How quickly I forgot what a challenge (but joy!) the early weeks of a new baby are. Did you keep swaddling your baby even if they bust out? It does seem to help but I feel badly sometimes. What about when they are wide awake after a middle of night feed- no interest in being swaddled or rocked back to sleep? I do the usual- dark room, no talking etc but he is simply awake. I returned to bed at 2:30am last night after a 12:15 am bottle! Thanks!
Hello new mummy!
My youngest is 4 months old and she still sleeps swaddled... I remember in the fisrt couple of months when she was wide awake in the middle of the night! This shall pass... patience :)
I have a 3-week-old baby and two toddlers. I swaddled all of them at bedtime consistantly (for 5-6 months in the case of the older ones). My 3-week-old surprisingly seems to get out of his swaddle already (he shouldn't be able to do so for a couple of months). I'm probably rusty on the swaddling skills, but I have also found a tight swaddle per The Happiest Baby on the Block method (I second this book recommendation) and then a Swaddle Me or other Velcro swaddling blanket on top will keep babies in the swaddle longer. The Swaddle Me alone never contained my kids (it's too stretchy, and the Velcro is only in specific places, so I couldn't get the blanket tight enough). Also make sure your swaddling blanket is large enough (www.eieiobabygear.com for a good blanket).
About the swaddling - kiddopotamus makes a great swaddling blanket that velcroes shut. They sell them at Babies r us and probably target and walmart too. I used them with my daughter and they kept her nice and bundled up. They sell for anywhere between $10 and $20. Good luck!
I swaddled my daughter for the first 5 months, progressing ultimately to the Miracle Blanket which works like a charm. It really made her feel secure and helped her sleep.
I would advise you to read the happiest baby on the block. However for now if you email me at ____@____.com, I will send you instructions on how to swaddle your baby and it explains how tight to do it so that they can not bust out. They should be swaddled with the arms down until at least 3months according to Dr Harvey Karp.
I have 3 year old and a 3 week old, so we are in the same boat! My new baby does not enjoy being swaddled all the time. Sometimes I do swaddle him only when i feel he is overly tired and wont calm down on his own, the blanket and pacy usually do the trick. There is no rule that says you have to swaddle, it's simply to make the baby feel secure like he is in the womb. But my new son loves to have his arms up by his face. As for the wide awake at night, mine does the same thing!! I don't think there is anything you can do to make them go back to sleep fast, besides what your doing. I think you have to just keep it calm and quiet and let them fall asleep on their own. Babies have the worst sleep patterns, good luck, I hope we both start getting some sleep!!
I am going to be a new mom in a few months myself, I am around two months, and these are some of the things I am not looking foward to, lol. So any advice would do me good as well, lol.
But what I can think of right off the back, from when I used to babysit these six adorable little kids and babies accross the street from me, is have some soft music playing, or like ocean sounds, you know something relaxing. Maybe rub their tummy or back, which ever they prefer.
I was never a very good swaddler, so I'm not going to be much help on that one, but if the baby's wide awake in the middle of the night, there's not much you can do about it at this point. Even the room darkening, no talking stuff won't help for a while until the little one gets his/her days and nights straight, and that might take a couple more weeks. So if sitting in the dark is driving you crazy, go ahead and watch a little terrible middle of the night TV. Of course, if you'd rather just hang out, that's fine too. Good luck!
Congratulation J. on your newest family member!
I could never master the swaddle w/ my daughter; what I found really worked great was the kiddopotamus swaddling blanket which another member mentioned below...I bought a few I liked them so much...fleece for the winter months and cotton for the warmer weather. Now that my daughter is a year old I have graduated to the Halo Sleepsack...her arms are free which now she prefers.
Good luck and hang in there...now that my daughter is 1 year old I find myself looking back at those sleepless nights almost missing how small and dependant on my she was...enjoy!
