Baby wakes himself up by hitting himself in the face!

[casa]

We've got this weird problem with DS. After about twenty minutes after he's dropped off to sleep, his arms start moving around and he hits himself in the face. His head starts moving from side to side, and then he wakes up. To get him to sleep, we need to pin his arms down until he goes to sleep and keep them pinned while he's asleep so he doesn't wake himself up. We've considered trapping his arms inside the gro-bag so that he can't hit himself in the face, but then he might slip down inside the it so we don't really want to do this.

Has anyone else had s similar problem, and if so how on earth did you manage to fix it? It's driving us crazy with lack of sleep!

Hi Casa
We had the exact same problem with DD, though she lasted about 40 mins before hitting herself in the face. How old is your DS? DD stopped doing this at about 4.5 months.
We bought a WONDERFUL thing called the Amazing Miracle Blanket click here (not sure if I typed the link in properly - will re do if it doesn't work!). My DH nicknamed it "the straight jacket" but it really really helped us. It basically is an un-escapable swaddling blanket and I've since given one to everyone I know who's had a baby! I'm not 100% sure if they deliver to the UK - but do email them as they are a very helpful, small, family run company.
Let me know what you think! Our DD went from sleeping in 40 minute bursts to sleeping 8 hours straight - not a bad result!! We started using it when she was 8 weeks and stopped when she was about 4.5 months.

definitely agree about the swaddling thing , it really does work!

Yes, agree with others, this is entirely normal.

You don't have to have a fancy blanket, you can just swaddle with a normal shawl or cellular blanket -- just make sure he's not wrapped up too hot inside.

You put the baby on the blanket diagonally, folding down the corner above his head so it doesn't flap about. Then bring one corner right across his body, fold up the triangley bit over his feet, bring the other corner across and tuck under his bum to make a nice firm baby-shaped parcel with a little head sticking out at the top.

Agree that you don't need a special blanket, a normal rectangle will do it whilst they are small. We had to progress to the Miracle Blanket as DD was getting too long (and too strong!) for the normal swaddle. If you check out the Harvey Karp website (don't know the address I'm afraid) author of 'the happiest baby on the block' there is a really good swaddle technique described - it's pretty Houdini proof whilst they are still small. Make sure you swaddle quite tightly - they love it as it feels womb-like and they won't be able to get the arms out and defeat the whole purpose of it!
Good luck!

Thanks for your replies. My dh said swaddling was the answer so looks like he was right. It had to happen sometime . We will try it tonight and let you know how we get on.

We also have a similar problem that involves hands being thrown everywhere and legs kicking. Can you swaddle in warm weather? Im afraid to as its just been so hot

I guess it is not a problem provided you use a cool pijama or bodysuit, and something as thin as a sheet (or a celular blanket)

Just read the title to this thread and had to pop in to tell you that my baby wakes up because his big brother hits him in the face.....

My son just started doing this today at about 3am he started smacking himself and he's 2 years old.