settled him down so much. He is about 6.5 months now and all I do if wrap a blanket loosly around him, sometimes tucking his arms in but not always and he will reposition himself about 5 min after falling asleep and break out of it. I never used the “swaddling” blakets, they were too expensive in my opinion. I just went to the fabric store and bought a big piece of flannel cut it into a big square and sewed the edges. It worked great and was much cheaper. And you do get really good at wrapping them up, you don’t even have to think about it after the first week. Also, since it was just cotton flannel, I didn’t worry so much about them flipping the blanket over their head (which he couldn’t do until 5 months anyway) since i know to can still breathe through it. We live in Canada and my son was born in the freezing cold snowy January so swaddling was a must to make sure he was covered up and warm:) Good luck with whatever you choose.
Yes, if the baby likes it!
We use the kiddopotomus swaddles. We used the aden and anis blankets when he was smaller but at 6 months we still use his kiddopotomus–He won’t give it up either. I’m working him off of it slowly. At home I can now just wrap it around his waist under his arms and not worry about him rolling over and for naps during the day, I try to keep it off. He goes to daycare during the day and needs a full swaddle to be comforted. But I do like how the swaddle is a sign to him that it’s sleep time. He could be all kinds of tired/fussy and as soon as I just lay him on it (not even wrapped) he smiles and just knows he about to be wrapped and loved to sleep.
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My daughter insisted on being swaddled until she was 11 months. I read “The Happiest Baby on the Block” before she was born and knew that I was going to swaddle her from the very beginning. We used hospital receiving blankets until I discovered aden + anais when she was 7 weeks old. We’ve got 8 a+a swaddle blankets – what I really like about them is that they aren’t a “uni-tasker”; they really have so many more uses than just swaddling.
I forgot to add that when Anika started rolling over, we stopped swaddling her with both arms in. She slept for months with only one arm in her swaddle and never had a problem with her blanket getting wrapped around her neck. And with the super light, breathable muslin, I never had a single worry.
My daughter used a woombie from birth until 6 months, every night. I swear by them. You do have to take them off for diaper changes but it is super quick to get on and off. Plus, since it uses a zipper, there is no loud Velcro to adjust and wake baby. I have started giving woombies at every baby shower. They are the best!
I am embarrassed to say we’re still swaddling our son at 7 months. We’ve tried to stop but he won’t go to sleep when he’s not swaddled! He just seems to need it to fall asleep, though. He kicks out of it pretty easily and rarely stays swaddled till morning, but for some reason he seems to need it when he goes to sleep. We do need to work on ending it soon, I think.
I guess what I’m saying is that I agree with the other comments that say you should wait and see what Babay #2 will be like. Even babies who like swaddling like it for different reasons, at different times, etc. You’ll just have to try it out and see what happens.
As far as choice of blanket, we have the Aden and Anaiis blankets and LOVE LOVE LOVE them. I know they’re costly but for us they were well worth the money. They are strong, large, clean easily, and are a great weight in most any weather. Honestly, we use them for all kinds of things, not just swaddling. If you’re looking for an old-fashioned swaddling blanket they are the way to go, IMHO. (I love the idea of making your own too as someone posted! But I’d try to get muslin or a lighter cotton rather than flannel. We did have a couple nice big flannel swaddling blankets but they just got too hot in spring and summer.) But they won’t stay as tight as the velcro swaddlers once the kid is moving around a bit, so if you’re concerned about that you may not want an old-fashioned blanket.
I tink swaddling is great if it works for you kid. Swaddling my son only made him angry and agitated (even when the NICU nurses did it so I know if was done properly) so I stopped trying to force it on him.
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Everyone is right that each baby is different. My first one hated, my second like it fine. She wasn’t attached to it by any means. Maybe you could just try the plain ‘ole receiving blankets – it’s not a super tight fit, but it’s still a swaddle, and then this little one wouldn’t be addicted to being wrapped so super tight to the point of running into the problems with rolling. Just our experience. Good luck!
We swaddled our daughter until about 5 months. I gradually weaned her from it. I started with one arm out for naps, then one arm out all the time. The next step was just swaddling her legs and eventually we converted to a sleep sack. I took weeks but I thought that a slow change for her would be a better way to transition.
Another vote for ‘play it by ear.’ I have 3 kids (4y, 2y and 7mo). All are very different and have different sleeping habits.
My oldest nursed through the night for the first year, wouldn’t take a pacifier, didn’t like swaddling.
