Baby constantly fidgeting while asleep

[CremeDeSudo]

Hi all, looking for some thoughts on this please..

DD is now 10wks but it's basically been the same since day 1. She's swaddled, FF, gaining weight. I'm suspicious of silent reflux so she's on gaviscon for half her bottles during the day. Naps were great but since 8wk jabs now she's regularly waking up after 10mins or a sleep cycle if she goes longer. Even while I'm cuddling her. That's another post though!

So basically she seems to fight her swaddle - squirms, legs up and down, grunting etc etc. Usually she does a 5,6 hr stint reasonably calmly then starts fidgeting from 3ish so I give her a bottle (will usually have 2oz), keep her upright, wind etc. When she goes back down (mattress elevated for reflux) she starts squirming again and eventually ends up at the bottom of the the cot in a heap of swaddle. Last few nights she's been this unsettled from the get go, hence the post. She seems to be asleep through it all for the most part until she eventually wakes herself up.

Currently I'm just bringing her into bed with me so I can get some sleep. She settles immediately while being cuddled and will sleep brilliantly but I don't want this to continue every night as I don't sleep well myself. I'm getting very frustrated with her.

We don't dream feed, white noise is on, using the Miracle Blanket which has been the only one she couldn't fight out of until recently!

Help please!

Try some "love to dream" swaddles available on amazon and a few other places. It's like a tight but stretchy sleeping bag (to mimic a swaddle) with arms. And the arms are "pinned" above their heads in a natural sleep position, so they can't get out. Sounds weird when you describe it! But I can't tell you how well our baby slept.

Thanks Sar, I read about those swaddles after Google'ing but having just spent 45 quid on Miracle Blankets I was hoping to avoid another 22 if possible! Of course I'm happy to spend it for sleep!

Did you have the same problem with your DC then? Does it pin their arms in that upright position instead of by their sides?

We just happened to be given one to try as a gift when he was a newborn (by someone who had recently used them and swore by them) so we tried it rather than swaddling and he got on great with it. Never looked back. They swaddle arms up by the head.

As they grow, the bigger sizes have arms that zip off. So once they're rolling (and swaddling is no longer safe) you can unzip one off and then the other. At nearly nine months he's now in whatever regular sleeping bags were on sale at Mothercare but while he needed swaddling, they were perfect.

Right, ordered. Fingers crossed!!

Fingers crossed for you! Everything seems better when Baby sleeps!

Ok this swaddle up is no good and going back. She's knocking her dummy out if her mouth continually! She took ages to settle at bedtime, has just been up usual time. Usually I'll give her dummy to get to 2,3am bottle but dummy knocked back out again. Hoping she she'll settle now she's had a bottle.. thank you anyway x

I love the Love to Dream Swaddle but mine got really annoyed with it around 8 weeks and started fighting it. We switched to a regular sleeping bag and never looked back. Perhaps that might work for you? Not all babies like being swaddled, especially not as they get bigger. Good luck!

Morning ladies,

CremeDeSudo... this could literally be my daughter you're talking about!! She'll be 9 weeks tomorrow, has generally been a decent sleeper - since she was about 2 weeks old, she's down to sleep by 9/10pm ish and has only been waking up once in the night at around 2/3am for a feed, then back down to sleep until about 7am. But for the past couple of weeks, after that feed at 2/3am she has been THE most restless, squirmy, noisy little mite, squeeking and grunting for hours and eventually waking herself up by 5.30/6am! My friend has lent me a MyHummy for white noise which seems to work great in the day to get her off to sleep for naps, but makes no ounce of difference on this 2-6am stint! Now I'm wondering whether to give her a feed about 8pm then another at about 11pm to try and replace the 2/3am feed and see if she'll then sleep through until 6/7am? I know she can do 7 hours straight sleep, it's just whether or not she'll do it at that time! Any ideas?

I've also been using swaddle bags as she developed a really bad startle reflex when she was a couple of weeks old - I started with the Woombie which was pretty much like a straight jacket (i felt awful but it did the trick), then moved onto the Love to Dream as it has the space for the arms above the head - both have worked really well, but like TroubledLitchen said, it's as if she's fighting it now and is constantly trying to suck on her hand but seems to be getting frustrated as it's covered up and she can't actually get her fingers in her mouth! Wondering whether to switch to a normal sleeping bag now?

Oh the joys of being a new mum!! Any advise would be massively appreciated!!
Xx

I don't think she's ready for a normal sleeping bag yet as she'll knock the dummy out then too! I did experiment the other night with one arm unswaddled and it did not go well. I can't remember when we stopped with DS..

Shortly after my post I took her out of the swaddle up and put her back in her Miracle Blanket as she was wide awake! Once wrapped up again she went straight back to sleep! Rest of the night didn't go well either though..not so much fidgeting but crying out occasionally like she was having a nightmare, so she was back in with me again.

Repeat after me - this too shall pass!!

My DS has been exactly as you describe for about 2 weeks now, he's 17 weeks so a little older. He's been in the love to dream swaddles but today I've caved and unzipped on arm and ditched the dummy. I know it's a lot in one go but I'm thinking that it's best to get it all over and done with. He will be rolling soon and I won't want him swaddled then, and the dummy is becoming more hassle than it's worth. Great in the daytime for naps but hideous from 3am when I'm putting it back in every 10-30 minutes. Think I'm resigned to some bad nights but hoping it will be better in the long run. I feel like he can't self settle in the swaddle as he wants his hands in his mouth (resulting in very soggy swaddles), hence the dummy being knocked out. I've given him a comforter in the hope that that will become a replacement for the dummy, and that he will grow out of this early morning charade, especially if he doesn't need a dummy anymore. First two naps have gone ok, I picked him up and soothed him and just kept putting him back until he went to sleep, and repeated when he woke after 45mins. He is sucking on thin air though bless him.

Anyway not so much advice as support! Good luck

Curious to see how you get along @bumbling. I couldn't get DS to sleep without his and ended up substituting it for a comforter which he sucked instead! DD seems to be going the same way.. 😫

Have you tried letting her sleep on her side? My babies have silent reflux and they can’t sleep on their backs. HV told me to
Put them to sleep on their left side and we haven’t looked back. Also hold her upright for 20-30 min after feed as this helps the acid stay down. A pain at night but if she only wakes the one time not that much of an issue?

How do you keep them in their side? I've tried propping her slightly but she moves off it. I'm convinced she's going to be a side sleeper actually.

I'm already holding her up.. DS had bad reflux so all the reflux tricks are standard this time round!

Mine won't really take a dummy, I sometimes wish it'd be easier as at least I'd know there was something to soothe her, but with you saying you're up every half an hour in the night to put it back in, I'm not so sure!
How do you get them to sleep on their sides? My HV said that because DS is going for 6/7 hours without a feed, then has one at 3/4am, her wriggling around and being noisy will be because her digestive system will be starting up again after that feed - makes sense I suppose!
Think I'm going to try a later feed tonight and see if she'll go through from 11ish until 6ish... fingers crossed!! Xx

Ah, sorry they didn't work for you. Might be worth a few more tries at a later date if nothing else is working - sometimes they need time to get used to something. Babies are stubborn gits when they don't want to sleep!