Those flailing little arms and legs

[edeluna]

LO is eleven weeks old and still flails her arms and legs wildly when she's asleep, and often when I put her down in her cot. This wakes her up/keeps her awake, so my solution has been to continue swaddling her. However, the nights are getting hotter as summer approaches, so I don't think I can continue swaddling her for long. She likes sucking on her hands, too, at the moment and it seems to frustrate her when she can't.

I've tried putting her in a sleeping bag, but she still kicks around and flails her arms enough to disrupt her sleep. Sometimes, holding her hands and/or feet for a while help her calm down and fall asleep, but this can take ages.

When do they outgrow the flailing arms and legs? Until what age do other people swaddle their LOs? Any suggestions for alternative solutions? If I could find something that worked, I think it would help her sleep so much better -- especially from, oh, 5?7am, which I would appreciate beyond measure!

[roundthehouses]

have you tried giving her a muslin/blankie/ taggie/ small stuffed toy to hold on to? My ds is just 3mo and giving him something to cuddle or hold on to seems to help.

[pettyprudence]

11wk ds and still swaddling here too. You can swaddle with their fists sticking out for sucking (google aussie swaddle) but when i did this for ds he put his own arms back down in the blanket! I use a cotton sheet for swaddling & he seems to be ok in the hot weather we've had recently.

[sweetuphoria]

I still swaddle and DD is 5mo - she loves it! but in the middle of the night when she is fast asleep I take her out of it and put her in a sleeping bag.

[Amaretti]

If swaddling works, definitely stick with it. Find a very thin sheet and keep the room as cool as you can.

[TotallyLovely]

Might grew out of it at around 3/4 months. It was really sudden! I swaddled until then and when hot dc just wore a nappy under the swaddle blanket. I used the Miracle one as it's thin.