My second born liked swaddling, still woke a lot at night but did take a pacifier because I was so sleep deprived with the first one nursing ALL night I didn’t want a repeat. She did not sleep through the night till after 1 year as well.
My third child started sucking her fingers early on and SLEPT THRU the NIGHT before 4 MONTHS!! I did swaddle her sort of…I rolled up 2 Aden&Anais blankets and placed those on either side of her, then used another one to go over her and snuggly tucked it under each rolled one.
The funny thing is…I am most confident that EACH CHILD is UNIQUE but you better believe I will try that 3rd technique with my next child. 🙂
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we used the swaddle me in fleece since it was chilly when our son was born but once he started getting a little big for his swaddle me i would use the swaddler but not tuck in his arms (so under his arms).. then once he outgrew that we transitioned to sleep sacks.. then lightweight blanket.
Swaddling worked so well for both my kids- try transitioning by only swaddling one arm- we’re doing that right now with my son. It allows him to move a little free-er, but still falls asleep faster when one arm is unmovable! =)
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Definitely play it by ear. My oldest didn’t like swaddling and slept fine without it as a newborn. At four months, he became a horrible sleeper (with or without swaddling) and didn’t sleep through the night until I weaned him at 14 months (I was 4 weeks away from my due date with #2, which is why I chose to wean). My middle baby LOVED being swaddled (with the Miracle Blanket), and we slowly weaned her off of swaddling as she got older (one arm out, then another, etc.). She was a better sleeper than my first, but still didn’t sleep through the night until she was night weaned (again, I was pregnant and weaned her at 14 months). Baby #3 is currently 17 days old and LOVES being swaddled in Aden + Anais blankets. Obviously, he’s too young to tell what kind of sleeper he’ll be, but I know for a fact we would all be awake at night if he weren’t swaddled.
I have read that swaddling while sleeping is bad, due to the fact that they need to be able to have their legs in the frog like position for proper hip growth. My son never liked being swaddled, so we didn’t really deal with it!
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I don’t really have any advice as we swaddled just using plain old blankets (I liked the jersey material ones best, a little stretch was good) and had no problem with the transition. The advantage of a not too perfect swaddle I think is actually that they can unswaddle themselves bit by bit as they get older, so they gradually get used to less and less snugness. We also stopped swaddling her legs at about a month and just did the arms until she could roll. This is just my thought, I think swaddling is great, my daughter loved it. She slept in a mini-crib by my side of the bed until she was 14 months. It worked out great because I could grab her to feed her in the night, I usually put her back in, but not always, mainly because she was so active in her sleep and we’d get kicked in the face! And when we transitioned her to her big crib in her own room it wasn’t a big deal, but I think all kids are different, it seems that consistency is the key (so say the experts and it’s worked for me).
.-= April´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday- Smiles =-.
We swaddled for about 2 months, my son was rolling when he was born (he was tiny, skinny and a monkey – he frequently did backflips in the womb), so even though he liked being swaddled and slept well, he would roll himself out of a swaddle. He started co-sleeping at about 2 months because he was finally big enough (10 pounds – double his 1 week old weight) that I didn’t feel like he would get lost in the sheets or crushed under the weight of a heavy breath. He SleepsTTN (like, more than 8 hours) every once in a while now (at 1 YO) but usually nurses at 10, midnight and then 6:30 or so AM, and then every hour or so after that until he wakes up for the day.
I’ll swaddle again, but probably do the same thing of weaning baby off swaddle (one arm out, then two arms out) over a week or so when baby is about 2 months old. It was fairly simple and pain-free.
I HIGHLY recommend using Miracle Blankets. We have two-one to wash and one to use. My son wanted them until he was about 10 months then decided he didn’t anymore. It’s really not complicated at all and is the only thing that REALLY works to keep their arms down. I also recommend getting the book No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. We’ve had some night time battles and have done things many others wouldn’t “approve” of (letting our little guy nurse to sleep, “extended” swaddling, letting him eventually go to sleep in the swing, etc) but it’s worked for us. After the miracle blanket I highly recommend Halo Sleep Sacks. My 2 year old walks around in them just fine and still wants to have it every night and every nap. It’s kind of his cue that it’s time to sleep and every morning he’ll wake up and climb out of his toddler bed and play while he’s in it (nothing cuter than a Sleep Sack run!)
Okay sooooo i have tried a lot of them.
