swaddle bags

[Loft653]

Hi

My DD is just coming up to 8 weeks. To date we have used a Grobag at night time however she flails around a lot and I'm sure it's this that often wakes her rather than hunger.
It's also difficult (impossible!) to settle her back down without feeding to sleep.
Last night when she woke up flailing around only shortly after a previous feed I placed my hands on her to stop her legs and arms moving and she fell asleep but as soon as I moved away she was off again and woke up.

Any views on whether products like love to swaddle / swaddle pods would help? Is it too late at 8 weeks to start using them?

I do fear she isn't currently getting enough sleep - often she only has about 3 x 1 hour naps during the day (although occasionally she will sleep for 3hrs in one go plus 2 more short naps), will eventually settle at about 10pm at night and wakes up 12.30 then about 3 or 4 more times before being up for good at around 7.30am. Taking settling and feeding time into account she isn't really sleeping more than 30mins-1hr after her first wake up.
We can't get her down any earlier as she has colic.
I'm perhaps looking for a solution that doesn't exist with the swaddle bags but willing to try anything that might help!

[CityDweller]

I don't think it's too late to start swaddling. Worth a try, at least.

I used a swaddle bag with DS and it worked really well. We had the Aden and Anais easy swaddle, but I've also heard good things about the miracle blanket. When DD was this age I used the gro swaddle, but I'm not a fan of that as it's far too easy for them to wriggle out of it, even as small babies.

DS has now grown out of the A&A (at 3 mo) so I bought the Swaddle Up, but haven't had much luck with it yet (so I'm just using a giant muslin at the moment, which isn't brilliant as he can wriggle out of it). It's tricky because I get the sense he doesn't like being swaddled, but without it he tends to paw at his face and rub his eyes in his sleep, which wakes him up.

[Serafinaaa]

Swaddling was a sleep breakthrough for us. We used the gro swaddle to begin with, then something with Velcro on, then a swaddle sleep bag hybrid thing that could turn into a normal sleeping bag. We also have the miracle blanket but couldn't get on with it.

[FATEdestiny]

I just ripped a cot sheet in half along the short edge to make two very long, thin rectangles. Perfect swaddle sheets.

I understand grobag do a gro-swaddle - I cant remember the products exact name but the grobag website should tell you.

[Redhead79]

We've been using the 'grosnug' which is like a sleeping bag but the arm holes have poppers so you can swaddle them in or have the arms out. The legs are still free to move but its worked really well for us. At 10 weeks dd will out grow it soon (she's quite a long baby). She always seams to break out when I've used the gro swaddle or blankets so trying to transition her to a traditional sleeping bag, one arm out at a time, while desperately looking for an alternative !

[winchester1]

We brought swaddle bags but they were far to loose so we just used a blanket instead. It worked well for a while.

[Loft653]

Thank you for your replies, a friend whose son didn't take to swaddling is kindly going to lend me some swaddleme blankets to tryout. Fingers crossed they'll help!

[WineandDine]

Love to Dream swaddles are great. We used the Swaddle Up version until around 3 months then moved on to the 50/50 one which has removable arms. We released one arm at a time at around 4 months with little to no fuss from DS.

They definitely improved naps for us. I also used to tuck his feet/lower half into the end of the cot/Moses basket as the Swaddle suits are fairly lightweight and this stopped him waking himself up.

Good luck

[Redhead79]

Just checked out the Swaddle up 50/50.... Just what I've been looking for, thanks WineandDine

[grace11]

Swaddling will definitely help - but see my post is 'swaddling a blessing or a curse'. I'm worrying now that teaching my dd2 to sleep without it will be a nightmare. I use Aden and Anais muslin swaddle blankets - and I use the Harvey Karp DUDU method.

[Loft653]

Just wanted to report back after night 1 with the swaddle - AMAZING!

She went in her cot at about 10pm and slept through to 4am, had a feed and slept again to 6.30. I put her straight back in the cot after her feed whereas usually I have to wait for her to be in deep sleep to transfer her (even then it often failed and she ended up in our bed for the night!).

I hope it wasn't a one off

Thanks all for your comments.

[AnaJayBee]

@Loft653 not sure if you will get this message or reply (or even remember!) but when you started using the swaddle can you remember what your baby wore underneath or if you use a blanket over the top?
I'm a little confused about what they wear and what layers they have on at night (room is about 18 degrees normally) with one of these swaddle bags?
Thank you in advance!!
Xx

[sewinginscotland]

@AnaJayBee When we were swaddling with a woombie, we used a long sleeved vest and a fleecy sleepsuit. We started in a normal sleepsuit, but he kept on waking up early because he was too cold. Our room was about 18/19 degrees.

Overheating is a SIDs risk factor, so maybe start with less rather than more.