Swaddling with 1 arm left out - advice please

[proudmum]

I'm thinking of leaving one of my ds arms out of the swaddle while he sleeps during the day but I thought I would get some advice from those of you who've tried it first.  He loves to suck his thumb and fingers, and often when I lie him down to swaddle him, he's madly sucking his hand and I have to take it out of his mouth to wrap him up.  He uses a dummy, which he loves too. 

If anyone has advice or tips for me before I do anything, it would be great 

TIA  :wink:

[KellyC]

Hi

I've just put my DS down for his first nap with one arm out of the swaddle and no dummy!  He's 12 weeks old today (I can't believe he's that old already!) and loves sucking his fist and thumb during the day and seems to need his dummy less, although DH and I rely on it, so I thought I'd give it a go.  So far so good as when I put him down in his bed to pat/shush (2nd attempt!) he put his thumb to his lips and although he didn't suck he seemed to be comforted by that.  He's been in proper stage 3 sleep for about 20 minutes now - no doubt he'll wake up after 45 minutes but we'll tackle that issue another time!  Good luck.

Kelly x

[scarletts mum]

Hi there

My little one was swaddled from birth (she is six months now).  I used the miracle blanket.  When she got to about three months she started to struggle and get one arm out.  So I took that as I sign that she ready to start being weaned out of it.  I wrapped her with one arm out, for day and night for about a month, I really took my time over it as she was a very good night sleeper and I didnt want anything to disrupt that too much!! :shock:

Anyway, she too was a big finger (and now thumb) sucker, so she loved it.  After the month, we braved it and put her down with no swaddling at all.  She only woke once as normal for her night feed and havent used the swaddling since. 

I would go for it.  If your little one is sucking through the swaddling, chances are you should have few problems.  I think they get to a stage where they like the freedom to fling themselves about a bit!!

Hope this helps.

Lizzie xx

[proudmum]

Thanks Ladies!  I think I'm going to give it a go and see what happens.  I'll take it slow, like you did Lizzie (he also sleeps pretty well at night) Your advice has given me the confidence to go ahead. 

All the best to you Kelly, I hope it's still going well with your lo