7 week old fighting swaddling - but flails wildly if left unswaddled?

[kookiegoddess]

Hi my dd is just 7 wks. We're trying to get her to fall asleep on her own and currently swaddle tightly before putting her down, and doing a bit of shushing, dummy and hands on her tummy/wriggly legs.

She always strains to get her arms free, and even once she's settled and quiet but not asleep, she will grunt and groan trying to get her arms free - but this doesn't make her cry, strangely. I often find she's got one arm free (and one very cold hand) when she wakes up. I feel bad about all the noise she makes but she's so wee, and so wriggly that I can't put her to sleep without something strapping her arms down! Loose swaddle doesn't work obviously, as she will break out of that and keep herself awake.

Annoyingly, she will sleep unswaddled when we co-sleep but I'm trying not to co-sleep anymore in an effort to avoid nightmare getting her out of our bed later on. Also missing cuddles with hubby. I love having her next to me but had decided it must be an occasional treat/nap only thing rather than every night.

Any advice?

anyone?

No ideas, but I have exactly the same problem! I tend to swaddle him and hold him very close until he calms down, so he's really only just awake when he goes into the cot... Not foolproof though.

I used a miracle blanket which swaddled my ds so tightly that he couldn't escape. I would recommend them. I think I got it at mothercare, cost about £15 I think.

Grobag?

We used to swaddle DS all the time, despite his fighting it. We decided to stop around 7 weeks because we are going away to a warm climate soon and wanted to get him used to not being swaddled. Also some people say it is best to stop at the point when cot death risk increases (2 months). It was also getting very difficult as he is very tall so we didn't have any blankets long enough!

It took about 4 days for him to get used to sleeping in a sleeping bag. He does wake himself up sometimes with his arms flailing but probably less than trying to get out of his swaddle!

I know the baby whisperer says swaddle until 4 months and I do agree that they probably sleep better if they stay swaddled so it is a hard call but I just thought I'd let you know that they adapt to the grobag quite fast.