Baby leg banging & getting stuck in crib bars

[sarahloupowell]

My 3 1/2 month old LO keeps banging his leg like a whale at night. This is very loud although doesn't seem to be hurting him. The main problem is that he keeps getting his foot stuck through the crib bars. He is currently in a swaddle bag. Any ideas on what I can do to help? Obviously, you are advised not to use bumpers so other ideas would be welcomed X

You can get mesh bumpers which are (I believe) safe. Or perhaps a grobag with the bottom tucked into the end of the cot?

Not heard of mesh bumpers! Thank you! Yeah, I was thinking about the grobag idea. He is a bit of a nightmare with his startle reflex so we had him in a love to dream swaddle (due to sleeping with arms above his head) but might have to change and see if it helps X

You can get breathable (mesh) bumpers on Amazon x

Given he's in a swaddle bag, his legs will stay contained within the bag even if against the cot bars. I really wouldn't worry about it too much.

A tightly tucked in sheet (cross ways across the cot, rather than lengthways) over the top of baby in the swaddle bag, adjusting layers of clothing accordingly, will calm down kicking legs.

The mesh bumpers are brilliant - the ones we have are called "Airwrap"

Mine does this too!! We have him in a gro bag which really helps but sometimes (say he falls asleep unexpectedly before we get a chance to put it on) he's just in a onsie and will get into all sorts of ridiculous positions!!

We also bought a 'wumble' sleep sack which is a bit tighter (really really tight on arms and a bit on legs) which really helped us 😊

When it's been really bad we've put him to sleep in his Moses which fits perfectly into his crib by our bed... then I usually transfer him later at night.

I think a lot of the banging might be to do with trying to keep himself awake as now he has started hitting the bars repeatedly with one arm!

If you have a Moses basket would definitely recommend either letting him sleep in that on a stand or pop that into a crib (probably not a cot though as if it doesn't fit snuggly may be a risk of it overturning...?)

I've read that they won't really hurt themselves so at least that's a plus!! 😁