Baby waking himself up with hands

[NovemberFlush]

Recently my baby has been waking up when being put down in his next to me bed. His startle reflex keeps kicking in, even when he's been lying down for a while. Then he'll bring his hands up to his face and this wakes him up every time. He's only lasting a few minutes at a time in his next to me, so we're not getting any sleep. Including poor baby. Has anyone dealt with this before and can advise how to stop it happening? He's 2 months. Thanks I'm advance, replies from anyone who's gotten around this would be much appreciated!!

I can't remember if 2 months is too old for swaddling. Is it even acceptable now? That was what stopped the hands flying around in the very early few weeks for my babies before they moved to their sleeping bags.

We swaddled until she was due to roll! Life saver as we had the same issue!

Sorry I should have added, he's not keen on swaddling! We have the tommee tippee gro bags with arms out. He's never liked his arms being in.

We still swaddled at 8 weeks, but were using the love to dream sleep bags. That way they can touch their faces if they want, but it calms the startle reflex. It's only safe to do any sort of swaddling until baby looks close to rolling though.

I will go in 1-4 months. Which I know is a LONG time without sleep.

Thank you. We don't feel comfortable swaddling tbh, he rolls a bit with his legs up, so I don't feel it would be safe.

😪

You can get those shaped thin swaddling blankets which fasten with velcro. As they get older they eventually wrestle their way out so in the morning their hands are free but it does take a while.

@Quirkswork Oh really? Can you recommend any brands?

Swaddling is the best. They’re very safe in their snug little cocoon they’re wrapped up in. I had a swaddle blanket from a friend which came with instructions. I can’t remember what triggered us to try it but it was something with her hands like you’re saying.

See what your health care person thinks but before they can roll over, you can swaddle with a blanket over the top tucked in. My boys were hugely active and it seemed to work although I can't remember when we stopped. I can't see any other way you stop the flying hands so you may have to put up with that little fun phase!

Try Jojo Maman Bebe and type in swaddle blankets. They sort of stick together with velcro.

www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/shop/home/swaddles

You can try the Love2Dream swaddle bags which have their arms up by their heads already. It seemed to stop mine from being woken up by their Moro reflex.

@Quirkswork thank you, I don't think they'd recommend a swaddle and a blanket. But I can see what they think to the swaddle and him starting to roll a little. That does worry me though.

@ChandrilanDiscoDroid thank you. I actually bought these initially, but my antenatal class didn't recommend them. So I didn't keep them in the end. Do you place them in the bag arms up already? Or do they do it themselves if they makes sense?
Do you take them out to feed? He's breastfed.
Sorry for all the questions, we're so desperate!

I moved their arms into the position. I fed them in there - they don't need their arms to feed.

I know what you mean. But I think we used the swaddle (and those light cotton blankets with holes in but perhaps too warm for that anyway) and then had a very flat non squishy mattress (no lambskin under the sheet for example) so that if they did roll over their face wouldn't be too covered. And then moved to a sleeping bag when they were big enough so their arms didn't go under the straps. It's quite hard to roll over swaddled up so we didn't have any problem. But if you are worrying about it, you won't sleep anyway so perhaps just carry on with the sleeping bag if he's big enough!

I swaddled my first DS and my second is only 10 weeks and still swaddled, really bad startle reflex we would get zero sleep without it. I love the tommee tippee grow bags with options for arms in or out, or even 1 arm in and 1 out x

We have these exact sleeping bags. How do you put their arms in so they're comfortable? What does he wear underneath? It's about 20 degrees here at night in our room. He's in his 1 tog tonight. Thank you!

@dontcomeatme He's so cute btw 💙

At 20degrees I would do short sleeve vest and babygrow. Anything warmer and I'd take the babygrow off. I just put his arms by his side and then zip it up. I recently bought the 3-6 swaddle so it's a little more roomy than the last one and he can move his arms inside slightly. But I always swaddle, then breastfeed with the swaddle on for last feeds, he falls asleep on the boob (I know he shouldn't but its easier) and then I can transfer him to crib and he stays asleep!

We may give this a go tonight and see what happens. I normally pop him in a vest, either long or short sleeve with the sleeping bag and he's pretty warm at this temperature. I think a babygrow as well might be a bit much for him. Thank you so much. X
Btw mine also feeds to sleep. I don't think it's an issue personally, as they're still so little.

Adorable!! 🥰 it's rare to get a real photo these days, back in the day when us dinosaurs roamed MN we posted loads of photos!?

Yeah my first son was always warm but this little one sits and dothers in 20+ degree heat 😅 he's my cold baby ha. You can Google "baby sleep temperature guide" and it comes up a chart for what to put them in depending on temperature. I still use it now I find it super helpful.
Definitely give it a go, when I first put my DS in the bag he squirms and fusses, but once he's latched and then falls asleep he can now sleep for 4-5 hour stretches! I've even started swaddling during the day for naps just for some sanity.
I don't see the problem either, but it's not a popular opinion on here x

I was against swaddling with my first as I was inexperienced but with my second, I discovered the Velcro swaddles as mentioned above (on Amazon) and in a desperate attempt to try anything for a good stretch of sleep, I ordered a pack of 2 and the rest is history! They were amazing. I would 100% recommend trying.