Swaddling for Baby - 3mths and above

fennho

fennho

Registered User
hi mommies

based on an advice by a fren who follows Tracy Hogg (the baby whisperer) method, i swaddles my 3.5month old baby to sleep every night. I am not sure how long is it recommended for us to do so. My fren admits she STILLS swaddles her baby who is now 9months old!! Frankly i'm a bit alarmed! My baby is somewhat sleeping thru the night now, from 8-ish to about 6am (if i'm lucky) and sometimes she wakes up around 3-ish for a feed.

In the middle of the night, sometimes i can hear her struggling to get her arms out of the swaddle, but the problem is, if we dont swaddle her, her arms will be flailing about and actually CAUSED her to wake up cos she keeps hitting her own face with it.

For now, when we swaddle her at night, she actually dont resist that much anymore and i suspect she's already gotten used to it as part of her bedtime routine...i'm jus not so sure if we shud be doing this in the long run, and am a bit worried she's relying on it to sleep?

Any advices...much appreciated. :)
 
I read in the Happiest Baby on the Block (where the author Harvey Karp is very pro-swaddling) that you can try weaning your baby off swaddling at around 4 months.

He suggested that you can first try to swaddle with one arm out first, and if that works with your baby, then you can remove the swaddling. (If you find that with one arm out, the baby is flailing too much and hitting herself, then maybe it's too soon to stop swaddling?)
 
personally, i'd say do it so long as the baby lets you.

after about 4 months, mine yelled up a storm if i tried it. shortly after that, she started rolling over in her sleep, which was fine, except now she wakes up a lot when she rolls over...argh!
 
thanks peainpod
i think i will contd to swaddle her for the time being, but at night, when she struggles to bring out her arms, i will have to "help" her and take it out BEFORE she struggles herself to complete wakefulness. Contradicting, isnt it?

carang, thanks for your input as well. Mine used to scream and fight with me when i first started re-swaddling her based on the advice of a fren then. But now, she has gotten used to it...it's my turn to wonder until when i shud continue to do so.

Anyone knows when will babies drop these 'arms flailing/jerking" reflex so that they will not hit themselves anymore? I guess only then i can stop swaddling her, i reckon.
 
We stopped swaddling my son at around 4 months , as he didn't like being tied up and brought up such a racket - but before that he was OK with swaddling. I noticed the Moro reflex pretty much stopped at around 5 months, tho at 4 you should start seeing less and less of it. When they discover the delights of rolling over , I daresay you won't be able to "tie" her down anymore !!!
 
i swaddled my baby till she was 8 months old! now she's 9 months old and prefers to have one arm out or doesn't even need any swaddling when i put her to sleep. i see no harm in it for as long as the baby needs/wants it. sometimes even adults like to pull the blanket up to their neck, putting it tightly around their body...
 
i must be really bizarre! i stopped swaddling my baby at 2 months old just because she hated having her hands wrapped up and would struggle to get them out, and eventually wake herself up trying to do so...so, moro reflexes didn't wake her up struggling with the blanket did! What I did was use a tight blanket to just wrap her feet and let her hands move freely. I would just put her down to sleep when she was drowsy and not fully asleep so she would learn to put herself to sleep. Initially she took 15mins to sleep on her own, now at 3.5mths it takes about 5mins, now I don't wrap her legs, but use a sleeping pouch (the ones where you put the whole baby because you don't use blankets in case they suffocate themselves during the night) which is much easier. But, your baby must be able to put herself to sleep first before using that because the moro reflexes are more prominent when you use that since the movement of both hands and legs are not restricted.
 
hi there, found your post while 'surfing'... lots of babies sleep better swaddled. Some people swaddle up to 1yr and over.
I used a Peke Moe sleep sack to transition my boy. Some babies transition really easily but mine didn't, so we used the Peke Moe and it was wonderful, made it so easy.
you can google it (don't know how to do links and things sorry) all the best to you!
 
each child is different. we stopped swaddling ours at different times - one at 5 months, two at 6 months and one at 8 months. and we went straight into grobags after that.
 
I worried about swaddling too but then at around 8 months my daughter started to fight it so I knew it was then time to stop. I realised I'd spent alot of time worrying about swaddling being a habit I would have to break only for her to grow out of it herself and me to find something else to worry about! Your baby will let you know when it's time to sleep differently!
 
I find my 8 week old has to be swaddled at night but during day time naps he is happy not to be swaddled. His arms don't seem to flail and jerk about during the day as much as they do at night.

But I can't wait to get rid of the dreaded swaddle as I'm useless at wrapping and have resorted to a swaddling blanket which has a pocket and velcro to hold it tight.
 
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