To swaddle or not to swaddle

[Holymoly321]

My DS is 6 weeks old and until recently I had not swaddled him at all - I always thought it looked like a straight jacket and I wanted my child to be free as a bird! . However, a friend recently gave me a 'kiddopotamus' swaddle blanket and it changed our lives! DS has a very strong moro reflex and always wakes himself up. But not with this blanket! (unless of course it's the middle of the night when he somehow manages to wriggle out of it!). We use it for his throught the night sleep, but I'm wondering if I should also use it for his day time sleeps (am just trying out Gina Ford type routine) or is this too much? Don't want him to get a complex!! THanks

i swaddled my son until he was five months old for all sleeps - i think he found it comforting - then when he had control of arms/hands, i just swaddled from under the arms and he started sucking his thumb, then at 6 months, we put him in a sleeping bag

i think it worked really well for him and gave him a good sense of security

i don't do GFord but I also found swaddling very useful; it keeps them warm & makes them feel very secure. So I am another big fan; i suppose you can take it too far,but i can't remember how.

DD HATED swaddling or being in any confined space. She cried and cried in the cot in hospital and in her Moses basket. So we put her in a cotbed from about 5 days and she was content.

DS is 19 weeks and I have been swaddling him both at night and for day time naps. Any naps he had without it tended to be very short (fortunately the kiddopotamus swaddle comes in a larger size as well).

It is only this week I have started to put him down for his first nap of the day unswaddled to try and wean him off it. As previously, this nap invariably ends up being quite short (30/40 minutes compared to 1.5hrs with swaddle!). So I am continuing to use the swaddle for later naps to make sure he gets enough sleep during the course of the day and isn't overtired by bedtime.

I used swaddling method in daytime sleeps and followed G Ford method. However, stopped swaddling once baby was capable of putting himself to sleep.

However, recently lo is not able to survive all morning without sleep, and won't go down at recommend GFord time, so have gone back to swaddling for daytime sleep, as lo is so tired and guess what it works !! Last two days for daytime sleep have done this and had brillant day sleep and back to good bedtime sleep.