Swaddling

[mimid]

Does it seem like your preemies like swaddling more than a term babe? A lot of peoplr I talk to IRL tell me their babe doen't like it, but my girls will sleep lightly (15-20 minutes) and wake themselves up until they get swaddled. I'm wondering if it is somehting preemie related or just my girls or if these other poeple aren't letting their babes really choose. (Sometimes they will continue to cry because they get so worked up and it seems liek they hate it, but once they calm down, they just fall asleep.) My sis is the only person I know who says her daughter liked to be swaddled.

[wonderwahine]

ds LOVED to be swaddled, when he wasnt swaddled he screamed. he never liked his hands swaddled with him as a newborn, but as he got older he couldnt sleep or nurse without distracting himself or waking himself up with the startle reflex, so we started putting his arms in. He only stopped starting off the night swaddled about a month ago. He choose how long it went on, when he didnt want it on at night it was on loose enough for him to get out of it.

[mimid]

Great! I always put them down unswaddled and then if they wake up right away and are fussy I swaddle and they go back to sleep. Sometimes they'll nad w/o but rarely. I figure this way I would know if they didn't want or need it anymore. I'm just starting to get the whole "bad for the hips" stuff from people, too.

[Ellie'sMom]

I think it just depends on the baby's personality. One of my twins made it clear that he was done with swaddling at about 4 months. The other is still swaddled for naps at 10 months. I don't know when we'll give it up since it is the only way I know to get him down easily for a nap. I swaddle him, give him his paci, wind up his mobile and usually he goes right to sleep. I nurse his twin to sleep. They were full term, btw.

[munkeesmama]

My dd HAS to be swaddled at night. she'll take naps during the dasy unswaddled but not for long times. My full term babies didn't like it much past the hospital stay. I think their nervous systems are still preamture past when a full term babies is.

[BethLS]

It's saving my sanity!

My preemie (5lbs 3 ounces now, was born 2lbs 2 ounces) looooves to be swaddled. Infact, like another poster said, if you dont, they do not sleep as well. Mine doesn't sleep at all unless swaddled

I bought one of those SwaddleMe things, and it was the best 9.99 at Babies R Us I ever spent

Now if that is in the wash, a thin blanket will do just fine. But unfortunately I suck at doing it manually...so I inlist DH to do it. He's an excellent swaddler

[mimid]

I suck without the Swaddleme, too. DH isn't that much better. This morning I'm snuggled between Chaya and Shira and dh has Batya nd she is screaming. She usually goes right back to sleep after the 6 am bottle. But he comes to me and says that she's been screaming for an hour and he can't get her to burp and he needs to go, yada, yada, yada. : So I take her and he has swaddled her with her arms out! I ask why and he says he thought she would like some freedom. So I re-swaddle her, put her head in my neck and shush her and she goes to sleep right away. I told hime he likes freedom but right now she needs to be tightly swaddled.

[sweetpeasmom]

she started to hate it after awhile, she would squirm and squirm till she was unswaddled and then was happy as a clam.

[Shelsi]

My ds was full term and was a total swaddle-addict He was swaddled for naps and at night until he was 7 mos old and then just for naps until he was 9 mos old. It was the only way he would sleep. Like the pp, I worried about when it would ever end and how I would get him to sleep without it but he let me know when he was ready and it was a fairly smooth transition.

[Valian]

My preemie didn't love swaddling. His hands had to be out so he could have them next to his ears. In the hospital we swaddled but we couldn't around his billi blanket so we pretty much stopped within the first week. Around 2.5 or 3mo we swaddled with hands tucked in for a few weeks but that only worked early in the night. In the early am he wanted his hands back out. I forget when we stopped doing it but swaddling was a very short phase in life for us.

Its funnny but I attributed Ds not liking the swaddle to being preemie. I thought maybe it didn't feel crowded in the womb for him so he wasn't comforted by being confined.

[usolyfan]

Swaddling

My dd is seven months old and still swaddled for naps and night time. We have tried several times to put her to sleep in a sleep sac or just swaddled below the arms and she can't sleep. She still startles herself and ends up scared and crying. I read that a number of countries (not U.S.) swaddle their babies through the first year. Thus said we will continue to do so as long as dd needs it. (We have had to purchase larger receiving blankets on ebay because she weighs 18 pounds now and doesn't stay in the standard size anymore.)

[mimid]

That's my thought on the matter. They usually fall asleep for at least 1 nap unswaddled each day and end up waking up early and crying until they get swaddled and go back to sleep. I figure this means they still need it and don't worry too much. We need to get some bigger wraps or blankets. Shira is just about too big for the Swaddle Me. We also have 1 Miracle Blanket. But since Chaya and Batya are getting clost to being too big, I need to plan on sizing up. I was trying to wait and see if they would outgrow it, but it isn't looking like it.

[jenmparrott]

My preemie has to be swaddled at least 4 times a day due to oversensitivity to surroundings. He just gets so upset and the only way to calm him is to swaddle. The said it was common and he may have to be swaddled until he is 12 months actual age.

Jennifer