When to swaddle

[lilyo]

I can't complain, in general, my ds is a pretty good sleeper. Like many other babies out there, he has a love/hate relationship with the swaddle. He really fights being swaddled and likes his left hand out so he can rest his cheek on it. But he sleeps much better swaddled once he calms down, especially for the longer night sleeps. The problem is that he sometimes fights the swaddle so hard that he whips himself into a crying frenzy and he goes from calm to frantic in a matter of minutes. I want to continue to swaddle him, I'm trying to find a way to allow just a half an arm out... But my real questions is "when to swaddle"? When is the best time to swaddle a baby who fights the swaddle? Should I calm him down and then swaddle? Swaddle then try to calm down from there? What is the best approach to swaddling a 3 month old baby who fights the swaddle? Advise please! I want to swaddle him for naps and bedtime but want to avoid the fight and crying as much as possible (or at least minimize).

[Shaunie]

Your LO sounds just like DS1 - he hated being swaddled but I knew he slept better with it so continued doing so.  I was lucky that he did not cry much though.  I found that he would fight his way out early on (also liked one hand out from day 1!) but I was able to re-swaddle later when he was in a deeper sleep or after a feed.  I think it's quite common for babies around this age+ to resist being swaddled.  I put DS1 into a sleeping bag at around 4 months because he was becoming quite a houdini & he slept well because he had less jolts & frantic arm waving by then!

I know this doesn't help much but you may want to think about not swaddling if it's causing so much distress?