Swaddle Saga
One of the best things M. and I got from watching the Happiest Baby on the Block DVD was that sometimes you need to swaddle your baby even if they're saying "no", because your the parent and as the parent, you know that being wrapped up tight is what they need.
Finn needs to be swaddled. Finn HATES being swaddled. We swaddle him for bed every night and every night his little arms fly everywhere as I struggle to wrap the Miracle Blanket around him.
The latest development is that the Miracle Blanket is getting too small, and Finn has become the world's most talented Swaddle Escape Artist. Instead of being woken for his 2 am feeding by the usual little hungry whines, tonight I was woken by the sounds of sucking coming from the co-sleeper. Sure enough, our boy had once again escaped. There was Mr. Houdini with a tiny fist stuck in his mouth and the one leg that had also managed to free itself from the tangles of the Miracle Blanket kicking happily around. Cute as can be, even at 2 am.
We're moving to the double swaddle. We bought a used pillow case to convert into a swaddle blanket and will do that along with one of our Swaddleme wraps. We'll see if that will contain the escape artist.
posted by Sacha @ 2:22 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Hi
If Finn likes to suck on his hand you could always try a sleeping bag as it still keeps them wrapped up but does allow movement of the arms. Our little girl still uses one and she is two. It means they don't lose covers and is very safe for them to sleep in as it doesn't allow overheating as long as they only wear the recommended clothing for the room temperature underneath. Our little one was swaddled but we moved into growbags as soon as she was about 10lbs which i think was about two months.
If he's found his hands and sucks them for comfort, you may want to consider swaddling him with one hand out or with one arm bent so that he can get to his fist.
My son was the same way, he NEEDED the swaddle, until very recently (almost 6 months). But once he was a thumb-sucker, he needed one hand out.
For us, the ability to self-soothe was worth the initial pain of not being totally swaddled.
Our doula showed us what we called the "straitjacket swaddle", using two baby blankets, the inside one just to "pin" the arms. Sounds medieval but it really worked! Plus, we always finished the wrap off with a little duct tape. We'd introduce her as "our larvae". Wahhh, they grow up so fast!
(I've been gone forever and am trying to catch up on your archives...Finn is so byootiful! I am so thrilled for you!!)
(p.s. I'm at www.acharmedlife.typepad.com, in case you didn't remember who this was! I don't know why it doesn't hyperlink to the name anymore.)
They actually recommend that if the baby can get out of the swaddling that it's time to move them to the bunting bags as I call them. They are great and Riley loves them.
When DS outgrew his miracle blanket, we stopped putting his feet in the pocket and swaddled just his arms, then put him in a sleep sack, which kept his legs warm. He finally outgrew the need to be swaddled when he was over 5 months old!
We stopped swaddling at about five months because of the escaping and moved to the sleep sack which we still use at 10 months (almost). We love it!
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