Night wakings and thumb sucking

[Mum2lucy]

Hi,

I have a post on naps about naps but I wanted advice on thumb sucking. My LG who is 13 weeks has taken to sucking her thumb. She isn’t a good sleeper so I was pleased as she used this to self settle. I have let one hand out of a swaddle to suck as she was fighting the swaddle to suck her tbumb.

However she can’t get into a deep sleep with it and will grunt, roll around, startle herself awake like this for hours. She doesn’t cry per se but she surely isn’t getting restful sleep? I’ve tried holding her thumb there to get through the startle but it doesn’t work.

During the night I have ended up picking her up and feeding her (we bf) and she goes off into a deep sleep but this is a repeated cycle all night.

Thoughts of what to do?
Go back to swaddle and no thumb sucking?
Leave her for hours in the light sleep phase?

Any advice would be appreciated x

[Mum2lucy]

Anyone? 😄

[newkidontheblock]

Hello!
Wonderful that she is able to suck her thumb. That would definitely go a long way in helping her self soothe in the long run. I'm a huge fan of swaddling and we swaddled our daughter till around 8 months. In the early months, it helps a lot with the startle reflex and random arm movements disturbing sleep. I would say continue swaddling for now so she can sleep well. You would need to wean it once she starts rolling anyway and by then, she would older and better at soothing herself. With my son, we have sporadically tried swaddling with one hand out as he sucks on his fist but it didn't help. We will keep working on it