Jerking limbs keeping baby awake - help!

[Deb123]

Hi, My 5 week old baby girl seems to be spending her life in a swaddling blanket because her arm and legs constantly wave around and keep her awake. This means she spends all her time in a vest also so she doesn't get too warm. I'd love to see her up and dressed and sitting in her chair dozing off, but keep having to resort to that darned blanket to help her sleep.
Am I being unrealistic - I mean, is this normal in a 5 week old? Other babies seem to be quite content in their clothes. Is it something I am not doing right

Ahhh, they do grow out of it eventually. my ds used to bash the side of his moses basket every 10 minutes, he had to be swaddled until he was about 8 weeks old.

you can swaddle in a cotton cellular blanket (we had a nice bright orangey red pram size, which is still a big favourite with my girls) and still wear clothes, iirc

my ds was like this. i always swaddled him too.
tbh i am sure she will be ok in normal clothes, just don't use a too thick blanket.

she is only 5 weeks old so please don't worry too much about her not being "up and dressed"!!!! she needs comfort, and you are comforting her.... that's all that matters.

I used to use a muslin if that's any help!

Goodness you lot are quick! Thank you ever so much, the reassurance is so good to hear. Now all i have to do is find the right technique to get her to sleep in the first place, without spending hours in my arms or bf and i can get on with the ironing!

when you put her down, try rubbing her tummy very gently, slowly easing off the pressure so she "knows" you are there

noooo don't do that deb! spend as much time as you can cuddling her... you'll miss it in a few months! lol

my ds was exactly like that and we swaddled him until he was 12 weeks - it really works and there is some research that says that swaddled babies sleep longer and cot death is less likely - it keeps them on thier backs.

I am still swaddling ds and he is 3 1/2 months. I have just bought the larger size kiddopotamus fleece swaddle - he looks so snug in it that I wish I could have one too. As the weather is getting chillier overheating becomes less of an issue - I put ds in a t-shirt and light top which can be removed for nap times. To be honest I don't know when I will stop swaddling him - I am not brave enough to stop swaddling and find out whether his startle reflex has diminished enough to not disturb his sleep.

Hi muddlingthru! I am still swaddling dd at 23 weeks. I am afraid to stop. Her startle reflex is long gone. Now at 5 mo. it is they wave their arms about and get it caught between the cot spars. I swaddled right thru the summer too. Tonight I thought about putting her down w/o swaddling and when she stirred to take the second booby, I swaddled her first . I used the swaddle technique in Baby Bliss by Dr Harvey Karp and use a cotton tablecloth. do a google on 'dudu swaddle technique' the link will be a pdf file in czech (I think) the diagrams come from Baby Bliss. It is several pages long so scroll down for the diagrams.

I read here once on MN that one lady swaddled all her kids till they were about 8mo old!

My ds had a bad startle reflex too and we were still swaddling at 3-4 months. However, as he was quite strong by then and could move his head from side to side if he was on his tummy, we decided to move him to a grobag and he slept on his tummy for naps (but not at night, that was a different story!). I felt that I could really hear him on the monitor and pop in and out to see him during nap times so I was comfortable with him sleeping on his tummy. This completely stopped the startle reflex cos his arms were heavy on the mattress and the grobag kept his legs relatively together. You need to make this call yourself though, I def think 5 wks is too young to sleep on a tummy, but if things don't improve over the weeks you may be able to give it a go once you think your dd is strong enough physically. HTH

to keep a swaddle together really well here are some tips I picked up:

swaddle with the cloth on the bias as it has a bit more 'stretch' that way. ie, lay cloth out in a diamond shape and bend down one corner.

hold down the 'first' arm really straight at baby's side when wrapping. a bend in the elbow makes it easy for them to pop out.

make sure 'second' arm is also really straight.

dd (23 wks) has always been a v. active baby and my swaddle still holds v. well, all things considered.

sleeping on his tummy did it for woo, never told anyone. knew the risks of SIDS is low, but the risk is there and if it happens to you i'm sure you dont feel that its low. Woo had strong neck and I kept him cool and followed all the other advice