it's his Hands that wake him up (7months)

[JordanKX]

This is what we're experiencing right now when trying to go to sleep...
I put him down with a bottle, he won't take more than a few sips. He's snuggly, his breathing's changed. I remove bottle, change out pacifier, LEAVE bottle in his hands because he'll freak out if it's not there to grab. And then right before he fully goes to sleep, his hands start going crazy. Trying to grab the bottle, claw the bottle, rub the bottle. Eyes closed. Crazy hands.

If I take the bottle away, either prior to this point or right now, he'll just reach for whatever he can... a toy, me, His Head. Last night he had nothing within grabbing distance, even me, and he just started bonking himself on the head with a closed fist.

Um, this is craziness.

IF i can get his hand in my hand, I can normally hold it down for the whole 10 seconds before he falls asleep. But if I can't stop it... he wakes up. Eyes open. Start the whole "falling asleep process" all over again.
This is now how he goes back down in the middle of the night too. We co-sleep so I've been grabbing him and just wrapping my arms around him til he stops fighting me.
This is why I know swaddling would never work. He fought it like crazy as an infant, would make him insanely mad right now.

Anyone else have this? The crazy arms/hands at 7 months?
Any ideas? Aside from swaddling him, I dunno what to do.

[cristeen]

Yup - my guy's been like this all along though, it's not new.

I generally lay him on his side, which pins the down-side arm, and then if I can take the upper arm and drape it over his eyes and hold it there, it speeds up the sleep process. If he's still fighting me, I let him go and wait a minute and try again... but he will usually put his arm there himself if he's close enough to sleep, it's just my way of encouraging him to sleep while pinning his arm.

[staceychev]

I'm not averse to swaddling babes that age. With DD, we did a partial swaddle of just her upper body. It kept her flailing hands from waking her, but her feet were free.

[phathui5]

Even though he didn't like swaddling earlier, it wouldn't hurt to try it again.

[Truckerdoo]

I would worry about swaddling a baby that old, can't he roll over? Does he do so in his sleep? I stopped swaddling mine when I found him face down in his crib one day :-Z