1) Woombie is awesome! LOVE IT. You can get newer versions that zip the opposite way to make diapering a bit easier.
2) Kiddopotomus…hated it. He busted out every night.
3) Not Listed…Halo Sleep sack. Con, he outgrew it quickly and they dont make a swaddle option as they get bigger. If you get crafty, you could sewn it onto the next size up.
We only get sleep (from my terrible sleeper) when he was swaddled tight and stayed that way all night.
This may help too: http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Gami-Beginners-Andrea-Cornell-Sarvady/dp/0811847640/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280422417&sr=1-1
Baby gami Book
We swaddled my first child as he loved it and wanted to be wrapped up to sleep. We tried swaddlers, but he was so tiny, it wouldn’t be tight enough on his legs, so we just used the hospital blankets. When he started to be able to kick them off, we stopped and he was okay. When they can start to roll over by themselves, they are better able to regulate their breathing too usually. If anything starts to be weird with their breathing or sleeping they wake up a bit. At least that is my experience and what I have heard. My son just instinctively moved the blanket away from his face if it got too close. Even as a baby. He has always had a blanket of some sort in bed with him. But every baby is different.
Don’t give up on swaddling. I had a baby who wouldn’t let me lay her down and sleep at the same time. 🙂 I didn’t give up on holding her! 🙂 It actually really saved me a few times combined with “The Happiest Baby on the Block” calming techniques. I borrowed that video from the library and watched it before she came. I am SO glad!
What I did in the swaddle blanket department is I went to Joann’s (I am totally NOT crafty), picked out several baby flannel prints, and bought a “square” of each. If it was 45 in. wide, I bought it 45 in. long as well. You can also get light weight cotton if you live someplace hot. After you hem the edges (mine are totally not square anymore, but you can’t really tell) you have several huge swaddling blankets to use as long as you want to. We still use them with our 18 month old (though we only swaddled into 6 months or so on occasion). The little receiving blankets never did much for me and I always used them as travel changing table covers. 🙂
Well I don’t have time to read the comments right now, so I hope I don’t say this twice, but I say go with the flow. My daughter hated being swaddled the first few months, and then LOVED it… once she could roll over. We still swaddled her with a traditional blanket (she didn’t like any of the other kinds) and we swaddled her til she was about 9 months and decided she didn’t want it anymore. We put her down on her side and once she decided she liked to sleep on her tummy (well she did from day 1, but once she consistantly rolled over), we’d just swaddle her and put her on her tummy. Of course she was only swaddled when she was sleeping, but she turned out ok :). I can’t imagine not swaddling her when she wanted it, we would try and she FREAKED OUT, didn’t sleep with or without us and it was not fun. So we just did it until she no longer wanted it. Good luck!
We are firm believers in swaddling and both of our children were great sleepers. When we trasitioned them out of the swaddle we started by only swaddling one arm. We also used blankets my great Aunt made out of light flannel that were larger to swaddle when they outgrew their Halo Sleepsack/Swaddler. This worked great for us!
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I can see why you’d be afraid to swaddle the next one! However, don’t forget all babies are different! We used the Miracle Blanket for my 2nd and it was wonderful! For our first we just swaddled with a large flannel sheet. I don’t think the Miracle Blanket was complicated at all. It’s a bit costly but worth it! (Plus, I got it as a gift.) lol)
My baby loved the Miracle Blanket. It wasn’t really complicated. When she outgrew it we started swaddling her in large receiving blankets. When she started breaking out of those we moved to Halo Sleep Sacks. I think that progression kind of weened her gradually from the swaddling. Best of luck!
My son never likes being swaddled. The only way he’d tolerate it was if his hands were out. We stopped swaddling after a month and it made no difference. The only way he’d sleep well was if he was right next to me. Even now at a year he doesn’t sleep well if he’s not next to me. But we are switching him to the crib no matter what. I hope after a couple weeks he’ll sleep in it all night.
The Adan or Kiddopotamus swaddling blanket look the best in my opinion. They looks easy to get on and off. I do like the look of sleep sacks too.
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I love the Miracle Blanket. Carsyn sleeps in it every night. Sleeps for 10 hours straight. You should enter my giveaway so then you can try it out. http://www.lovingmylifereviews.com/2010/07/miracle-blanket-review-giveaway.html
It ends tomorrow. 🙂
.-= Sarah Halstead´s last blog ..You Capture- Play =-.
