# Do/Did you swaddle your newborn at night?



## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

A thread over in Birth and Beyond that I daresay'll get moved here got me wondering about the logistics of this.

Oh yeah, context, someone elsewhere mentioned that co-sleeping ended up not working for their family because it was necessary to unswaddle the baby for nursing, and then reswaddle so the baby could sleep. So I thought I'd ask those who *did* make things work how they did it.


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## nubianamy (Jul 6, 2005)

Nope. I'd planned to, but she wouldn't stand for it -- she struggled and kicked. Maybe I was doing it wrong, but she has always liked to sleep on her own, with room to stretch out. We still do FB, though.


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## 2babybees (May 7, 2005)

I swaddled with dd. For the first few months it was the only way I could get her to sleep. She never ever nursed to sleep! Nursing seemed to energize/stimulate her. Swaddling was the only thing that help her get into the deeper sleep. But with ds I rarely to never did it. He was content enough to sleep in my arms or nestled against me. And he continued to be a much sounder/better sleeper than his sis ever was.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

Nope. DD never liked being squished or restrained in any way.

-Angela


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## 425lisamarie (Mar 4, 2005)

DS didn't like it at all. DD liked to be wrapped but not really swaddled like all smooshed. Both of them love to be under blankets though


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## jenn72 (Feb 21, 2007)

We did a semi-swaddle - ds slept better when swaddled from the waist down. His arms had to be free.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Second question, how'd nursing work out while they're swaddled if you did?


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## lah7 (Dec 31, 2006)

I swaddled all three of the babies. They slept so well that way. And I just nursed the little baby burrito while they were next to me.

They usually worked their way out of the swaddling in the middle of the night and I didn't reswaddle at that point.


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## lemurmommies (Jan 15, 2007)

My DS *hated* to be swaddled. Hated it. So after the three days we spent in the hospital, he was never swaddled again.

I had even got this great swaddling blanket as a gift... we never used it. Oh well, maybe my next DC will like swaddling...


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## 2bluefish (Apr 27, 2006)

I still swaddle my 7 month old when he gets out of control and can't settle to nurse. You have to have a bigger blanket (not those tiny receiving blankets) - some stretch is nice. You have to do it tight, so they can't wiggle and kick out of it. I really don't know how I could manage without swaddling. It has been such a life-saver with my high need babies.


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## 2bluefish (Apr 27, 2006)

PS often it's the arms I need to swaddle, not so much the legs. DS *hated* the car seat and the swing until I discovered that I could settle him by swaddling his arms.


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## ryansma (Sep 6, 2006)

We did but only for the first 2 months and only at the start of the night. After he was 2 months old I felt like he was too big and was sleeping better without it so we stopped.


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## KrystalC (Aug 1, 2006)

No, my son hated it.


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## staceychev (Mar 5, 2005)

We swaddled Lucy. She comes from a long line of sleepwalkers, and so was an active sleeper from almost day one!







Swaddling her kept her from flinging her arms around and waking herself up. She also comes from a long line of barefooters, though, and lost patience with a full swaddle pretty quickly. By month 2, we had moved to the half swaddle like the mommy who posted before me, but we actually left her bottom half unswaddled instead.

Breastfeeding was never an issue. Just roll the baby-burrito towards Mom and latch!


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## Ex Libris (Jan 31, 2004)

I tried it with ds, but I quickly found out that it made him too hot (he got all sweaty). You could always try it and see what happens.


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## Jude Rose (Jul 7, 2006)

swaddling with a kiddopotamus saved us!
we tried swaddling with regular blankets but they kept escaping and we figured they were really attached to having their arms free. but our friend with an older baby told us to try it and what a difference! they started sleeping much more soundly and stopped waking themselves up with the startle reflex in the middle of the night.


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## daniedb (Aug 8, 2004)

Swaddled Henry til he was almost 5 months old, he LOVED it. Wouldn't have been able to sleep w/o it. However, he hated cosleeping and was in his own crib. Swaddled Ben until he was about a month, he would just worm his way out within 5 minutes, so I quit, esp. at night. He loves cosleeping. He also loves to suck (which Henry didn't really care so much about), so he's needed his hands free since he found his thumb at 10 weeks.


