Spazz Hands

[Straggletag]

I'm getting clawed to ribbons by my 1mo. We keep her nails trimmed, but can't keep mitts on her and have failed to swaddle her in such a fashion that she can't get her hands free. She's usually a calm little one, not prone to fussing or crying. Nevertheless, when she gets going, she relentlessly rakes her nails on me and there doesn't seem to be anything we can do about it. Our 3yo was quite the crier at this stage, but never a scratcher.

I don't think our LO has any real control of her hands and arms yet. When she's hungry and I'm trying to put her to the breast, more often than not she gets so desperate or excited that her hands get in the way, she pushes my breast all over the place, and scratched me raw in her attempts to get my nipple to her mouth. I try to hold her upper hand while we latch, but that gets her really riled, and it's rarely successful, she uses all her strength to keep trying.

I figure she'll grow out of it, but it's driving me nuts right now and is behind her only prolonged crying.

[cileag]

My baby girl is the same way and what I've found works is that gowns/sleeper mitts stay on but the mitten ones never do.

[Bokonon]

Have you tried the Miracle Blanket for swaddling, and/or socks as mitts? Those were helpful for me.

[zebramama]

Miracle, indeed!

We have a definite spazz hands on our hands too. The Miracle Blanket saved us; he couldn't escape it the first few months. Truthfully, we're still swaddling him at 7 months because he still wakes himself up with the spazz hands and is a dificult enough sleeper as it is. Up until just recently, he actually smiled at us when we swaddle him at night because he knew it helped him sleep. The Miracle Blanket still contains him through half the night, and we're just starting to transition out of it.

[Auraji]

My dd is like that too, she's 7 months today. She used to scratch more, now she grabs and pulls more. I never really did anything, but cut her nails twice a week and that was always quite the adventure.

She HATED to have her hands covered, so I gave up on that very quickly. She's learning to be more gentle and careful. I let her now that she hurts mommy whenever she does and gently remove her from the breast.

[Chamomile Girl]

My kidlet does this too. I have found that side nursing is really helpful because he has to lay on one arm and the other cannot easily reach the one boob I have uncovered. Nursing sitting up while holding him is much more difficult, especially if he is tired. It has gotton to the point where, if he is tired, he will stop nursing and cry until I lay him down, so I think it must be more relaxing for him as well.

Oh, and keep as much skin covered as you can.

[gossamerwindweb]

Henry pinches... it is quite lovely

The freaking out and flailing arms.. he does that at night, which is why he is still swaddled at night. He wakes himself up by flailing his arms around.

[Straggletag]

Hmm, miracle blanket? I'll have to look into that. We've always just used receiving blankets, but it hasn't worked as well with the newborn as it did with our first. I hadn't looked into sleeping gowns with mitts, mostly because the LO lives in swaddling blankets and would overheat with an additional layer.