help with use of sleeping bag please

[olivo]

dd is 3 weeks old and having problems with kicking off the covers in her moses basket so i have been and got her a mothercare sleeping bag today.. they say they can be used from 7lbs up and she weighed 7 13 last week but it seems huge. do i still put her with her feet at the bottom of the moses basket, in which case the sleeping bag bottom would overhang the basket, do i tuck the extra in the bottom of the mattress ( the tucking in of sheets used to wake her!) or doesnt it matter exactly where she is in the basket if she is in the sleeping bag?

sorry to waffle - VERY tired!!

at three weeks old, i was swaddling my babies. perhaps not as tightly as the traditional wrap, but enough that they couldnt kick the covers off.
except for ds2 who wsa born in middle of excessively hot summer and slept with nothing on except a veest and nappy at night. and just a nappy during the day.
tuck him up tight.

she hates the swaddling and has even managed to get out of one of the velco things designed for newborn swaddling! the sleeping bag is a last resort!

The feet to foot advice is so that babies don't wriggle under the sheets/blankets so it doesn't really matter where in the basket you lay her if she's in a bag. My ds and dd were both bagged from birth and loved them but they do seem massive when they are so small!! I found it useful to tuck the end under the end of the cot matress once they were a bit more mobile but it won't matter at the moment.

Swaddling is a good idea IF your baby likes it - my two didn't so it all depends on the baby.

Hi Olivio,
Good question!
I'm no expert but the idea of feet to the foot of the cot/basket is to stop their heads being covered up by sheets/blanket. Assuming the sleeping bag fits properly then this shouldn't happen so it doesn't matter where she is in the basket. Some bags have more than one set of fastenings to take into account smaller babies so make sure you are doing it up correctly.

I personally didn't use a bag that early because I had the same dilema but friends used to do both - leave bag hanging out or folded the end underneath baby (didn't bother tucking). I also had the same problem as you - tucking in woke DD - I got into the habit of leaving one hand firmly on top of her chest/tummy while I tucked sheets in with the other hand. To her it still felt like she was being held until the sheets took over. For next baby though, I'll definately opt for a bag, makes life so much easier!
Hope you have a better night tonight.
Take care xx

I agree. dd waoke herself by kicking off sheets. Now loves her sleeping bag and associates it with sleep time. She sleeps terribly under sheets now! Infact... really must put it into wash but am loathed to until get a dry day so can get it washed and dried in one go! Tesco now sell them too but seems bigger and I only had a 1tog one as dd was born in summer. The tesco ones are 2.5/3 tog so ok in winter but was worried re overheating. Think it'll really come into it's own when dd goes into a cot. If yours fits like ours does (well I mean) then there's no danger of going under the covers and so doesn't matter so much where they sleep. haveing said that dd must go feet to feet as growing out of crib and wakes up all scrunched at the top now no matter where you put her down!

Sorry for monster post btw

Hi DD started hating blankets at3 weeks she would kick them off and cry because she was cold. So I put her in her grobag, it's 0.5 tog because of the hot weather we were having. DD is now 7 weeks and she does associate it with going to sleep at night. It does have under arm fastenings as she's still only 9lbs. You don't need to put them foot to end in the grobags (I did check with HV and dr) DD sleeps much better in it

mine is 2.5 tog, think i should have got a 1.0 tog one as it is still quite warm here. may go and change it tomorrow.

thanks for your help everyone.