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## ATruck (Mar 6, 2006)

We stopped swaddling when she was about 2 weeks old. She didn't seem to mind not being swaddled, and she wanted her arms free. I'd swaddle if I thought my baby needed/liked it, but since she didn't care, I'd rather not.


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## myhoneyswife (Apr 30, 2005)

Swaddled her with her arms out when she was tiny, which she'd work her way out of during the night. I kept her under the covers and next to me anyway, she had a hard time regulating her temp until about 6+ weeks. For a while I had to swaddle her every time I fed her, arms in, or else she'd spend the whole time pulling the boob out of her mouth. I don't think she realized what she was doing, and it was irritating for both of us. This is a pic of her at about 2 months when I'd swaddle her before she'd eat... she loved being swaddled because eating came next! If she gets overstimulated and fussy I'll still swaddle her (5.5 months) but hardly ever.


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## NamastePlatypus (Jan 22, 2007)

Lil amn hated it since day one, no help here.


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## NewAtThis (Jan 9, 2006)

dd still sleeps swaddled, at nearly 7 months. It is the only way to keep her asleep as she is still quite the startle-y type. She can wriggle out of it if she wants to, so I know it isn't too constraining, and it's the swaddleme, which is loose around her legs and hips.
I know some people don't swaddle because they say their babes don't like it, but with dd, it's not like she settled down and drifted off as soon as she was swaddled. It just helped her stay asleep once she fell asleep.
So at bedtime, we swaddle her, I nurse her to sleep, and then lay her down. It works great for us!


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## gabry (Jan 21, 2004)

Yep, ds2 did/doesn't nurse to sleep and is forever flapping his arms waking himself up. The last few weeks the swaddle can be a little looser, and he sometimes stays asleep even after wriggling his arms out.
Sometimes when he's restless/fussy, we can just hold him in a swaddle and he'll be calmly looking around, wide awake.
I can't nurse him swaddled;we use a big blanket with a "hood" and it gets in the way. He's also too restless when nursing


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## sunshine's mama (Mar 3, 2007)

I tried to...even got the special blanket to do so and she was a little Houdini....one arm would always make it out and then a foot somehow....she hated it eventually and got to a point where after nursing, she would just konk out in a milk coma and I would lay her down in the basket until I went to bed.....she still sleeps soundly at almost 3.....knock on wood...


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## wombatclay (Sep 4, 2005)

We swaddled dd into a baby burrito for about two months. Nursing wasn't hard...in fact, it was easier for us to nurse swaddled at first since I had more control (dd's arms would go EVERYWHERE and she kept trying to "push" off the breast when unswaddled).

After the first two months though dd really didn't like anything covering her legs (not even a sleep sack sort of thing...she'd kick and kick till her legs were free). She thankfully outgrew that before the weather got too cold and now actually prefers to have at least her feet covered while sleeping.

But the baby burrito phase was a cute one.


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## SandraS (Jan 18, 2007)

Never swaddled any of my three - unwrapped the burritos the moment they were handed to me and never did it again. I should add they were tummy sleepers from birth, so swaddling wouldn't have worked anyways...


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## Midwitch (Feb 17, 2007)

I swaddled my daughter the first 16 weeks because she had colic. Swaddling made it possible to get her to sleep at night.


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## aprilbaby06 (Jan 21, 2006)

I swaddled dd from birth till about four months. It helped her to stay asleep. It seemed that she startled herselp awake often if she wasn't swaddled. Nursing was never and issue if while she was swaddled. She nursed just fine swaddled or not.


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## Midwitch (Feb 17, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *aprilbaby06* 
I swaddled dd from birth till about four months. It helped her to stay asleep. It seemed that she startled herselp awake often if she wasn't swaddled. *Nursing was never and issue if while she was swaddled. She nursed just fine swaddled or not*.

Ditto- no problem breastfeeding swaddled.


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## ani'smommy (Nov 29, 2005)

We swaddled until DD decided she didn't like it. How would swaddling affect nursing?


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