Weaning off wrapping with a baby who scratches himself awake - solutions anyone?

[FiveBells]

My 6 month old DS has been wrapped since birth, and it is the main sleep trigger for him. He also has pretty extensive excema which causes him to scratch himself whenever skin is exposed; when sleeping this includes his head, face and behind his ears which he will scratch till he bleeds, invariably waking himself distressed in the process. Wrapping serves the dual purpose of helping him sleep and keeping his hands to himself. Unfortunately he is getting too big to be wrapped now - muslins by themselves don't hold him any more and the velcroed over-wrap we use only goes up to 10 kilos (he is now 8 kilos). So we need to come up with a new plan. Mittens are soaking within minutes and don't last on his hands as he pulls them off, and we are in a hot climate so too many clothes at night aren't an option either. Has anyone had this problem before and how did you solve it?

BTW by 'wrapped' I mean 'swaddled'.

will a bigger flat cotton cot sheet work?

we got micropore tape and taped scratch mits onto DS1's sleepsuit - you can also get sleepsuits that have mits built in..
sorry can't think of other ideas.. but if I do -- I will be back.. Good luck

He has the powers of Houdini and can escape almost anything. Ideally I would like him to stop being wrapped, so we can try grobags or similar. Otherwise I might be wrapping him till he's 21

Am on the lookout for mitted-suits. They only ones I have found so far stop at size 00, but I will keep looking

Could you stitch some scratch mits onto a normal suit? Or even just buy some that are too big and sew the hand openings closed?

You can get mitted sleepsuits from here or here.

Also do you know about 'wet wrapping' for eczema?

Next have mittens on some of their suits and so do mothercare. Don't know how big they go to though

No Meg, can you explain 'wet wrapping'? Thanks

Wet wrapping is a technique whereby you put the steroids/emollients on then a layer of wet bandage (like Tubifast) then a dry bandage. It is useful for stopping itching at night and it helps the skin absorb the creams.

Here is a link with some more info on wet wrapping.

Are you seeing a GP or consultant about your DS's eczema? If so then they should be able to show you how to wet wrap.

Thanks Meg, and great websites for clothes. Can't get that stuff where we live. Cheers.

oh I remember this well! swaddling to sleep, but wanting to wean him off it except he woke up scratching.
When ds got too big for a normal swaddle, we bought a miracle blanket, and when he got too big for that we just wrapped his arms down in the same way using a normal swaddle. They really do keep the hands in! I really recommend one, or making your own.
Then, finally when he broke out of that we sewed mitts onto his sleepsuit...
But I did realise that no matter what I thought, he really wouldnt be wrapped up to sleep at 2! So dont worry about weaning him off wrapping while it still works.

oh huge hugs to you... it's hard enough without the added worry of his ezcema.
Another option could be these to keep him from scratching at his face and help with the transition.
IN reagards to his ezcema, you probably know it's best to stick with cotton where possible... as any overheating can also increase the itch.
All the best. My boys only had mild ezcema and that was hard enough! xx

Pearlnz, were you not worried it might slip over their head when asleep? I saw these and wondered if that could happen - he is so active that I could see him disappearing into the thing completely!