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Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Behaviour/development

Swaddle and grobag?

20 replies

crabby · 18/09/2008 15:45

Advice needed please! My 5 week old (born 5 weeks prem, so term now) has periods of being very unsettled at night. I tried a swaddle thingy yesterday for the first time - stretchy cotton + velcro - during the day which seemed to do the trick. I seem to remember reading somewhere that swaddling overnight was not recommended by the SIDS people, however, I am starting to wonder...

Has anyone got experience of swaddling and thne putting into a grobag? Or swaddling at night? Thank you!

OP posts:

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Pheebe · 18/09/2008 16:07

I wouldn't swaddle and put them in a grobag, they might get too hot. We never swaddled the dcs overnight as they hated having their arms trapped even when tiny. Grobags did the trick for us. But to be honest, not being settled at night is perfectly normal for the first few weeks or months. Babies rarely 'sleep through' or even for more than a few hours at a time at this age.

What exactly do you mean by unsettled?

DeJaVous · 18/09/2008 16:16

Swaddling and a growbag would probably be too hot. It's either or TBH.

My DD hated to be swaddled but needed her arms keeping under control to be able to sleep. I used to put her in her grow bag and then tuck a very then sheet tightly over her (edges under the mattress). It worked for us. Mind you, it was November so less warm than now.

starkadder · 18/09/2008 16:24

We had same issue and swaddled (without grobag) for first few weeks and it worked v well. Then you can swaddle leaving arms free when baby is a bit older. Grobag doesn't have effect but does mean if you have a wriggly baby (we do) then he won't wriggle out of bedcovers and get cold in middle of night.

fairibell · 18/09/2008 17:05

We had a swaddleaze for our DD (5 weeks early) for the first maybe 8-10 weeks
www.babysleepshop.com/acatalog/Swaddleaze.html
started off with her arms in it but then began to get them out herself so just wrapped it under her arms (prob 7weeksish) and when she was big enough just moved her into her grobag, had no problem at all with the change as so similar to the swaddleaze!!!
Highly recommend them are fab!

crabby · 18/09/2008 17:17

that's what i was worried about = being too hot. No problem with getting up (well - it is what I signed up for!) but it is the rest that I was wondering what i could do about.

By unsettled I mean that normally we can get her down to sleep OK but then when she wakes fo a 1sh feed she will not settle back into bed. She often falls asleep at the breast, but wakes after a few mins of being in her bed, thrashing around, arms flailing and rooting. So back to the other breast, and so on fo 1-2+ hours until with much patting soothing and rocking and a fair amount of feeding she'll drop off. Next feed tends to be more of a feed then off to sleep.

She is unbelivably noisy when a sleep at night - not in day - snorts, grunts burbles and the occasional shriek - experienced mum friends of mine are impressed - but only weirdly at night. Not sure what else to try...

OP posts:

ajm200 · 18/09/2008 17:22

We just swaddled DS without the grobag in a large baby muslin at first night and day. He was a winter baby so the house temperatue was fairly stable.

We kept the heating right down at night so his room was at the recommended temperature then dressed him in a vest, babygrow and the swaddle cloth.

When he outgrew the baby muslin we bought a large bit of muslin from the fabric shop and hemmed it. A few weeks later we moved him into growbags without the swaddle.

ajm200 · 18/09/2008 17:24

My DS was always noisy at night, snoring, grunting etc. He's now 22 months and cries, talks, shrieks and laughs in his sleep. We've just learnt to tune it out.

crabby · 18/09/2008 17:27

fairibell - that looks good - did you use any other blankets or sheets - dd seems to grunt even more when a little chilly - watch out princess and the pea syndrome!

OP posts:

crabby · 18/09/2008 17:29

I'm good at tuning out - dp not so good!!! Did your ds not get cold in just clothes and swaddle cloth?

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ajm200 · 18/09/2008 17:36

No, we started out swaddling him heavier fabrics but found he was too warm. Clammy back and tummy and very restless. We have quite a warm house though. Because we were swaddling him night and day we were able to adjust the number of clothing layers until we found the best for him. I did try a thin sheet tucked in over him while he was swaddled and one less layer of clothing but he didn't like it.

The swaddle was good because he would thrash about and bang his hands on the crib rails even with bumpers.

ajm200 · 18/09/2008 17:38

The last sentence should say 'without it'.

As for tuning the noise out, between DS and his nighttime noises and DH snoring, I've developed very selective nighttime hearing.

MatNanPlus · 18/09/2008 17:44

Swaddling is great to help restless babies but don't also use a grobag.

A light blanket/sheet if you think baby feels cool.

I tend to dress baby in nappy, socks and a bodysuit(popper vest) either long or short sleeved depending on house temp and the swaddle.

ajm200 · 18/09/2008 17:50

Slightly OT and a bit of a highjack too... sorry

would you swaddle a baby during the day if it is going to be carried in one of those soft wraparound baby slings?

I've got baby 2 due any day and DS1 is so active that I need to keep baby with me and have my hands free. If baby 2 is as restless and active as he was I wonder about swaddling it. I suspect it might get hot with my body heat, lycra wrap and swaddle.

fairibell · 18/09/2008 17:54

we just adjusted what she had on underneath really, but as our bedroom gets colder over night we used to tuck a blanket over her (under each side of crib matress - with her feet at the bottom) - she never moved but i was paranoid she would wriggle under it! she was fine though!!

MatNanPlus · 18/09/2008 22:06

You could AJM200 but just dress baby on bodysuit and nappy so treat the swaddle as clothing layers!

ajm200 · 19/09/2008 08:54

Thanks MatNanPlus

likessleep · 19/09/2008 09:00

crabby - mothercare also do a swaddle sheet which is a bit cheaper than the swaddleeaze one (i think it was £15).
we used to dress ds in sleepsuit and then swaddle in cot sheet. but that was last nov/dec, when it was cold!

pudding25 · 19/09/2008 21:28

We tried swaddling with one of those ready made swaddle blankets from Jo JO Bebe Maman (blanket thingie with velcro) except she always managed to get her hands out/kick it off (we obviously were not too good at it!). She kept waking up as she was cold. At about 4 wks, we discovered sleeping bags and never looked back! Don't use both though - too hot.

If you are going to swaddle, do it for naps too.

Nat1H · 19/09/2008 21:46

Try a slumber bear. My DS2 slept beautifully during the day (when there was lots of background noise), but dreadfully at night. A slumber bear did the trick!

fairimum · 19/09/2008 22:24

we tried the blankets with velcro and she always wriggled out...but with the swaddleaze the velcro is really strong and goes underr them so they cant wriggle out, was also fab as if wrap swaddle bit under arms is just like a grobay so very easy to change to grobag!

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