I vote to swaddle. Try the miracle blanket…it rocks. I also tried the kiddopotomus and have the woombie for our Sept. baby. I didn’t care so much for the kiddo and the woombie is a different way to swaddle since the babes arms are not tied down but rather free to move around within the blanket. Oh yes and the woombie does zip from both the top and the bottom to help make diaper changes easy.
I am not big on self-help books but you have to read the swaddling section in “The Happiest Baby on the Block”.
We swaddled our first one. He was long so your everyday swaddle blankets were too short. My hubby found swaddle blankets at target, they are flannel and amazingly long! We swaddle him, then because of my paranoia of him getting out and blanket suffocating him, we use a Velcro piece that came with a Halo sleep sack to secure the swaddle and provide a little extra snugness. He loves it! About a month ago he began freeing his arms and sleeping better so now we swaddle arms free. I tried sleep sack and for some reason it doesn’t work as well. Hopefully we will transition to it soon.
I looked into the woombie about the time we stopped swaddling his arms. They look great, I especially like that his arms are free to move, that seemed important to my lil one.
My vote is swaddle. They will break free when ready. We also have the Angel Care monitor so I feel confident that it will alert me if he ever stopped breathing. I love that monitor! It leads to better sleep each night!
My son can get out of so many swaddles that I resorted to using the double swaddle and then dropping the outer layer the older he got. I don’t know when we’ll be able to “unswaddle him”. I’m hoping once he learns how to suck his fingers!
I vote swaddle. We had a Kiddapotamus and liked it, but she outgrew it fast.
Then we did the double swaddle (in big flannel blankets) until she was ready to have her arms out. Then we did arms out swaddle for a while. By then it was wintery and we used the Dreamsie Sleep Sacks and she slept great in those as well.
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Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about it until he gets here. He may not like being swaddled at all. My boy withstood it for about two weeks, and then he constantly fought against it. And he was very easily startled too. It just didn’t help. Maybe have some receiving blankets on hand until you can tell if it’s going to work or not?
If I’ve learned only one thing from having a baby, it’s that you can’t always anticipate what that pregnancy or child will be like. I was so worried about gaining too much weight because I was already overweight when I got pregnant, but then I had a 9 month struggle to eat and gain any weight at all. I worried for nothing.
You’ll figure it out! And just a side note about him no longer sleeping through the night–you obviously know your situation better than I do, but it’s possible that there might have been factors other than no longer swaddling. Mine slept through the night from about 3-5 months and then very suddenly stopped. I’m still not sure why, but I think it has something to do with teething (he’s cut 8 from 5 to 10 months).
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We loved the miracle blanket. It is worth every penny. It is not at all complicated. Our son was swaddled until 8 months. He loved it. The transition from swaddle to no swaddle was a bit of a learning curve for us. We co-slept for about 2 months after we stopped the swaddle and then put him in his crib. With in a few days of being back in his crib sans swaddle, he was sleeping great and through the night just fine.
I strongly recommend the Miracle blanket. I buy it for all of my pregnant friends
I swaddled our first son, but he was always breaking out of the Swaddleme. I never swaddled our second son, and he just sleeps better than the first, and we have done everything the same other than swaddling. Every baby is different. Good luck!
i swaddled my daughter until about a month. she never really enjoyed it, and when i tought to start, again, during a particular fussy period, she whole-heartedly FREAKED.
we co-sleep and have since she was born, pretty much…not really by choice, shed be feeding and id fall asleep holding her. or, shed fuss because she hated the bassinet, so id hold her and wed fall asleep. so, i just stuck her in the bed with me and got a bed rail. she doesnt sleep through the night, but she never CRIES at night. she wriggles and wakes me up that way, i just roll over, latch her on, and fall back asleep while she eats. im never awake for more than a few seconds. she sleeps between the bedrail and me so daddy doesnt roll on her. co-sleeping is a LIFE SAVER.
i say, swaddle for the first month, but do it loosely so LO can move around a bit inside it. thats a great trasition from womb to world. then, after the month, dont swaddle and just get into a bed routine…nursing to sleep is not a problem, i think…as long as LO gets to sleep!
i recommend co-sleeping, but thats not for everyone and i understand that. but it deffinitely helps with getting sleep. other than that, i bed time routine and a VERY CRISPY-CLEAR monitor can help get baby to sleep, and help train you to wake up BEFORE baby starts actively crying…the best is to get to them when theyre wriggly, so they dont wake up fully and youre fighting to get them back to sleep. 🙂
ps. i swaddled with whatever blanket was close by. no need for something fancy when you use it for so lil time. and the aiden & anais ones are HUGE for newborns, but from the above, those are what id recommend.
