Happiest Baby swaddling - am I doing it wrong?

[kathleen_mary]

My five week old seems very restless when she sleeps. If we don't swaddle her, she sleeps in her bassinet for only a short period of time - 20 minutes or so? I've co-slept a little bit, but in researching it a little bit, I don't really think we have the safest set up for that, especially now that she's starting to turn herself over (but can't turn back). I usually wear her in a wrap for most of the day, and breast feed her whenever she's hungry, not on a schedule. She sleeps a lot in the wrap during the day.

Recently she started getting that fitful, colicky kind of crying in the evenings, so we read the Happiest Baby on the Block. The 5 S's really seemed to work, but with swaddling, she really, really fights it at first. Then she settles down and will sleep for a solid four to five hour stretch.

But what to do on the nights that she's not crying, but we still want her to go to bed? I started doing a warm bath/massage, dim the lights routine, and she'll fall asleep but won't stay asleep. So I tried to put her in the swaddle, but then she really cries and fights it before finally settling down. It's one thing to swaddle her up when she's already crying, but when she's not and the swaddle makes her cry, I feel terrible!

Anyone else use this method? Is there something about swaddling that I'm missing?

[cristeen]

Where are her arms in the swaddle? Most babies object to having their arms pinned at their sides like many swaddling 'experts' suggest. They tend to prefer to have them crossed on their chest. But if your LO is particularly active with her hands, she may not like having them pinned at all. This is my little guy, he loves to have his body/legs swaddled, but if I swaddle him to his shoulders he screams bloody murder and thrashes until he works his arms loose. But if he was already screaming, a full swaddle could help him calm down.

Have you tried a sleep sack?

I'll also say that right around 6 weeks my LO started refusing the bassinet. He's almost 3 months now and it's sitting unused because as soon as I put him in it he's awake within 10 minutes. I never did figure out why, and it didn't matter if he was swaddled or not. So you may need to figure out a different sleep situation for him.

[Shanny2032]

As a Nanny I have been known for saving sleep depried parents when coming over around the 4 week mark and swaddling their babies! Some of them would be swaddled for months after that. Then along came my own who would not swaddle if our lives depended on it (I swear some nights it DID depend on it!). She just never settled so I tok that as the difference. I would comtinue to swaddle and maybe like pp suggested try out some different arm options, or even different blankets.

[oliesmama]

We just read and watched the Happiest Baby DVD (checked both out from the local library) - seeing how Dr. Karp swaddles (vs. just reading about it) was really helpful. Especially the part about only putting a small amount of the blanket down on the second "Down" of the Down Up Down Up technique.

Also, are you immediately putting your baby on her side and shooshing right after swaddling? I'm no expert - again, only watched the DVD last night, but that seemed to really help - getting all 5 Ss going at once.

Last night, I found white noise was the piece that really helped extend sleep. We use the sound of a hair dryer from a white noise CD (did the same for our first child) - we keep it on repeat so there is a constant loop of sound.

good luck!!

[writteninkursive]

If baby is used to sleeping snuggled against you all day long and nursing at will, it makes sense that she is having difficulty laying down and going to sleep on her own.

I have a 3-month-old son who absolutely would not be swaddled, but has to have his legs elevated to sleep. We put him on the couch to sleep and tuck a pillow under his legs. When he sleeps with us in bed, I have my knee bent against his butt and under his legs to keep them elevated. But if we lay him down without anything under his legs, there is no way he will sleep. Look for little quirks like that and see if you can accommodate. (He also likes to hear the sound of my breathing while he's sleeping and if I sneak out of bed, he sometimes wakes up until I breathe rhythmically in his ear again).

I had one kid who was a mobile-addict. Once we introduced her to the mobile, she was so engrossed in it that she would fall asleep watching it. (She had a mobile until she was 20 months old and ripped it down!)

I had one kid who was a noise junkie. She had to have a fan right by her head to sleep and there couldn't be any light at all. Not even a nightlight.

Kids are all just different and quirky. None of mine have liked swaddling. My oldest wouldn't even wear the sleepsacks with no feet in them. She would kick and scream until we let her sprawl out. And our bassinet, as pretty as it is, has never seen more than 2 hours of sleep at any time, for any of our three kids. Being laid flat is something two of my three hate.