Sleep - swaddling, side sleeping

DD is 6 weeks now, and though she does sleep at night in 3 hr
stretches, her sleep is very agitated, much more so than in the
daytime. She twitches and kicks. I've tried swaddling her, but she's
*hates* it with a passion. She shrieks blood curdling screams until she
kicks herself out of it. I thought babies were supposed to like being
swaddled? We tried again last night and I held her til she calmed down,
then as soon as I laid her down again she kicked (but didn't scream)
til she loosened it enough to get her arms and feet out. I confess that
being slightly claustrophobic myself, as well as DH, we have a hard
time forcing it. Anyoen else have a baby who refuses to be swaddled?
She was almost always swaddled when in hospital (once she was stable
enough to be moved, about day 8-17), and she seemed to do ok, but not
now.

So, after that I fed her laying down and she fell asleep on her side
and I moved her to her sleeper (she sleeps in a co-sleeper in the
middle of our bed) in that position. Normally I put her on her back.
But on her side she slept so peacefully for 3 hrs - no twitching, no
wheezing (often a problem on her back even tho her head is slightly
elevated), no kicking. I know tummy sleeping is a SIDS no-no, I thought
side sleeping was also off limits for the same reason, is that true? I
don't want to take risks with that, but clearly lying on her back just
makes her uncomfortable!


And please tell me I'm not the only mom whose kid doesn't sleep through
the night by 6 weeks! On another board it seems every kid is sleeping
10-12 hrs in a stretch by then. I'm lucky to get 3 hrs from her.

cjra wrote:
DD is 6 weeks now, and though she does sleep at night in 3 hr
stretches, her sleep is very agitated, much more so than in the
daytime. She twitches and kicks. I've tried swaddling her, but she's
*hates* it with a passion. She shrieks blood curdling screams until
she kicks herself out of it. I thought babies were supposed to like
being swaddled? We tried again last night and I held her til she
calmed down, then as soon as I laid her down again she kicked (but
didn't scream) til she loosened it enough to get her arms and feet
out. I confess that being slightly claustrophobic myself, as well as
DH, we have a hard time forcing it. Anyoen else have a baby who
refuses to be swaddled? She was almost always swaddled when in
hospital (once she was stable enough to be moved, about day 8-17),
and she seemed to do ok, but not now.

So, after that I fed her laying down and she fell asleep on her side
and I moved her to her sleeper (she sleeps in a co-sleeper in the
middle of our bed) in that position. Normally I put her on her back.
But on her side she slept so peacefully for 3 hrs - no twitching, no
wheezing (often a problem on her back even tho her head is slightly
elevated), no kicking. I know tummy sleeping is a SIDS no-no, I
thought side sleeping was also off limits for the same reason, is
that true? I don't want to take risks with that, but clearly lying on
her back just makes her uncomfortable!


And please tell me I'm not the only mom whose kid doesn't sleep
through the night by 6 weeks! On another board it seems every kid is
sleeping 10-12 hrs in a stretch by then. I'm lucky to get 3 hrs from
her.

First of all, I think the norm for 6 weeks is to not be sleeping through the
night. 6 weeks is still very new. I think side sleeping is okay, and
clearly your child responds better to that position than on their backs. I
swaddled Addie until she was 5+ months old, and always laid her on her side,
and she slept much more soundly and a bit longer than without the swaddle.
Addie always woke herself up as well, with the kicking, punching and
twitching, and just didn't sleep as soundly, until we swaddled her.

My understanding on the swaddling is that you have to do it really tightly
so that they cannot kick/wiggle out of it. Maybe because you and dh are
claustrophobic, you are not swaddling her as tightly as you could be. Being
able to wriggle free each time has taught her that the more she moves and
wriggles, she will eventually break free. If you can use a larger blanket,
or double them up, and really swaddle her tightly, so that she cannot break
free, no matter how she wiggles, she will (hopefully) eventually stop
fighting it. Since we swaddled Addie so long, she got bigger and bigger and
a regular receiving blanket didn't work any longer. So we switched to the
Miracle Blanket, which worked much better. It's got funny wing shaped
peices and is almost 5 feet long from tip to tip, so it really helps to keep
baby swaddled.
--

Jamie
Earth Angels:
Taylor Marlys, 1/3/03
Addison Grace, 9/30/04

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cjra writes:

: And please tell me I'm not the only mom whose kid doesn't sleep through
: the night by 6 weeks! On another board it seems every kid is sleeping
: 10-12 hrs in a stretch by then. I'm lucky to get 3 hrs from her.

Clara did nto sleep through the night until she was 3. YEARS!
Until she was two, she would wake to nurse at least 2 time a night.

Niel was sleeping through the night by the time he was 2.

Larry

DD is 6 weeks now, and though she does sleep at night in 3 hr
stretches, her sleep is very agitated, much more so than in the
daytime. She twitches and kicks. I've tried swaddling her, but she's
*hates* it with a passion. She shrieks blood curdling screams until she
kicks herself out of it. I thought babies were supposed to like being
swaddled? We tried again last night and I held her til she calmed down,
then as soon as I laid her down again she kicked (but didn't scream)
til she loosened it enough to get her arms and feet out. I confess that
being slightly claustrophobic myself, as well as DH, we have a hard
time forcing it. Anyoen else have a baby who refuses to be swaddled?
She was almost always swaddled when in hospital (once she was stable
enough to be moved, about day 8-17), and she seemed to do ok, but not
now.

