Something between a GroSnug and a love to dream swaddle

[DiploCat1]

My DD is 9 weeks old, 5 weeks adjusted as she was prem. She is still struggling with startle reflex waking her up at night. We have had quite a lot of success with the GroSnug, however can see that she does not particularly like going into it, kicks and strains to free her arms and takes a while to fall to sleep. Once she is asleep though, she sleeps really well. Conversely, we have also tried the love to dream swaddle, which she loves being in, falls asleep really easily, however does not sleep as well, and wakes herself up flailing her arms around. Any suggestions?

Not sure if it’s quite what you are looking for but I swore by SwaddleMe Bags. They have Velcro tabs at the arms so you can keep baby nice and snug and then there’s plenty room at the bottom. DS was swaddled tight till 4.5 months in them!

I'd recommend the sleepsack swaddle. It's a sleeping bag with wings that can be wrapped either over or under the arms, so you zip baby into the sleeping bag first then wrap the wings over, which avoids the struggle of not wanting to be squeezed into a swaddle. You can also just use it as a sleeping bag when you stop swaddling. Expensive, but I found it worth the money.

I loved the Love to Dream swaddles as DS could keep his arms up but helped minimise the movement of his startled reflex which had been waking him. He hated his arms by his sides!! We used these swaddles up to medium, then in the 50/50 versions which allow you to unzip the 'cap' sleeves off so could release one arm at a time to help him get back used to them
So not for everyone but we loved them!! Bought and sold on eBay too (just check sleeves as some are stained from babies sucking on them).

I think I have tried most baby straitjackets swaddles and consider myself a swaddle product expert! When my baby was smaller the grosnug was definitely the best but as he's gotten bigger the swaddleme swaddles are better. They're less restrictive but still pretty secure. The only thing is that if you change your baby's nappy through the night, the velcro will probably wake them up. (My son is quite wary of any noises like Velcro now...) I also had a love to dream and although it worked, he'd get really cheesed off after a while and I wasn't as comfortable with it as he never had the option to bring his arms down.