thrashing limbs question.....

[lilyflowerbud]

hi parents,

could any one advise me on this:

my lo is slowly learning to go to sleep on her own with pupd. this is a big deal for us as she has been sleeping in our bed and being rocked to sleep for the first 6 months of her life!

anyway, now as she goes to sleep she starts to thrash her limbs her around. she does go to sleep eventually....but i can tell she gets frustrated and it makes bed and nap time take ages. she was hitting the bars on her cot...so i brought cot bumpers for her. she stared at the animals on them ( couldn;t find plain one;s anywhere)

she isn;t swaddled which i guess would hold her arms and legs down...but isn't 6 months a bit old to start swaddling?

she is a sleep bag so at least she isn;t kicking the covers off.

what can anyone advise? did any one elses lo do this and it;s just normal and will pass? she's not crawling yet or sitting....but trying so hard.

thanks,

lilyflowerbud x

[Hester]

6 months is a little late to start swaddling, but you could do it for a bit to teach her to fall asleep indepently. You'd swaddle both arms, till she 'gets it' and then leave one arm out and then both. I use the puckababy and love it, but that might be a lot of money for just a little while. Here's the link if you are interested: http://www.puckababy.com/en/1-the-original-mini.html

Oh and yes, pretty much EVERY LO does this, unless they may be angel babies . And even then, they go through this phase. It WILL pass!

And I would highly recommend to remove the bumpers since she moves so much. It is very dangerous and she could get stuck in there and choke herself. If you need to block out visual stimulation, try to darken the room a LOT. OR hand a mosquito net around her crib, you do need to remove the net once she starts standing and can reach it, since that can choke her as well.

[jessmum46]

Is she rolling yet?  If she is, I wouldn't swaddle for safety reasons, and to be honest I'd be pretty reluctant to start swaddling at this age anyway.  I'd also agree with removing the bumpers - SIDS recommendations are to have nothing at all in the cot.

Thrashing limbs, thumping legs etc can all be ways of LO starting to self-settle.  She may be frustrated because she is still learning to fall asleep on her own, rather than because she is moving around so much.  I would just ride it out for now and keep doing what you're doing with PUPD.  Once she is more used to going to sleep on her own you may find she is more settled

[Hester]

Ah yes! I forgot about the rolling!!!! Ditto to the above!!