I think swaddling is something that _can_ help, I never tried it with either
of mine, my first in particular was very wriggly, so I suspect he would have
disliked being restrained, he slept 3hr stretches at that age, which I
didn't see as anything out of the ordinary, so felt no need to try anything
like swaddling. I think there is a lot of difference between 8-17 days and 6
weeks, something that helped then may be horrible now, it's possible that it
also gives unhappy memories for her.

So, after that I fed her laying down and she fell asleep on her side
and I moved her to her sleeper (she sleeps in a co-sleeper in the
middle of our bed) in that position. Normally I put her on her back.
But on her side she slept so peacefully for 3 hrs - no twitching, no
wheezing (often a problem on her back even tho her head is slightly
elevated), no kicking. I know tummy sleeping is a SIDS no-no, I thought
side sleeping was also off limits for the same reason, is that true? I
don't want to take risks with that, but clearly lying on her back just
makes her uncomfortable!

I don't think there is any clear answers on this, I know several people who
have let their babies side sleep but with a rolled blanket or something to
prop them and prevent them rolling on to their tummies.


And please tell me I'm not the only mom whose kid doesn't sleep through
the night by 6 weeks! On another board it seems every kid is sleeping
10-12 hrs in a stretch by then. I'm lucky to get 3 hrs from her.

no you are not the only one, even my 2nd who most would consider to have
been a very good sleeper and reliable feeder was waking about that often
then, remember that this is an area where there is a difference between
formula fed babies and breastfed babies, what are people doing on the other
board, you may find they are formula feeding and practicing a parenting
style you are not comfortable with.

Have you looked at "the happiest baby on the block", I've heard it's good
for tips on comforting and soothing babies, I've not seen it myself, but at
the recommendation of people on misc.kids.breastfeeding I bought it for a
friend (and had it mailed direct to her, so no chance to get a peek), who
thanked me immensly and claimed it was a lifesaver/godsend.

Anne

Anne Rogers wrote:
DD is 6 weeks now, and though she does sleep at night in 3 hr
stretches, her sleep is very agitated, much more so than in the
daytime. She twitches and kicks. I've tried swaddling her, but she's
*hates* it with a passion. She shrieks blood curdling screams until she
kicks herself out of it. I thought babies were supposed to like being
swaddled? We tried again last night and I held her til she calmed down,
then as soon as I laid her down again she kicked (but didn't scream)
til she loosened it enough to get her arms and feet out. I confess that
being slightly claustrophobic myself, as well as DH, we have a hard
time forcing it. Anyoen else have a baby who refuses to be swaddled?
She was almost always swaddled when in hospital (once she was stable
enough to be moved, about day 8-17), and she seemed to do ok, but not
now.

I think swaddling is something that _can_ help, I never tried it with either
of mine, my first in particular was very wriggly, so I suspect he would have
disliked being restrained, he slept 3hr stretches at that age, which I
didn't see as anything out of the ordinary, so felt no need to try anything
like swaddling. I think there is a lot of difference between 8-17 days and 6
weeks, something that helped then may be horrible now, it's possible that it
also gives unhappy memories for her.

So, after that I fed her laying down and she fell asleep on her side
and I moved her to her sleeper (she sleeps in a co-sleeper in the
middle of our bed) in that position. Normally I put her on her back.
But on her side she slept so peacefully for 3 hrs - no twitching, no
wheezing (often a problem on her back even tho her head is slightly
elevated), no kicking. I know tummy sleeping is a SIDS no-no, I thought
side sleeping was also off limits for the same reason, is that true? I
don't want to take risks with that, but clearly lying on her back just
makes her uncomfortable!

I don't think there is any clear answers on this, I know several people who
have let their babies side sleep but with a rolled blanket or something to
prop them and prevent them rolling on to their tummies.


And please tell me I'm not the only mom whose kid doesn't sleep through
the night by 6 weeks! On another board it seems every kid is sleeping
10-12 hrs in a stretch by then. I'm lucky to get 3 hrs from her.

no you are not the only one, even my 2nd who most would consider to have
been a very good sleeper and reliable feeder was waking about that often
then, remember that this is an area where there is a difference between
formula fed babies and breastfed babies, what are people doing on the other
board, you may find they are formula feeding and practicing a parenting
style you are not comfortable with.

Have you looked at "the happiest baby on the block", I've heard it's good
for tips on comforting and soothing babies, I've not seen it myself, but at
the recommendation of people on misc.kids.breastfeeding I bought it for a
friend (and had it mailed direct to her, so no chance to get a peek), who
thanked me immensly and claimed it was a lifesaver/godsend.

Anne

Hi there!