My son was the exact opposite… he would not sleep if he was swaddled. He has to have his feet uncovered and be able to spread his arms out (i got kicks and punches in multiple places at the same time during my pregnancy. But like someone said previously: ‘all babies are different’
So if you are comfortable with swaddling then try it with your new LO, but if you become uncomfortable like you did with your son then you will just have to stop.
Good luck with your decision making!
I love, love, love the Miracle Blanket. My first child was a terrible sleeper and I, too, was bound and determined to have a better sleeper the second time around. The Miracle Blanket worked perfectly for my daughter. I wrapped her in it for every nap and bed time and she would go right to sleep in her crib. I did use the little sleep positioner/incliner in the beginning to be sure she stayed put. AND I highly recommend using a video monitor if you’re trying to get your child to sleep in their crib. It made a world of difference to me because I didn’t have to sneak in and see if she was okay/asleep/still breathing, etc.
I did swaddle for longer than what is probably recommended and eventually we just wrapped up her feet and left her arms out. She loves that blanket. It’s her security object now and I’ve had to cut it into pieces so she can sleep with it when she goes to bed (@ age 2). I just hand it to her and she lays down and conks out.
I’m due with #3 Oct 2nd and I can guarantee I’ll be getting another Miracle Blanket! It’s my #1 baby product by far.
eventually we just wrapped up her feet and left her arms out
Oooo, I need to remember that. My son will be six months this weekend, and he really does sleep best swaddled, but he’s too long for two of his three blankets. He long ago insisted on his arms being out, and he now regularly rolls over onto his stomach — in the swaddle! — to sleep. But last time I tried it, he will NOT stay asleep longer than one 45 min sleep cycle at night without the blanket. Moving it further down his body might just do the trick…
my son just turned one. loved being swaddled until I’d say 4 months? all the sudden, he hated it, and we were done. He slept for 4-5 hour stretches when swaddled and did great. we just used oversize receiving blankets – nothing fancy. We were able to get them good and tight. rolled him up tight like a burrito. he loved it.
I am right there with you on an awful sleeper…. my son LOVED being swaddled too so I’m taking anything I can get and doing it again.
Our nanny actually introduced classical music at naptime at around 6 months, routinely and it helped tons for our light sleeper bc when we’d flip it on he got drowsey and it helped drown out other noises…we will be starting this from day one this time!
Our daughter was over a year old before she would sleep in her crib, let alone unswaddled. We used several types of swaddlers. Now we’re expecting our 2nd, a son, and I am hoping to not swaddle at all. If I have to then hopefully not past a couple weeks or so. Let us know what you decide!
My daughter tolerated swaddling, she didn’t mind it as long as one arm was out. We had a sleep positioner (essentially two soft triangles connected by velcro making a valley) that kept her on her back as well as an Angelcare monitor. Once she was able to wiggle her way forward and out of the sleep positioner we also stopped trying to swaddle her and swapped to sleep sacks. The Angelcare monitor is amazing, it has a sensor pad that detects movement and is incredible sensitive, it detects breathing to the point if you have a fan going in the room you need to test it because it might pick up the breeze from the fan as breathing. My daughter, now two, was and is a fantastic sleeper. We now also have a son who is five weeks old. He HATES being swaddled and HATES sleeping on his back. We are talking screaming if you even try to trick him and flip him over once he is sound asleep. At this point we have a belly sleeper because you have to do what you have to do to get sleep right? Well if we didn’t have the monitor you better bet I would be up every five minutes checking on him, (he sleeps in a bassinet awaiting transition to the crib in the shared room with his sister), I’d be paranoid and he would be annoyed. We went with the bassinet as when our son woke up crying he would wake up his sister, not from the crying, but because she was worried there was something wrong with him. Now that he is in more of a routine at night (he is a great baby) and she knows and understands that when he cries he isn’t always hurt, we are debating on when to transition him to the crib. We have never been a fan of the co-sleeping because it seems like such a hard habit to break and the monitor would work, and the monitor is that important to us. We lost twins who were born prematurely and the thought of losing another child terrifies us.
So that is my take on things. Don’t know if it will help you with your decision or not.