Swaddling & bf

[AngelDog]

Is swaddling likely to cause any problems with bf? What I mean is: if your child is swaddled, are you any less likely to pick up feeding cues (or are they less likely to give feeding cues?). Is it safe to swaddle and co-sleep?

We swaddled DS for sleep for the first 5.5 months, and he was a relatively infrequent feeder (though that could just have been coincidence).

My plan is to feed responsively rather than on any kind of system, and to co-sleep, which I didn't do with DS in the early days.

Really don't know Angel. Personally I wouldn't swaddle and co-sleep because of the heat, but that just me and I don't know of any research.

Congratulations on your PG and hopefully someone in the know will be along soon [smie].

I think some people (Odent) believe that swaddling and bf can be problematic because babies 'need' to be able to touch the breasts with their hands whilst feeding. Sure it differs between babies though. In terms of cues, depending whether you swaddle so hands can reach mouth, that might be an obvious (middle - neither late nor early) feeding cue you wouldn't necessarily be able to watch for. Congrats and good luck!

I can't see that it could cause any problem. If anything it can help you breastfeed if the swaddling means your baby sleeps better! I've swaddled DD from birth for all naps and nighttime sleep. There's no way she'll calm down, go to sleep or stay asleep if she's hungry, swaddle or no swaddle!! She gives feeding cues as normal with or without the swaddle.

There's no problem with cosleeping either. You just have to remember that baby has to be on her back only when swaddled, never ever her side. What I did was unswaddle her to feed lying down, side by side. Then when I was finished (at night and if I'd managed to stay awake!) I'd swaddle her again and put her on her back beside me. I had no blankets anywhere near her so they couldn't end up on her and make her overheat. I wouldn't have her right up against my chest though because I figured my body heat could overheat her in the swaddle, especially in hot weather. I just left a gap and had my arm above her and around her.

Oh I didn't swaddle her while feeding except once or twice during the day when she had her hands in front of her face so she couldn't latch on and was getting really frustrated and got upset if I tried to move her arms. Swaddling did work for that but it seemed a bit mean! I tried feeding lying back instead and that worked to keep her hands out of the way just as well.

It's true you won't see her try to get her hands in mouth while swaddled. But mine made little noises, started moving around and did her 'fishy mouth' face when hungry and because she was always beside me I didn't miss those. The odd time she did just wake up and cry straight away but I'm pretty sure there weren't earlier cues then because I'd been watching her nap and she did sometimes just go from sleep to crying instantly. That's just the way she is!

I believe that lack of bfing cues is considered one of the main drawbacks of swaddling - that it stops the infant from waking and displaying recognisable feeding cues and is linked to a lower than normal frequency of feeds (and of higher weight loss in the neonatal period) - this referenced article on the history of swaddling has lots of information on swaddling.

I've read that it is dangerous to co-sleep and swaddle as the baby cannot use their arms to signal to you if they are in danger (i.e. you roll on them). I personally don't swaddle when we co-sleep. H X

Thanks, Truth, that was really useful - and thanks to everyone else too.

It never occurred to me to question swaddling with DS (but then I didn't know much about bf then). IIRC from about 3-6 weeks he fed only 6 or 7 times per 24 hours, which now seems pretty infrequent given that he was having 7 or 8 day feeds plus some night ones at 24 months! He did recover his birth weight very quickly though.

We swaddled DS because he found it really difficult to stay asleep for more than about 2 minutes because his arms would jerk shortly after going to sleep and wake him up. We actually stopped swaddling him at 6 weeks or so, and resumed it at 3 months as his sleep was so appalling. He wasn't able to stay asleep without the swaddle till over 5 months, despite attempts to wean him off it.

I wonder now whether co-sleeping would have helped a bit with the nights. In the day, he would sleep for longer periods in my arms or in the sling, but not in his basket. We didn't get a sling till he was 9 weeks old though, by which time he was overtired and I was exhausted!

This time my plan is for DC2 to co-sleep at night and live in the sling in the day from the outset, which I'm hoping will make everything better.

Just thought of another (not really related) question:

From 3 weeks, DS stopped falling asleep after every feed (which I know is normal) but didn't fall asleep after any feeds again until 10 weeks, when it started working at bedtime (not in the night and not for naps). He wasn't able to feed to sleep in the daytime until 14 or 15 weeks. Is that normal?

I've never come across anyone else mentioning that kind of behaviour, and I could never work out why so many people recommended 'just feed them to sleep' for young babies since it didn't work with DS for ages.

Sorry Angel, haven't got any experience of that. Both of mine fed to sleep for ages, but hopefully this will bump for you .