For us, there were several factors to get our little boy to sleep. Our
doc told us this:

Feed frequently in the daytime; if baby gets most of his calories in
the day, he won't be as likely to wake up in the night hungry. I always
nurse him just before putting him to bed, even if he just ate an hour
before.

Don't let baby nap for more than four hours at a time in the daytime.
They get one good stretch of sleep in 24 hours and ideally you want it
to be in the night.

But it was the swaddling that really did the trick. I always wrapped
him in the beginning, but not very tightly and he always wiggled out.
He seemed to wake himself up with his arms flailing around. He'd sleep
for three hours at night, tops.

But after reading "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and taking their
advice to wrap him tightly, the first night we did that (at about six
weeks) was the first night he slept for six hours straight. My
receiving blankets were not big enough, so I took two of them and
overlapped the edges to make one big blanket.

Did my boy like it? Nope, at first he yelled and squirmed when I'd wrap
him up tight in his baby straightjacket, pinning his arms to his sides.
But that didn't last long, because he'd quickly fall asleep.

Now he's four and a half months old and generally sleeps from 8:30 p.m.
till 6 or 7 a.m. He is exclusively breastfed, but he's a very large boy
which might have something to do with our success in the sleep
department. He was 10 pounds 8 ounces at birth, and at four months
weighed in at 21 pounds. I still swaddle him, although I'll probably
have to break him of it soon since he really doesn't sleep without it
(haven't tried much). He doesn't mind it at all now, seems to know that
when he gets wrapped up it's time for sleep. Doesn't ALWAYS work, but
95% of the time it does.

Good luck!

KD & G

cjra wrote:

So, after that I fed her laying down and she fell asleep on her side
and I moved her to her sleeper (she sleeps in a co-sleeper in the
middle of our bed) in that position. Normally I put her on her back.
But on her side she slept so peacefully for 3 hrs - no twitching, no
wheezing (often a problem on her back even tho her head is slightly
elevated), no kicking. I know tummy sleeping is a SIDS no-no, I thought
side sleeping was also off limits for the same reason, is that true? I
don't want to take risks with that, but clearly lying on her back just
makes her uncomfortable!

Side-sleeping is a no-no only because it increases the
likelihood that they'll roll to their bellies. If she stays
on her side, or if you prop her on her side so she can't roll,
it's not an issue as far as I understand it.

And please tell me I'm not the only mom whose kid doesn't sleep through
the night by 6 weeks! On another board it seems every kid is sleeping
10-12 hrs in a stretch by then. I'm lucky to get 3 hrs from her.

Oh, get real. That's either an incredible coincidence
or they're lying through their teeth if they're all claiming
their 6 week old babies are going 10-12 hours without waking ;-)
It happens, but it's rare.

Best wishes,
Ericka

cjra wrote:

snip

If your DD is comfortable side sleeping you can try that. Just make
sure you prop her in a way that she doesn't roll over on her tummy.
foam wedges may be able to help.

And please tell me I'm not the only mom whose kid doesn't sleep through
the night by 6 weeks! On another board it seems every kid is sleeping
10-12 hrs in a stretch by then. I'm lucky to get 3 hrs from her.

No you are not the only one. E still sleeps in 3 hr stretches ( up from
2 hrs) and she's 8 *months* old. :-)

PK

Xavier still woke 2 times a night til a year and did not sleep through the
night consistently until 14 months.

Bonnie was about the same.
Tori
And please tell me I'm not the only mom whose kid doesn't sleep through
the night by 6 weeks! On another board it seems every kid is sleeping
10-12 hrs in a stretch by then. I'm lucky to get 3 hrs from her.

Side sleeping was actually what was recommended after tummy and before
back (about 12 years ago, when Jake was a baby). You could buy foam
wedges connected by fabric which kept baby from rolling. Don't know if
they still make them but you could achieve the same with rolled up
blankets.

If she doesn't like being swaddled, I wouldn't force it, personally.
One of my babies (can't remember who) didn't like the arms being in the
swaddle but was all right with the legs. Maybe you might try that
tonight since kicking is the issue.

I have NEVER had a baby sleep through the night consistently at 6
weeks. NEVER. Lorelei is co-sleeping and 21 months, and she is just
now sleeping until daylight. Most of the time. That's pretty typical
for my babies. Even the crib babies whom I Ferberized had spellss of
night waking until at least that age.

Leslie

cjra wrote:
DD is 6 weeks now, and though she does sleep at night in 3 hr
stretches, her sleep is very agitated, much more so than in the
daytime. She twitches and kicks. I've tried swaddling her, but she's
*hates* it with a passion. She shrieks blood curdling screams until she
kicks herself out of it. I thought babies were supposed to like being
swaddled?

Can't comment on the side-sleeping, but I can tell you my daughter only
liked to be swaddled provided you left her arms loose. Once we learned
to bundle her up only from the armpits down, she became much happier.
Still, not every baby is the same

As for not sleeping through the night at six weeks... nah, you're not
alone at all. At six weeks, you can realistically expect 3 or 4 hours
at a stretch. And at around that age, my daughter just up and switched
to 6 hours at a stretch one night, with no warning, so you never know
when it might be your lucky night!