Weaning off Swaddling?

[futurity]

Hi

My 10 week old son has been swaddled at bedtime as he is an extrememly fidgety baby who thrashes around and hits himself in the face given half the chance! Problem is now that he is so big he can get out of it which wakes him up and disturbs him and I think is stopping him sleeping through the night.

I got one of those light weight sleeping bags which is suitable for his age and tried it tonight but he woke after 30 mins and had a complete fit! Normally he would stir and go back to sleep but the fact that his arms were free was a bit freaky for him I think and understandably he paniced!

Any suggestions for "reducing" swaddling? I've read to try "half-swaddling"...I assume that is just the body and not the arms which I don't know will help? He is also in big cot....the move from carrycot to big cot was fine..probably because he was still swaddled so didn't notice any difference!!

Anyway...help gratefully received!

I don't know if this would work for you but when I introduced the sleeping bag, I kept a sheet on top of the baby (tightly tucked in) so she was in a way swaddled but if he moves a lot, I don't know if this would work.

I also kept a lightweight blanket on top of the bag, tightly tucked in. Also - I use a guardian angel - which is 2 bolster type pieces of cushion in an oblong shape designed to fit either side of the childs body, held together by a piece of fabric which has velcro on it so you can alter it to fit the size of the child. It seems to provide added security for ds. I don't know where it's from, as I borrowed it fron sil and ds is sound asleep ensconced in its arms as we speak. If you are interested I will look at the label tommorrow and let you know.

We swaddled our dd until she was able to roll over at 5 months! If you want to keep swaddling have you tried using a fleece blanket rather than a cellular one? They seem to have a bit more 'grip' about them, although you have to be careful to keep the room cooler as they are so much warmer. Our ds is 7 weeks and also swaddled as he does the same as your ds - scratches all over his face and waking homself up by flailing around. Or get daddy to do the swaddling - my dh can do it much tighter than I can and ds seems to love it!

I had the same issue with dd when she was your son's age - we started partially swaddling her, which only left one arm out - so she could suck her thumb, etc., but was not enough thrashing about to wake her.

I did find that a lot of the blankets were too small for her - she is very long, and would kick out of them - we nicknamed her houdini - Baby Gap made big ones, and I had a friend who made her own with flannel and cotton bedsheets. Having the bigger blankets helped tremendously.

Hi

Well I am now onto sleeping bag full time which has worked ok apart from one little annoying side effect!

Adam is addicted to sucking his hand for comfort ..when he was swaddled he always tried to get to his hand to suck it but couldn't and went back to sleep.

He was happily sleeping until 7am and not waking in the night at all. Now however he is waking up at 3am on the dot for the last 3 nights and sucking his hand like mad..he then wakes up properly and starts screaming. First night I paniced and thought does he need feeding (he is now 13 1/2 weeks and 13lb 11oz) but then he went back to sleep again and he has done the same thing every night since then. He also now wakes up at 6 and munches his hand for 20 mins then starts screaming for food. I go in and feed him and then put him back to bed for an hour.

I suppose he will grow out of the 3am waking (please!!) as he has only just started on the sleeping bag and I suppose it is a novelty to have his hands free to munch!

Am wondering though how I can get him to sleep to 7 again ...any ideas? (not the end of the world if he doesn't)