Am I swaddling correctly?

[xav's mum]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone have much experience with the Aussie swaddle? My 8 week old dd often fights being swaddled but when she is swaddled, she often wriggles her little hands out of it. I have been trying the Aussie swaddle but not sure if I am doing it right. When she is swaddled, and I lay her in the cradle on her side, her arms are up around her face so she looks like a boxer, shielding her face.  She is also able to move her arms around inside the swaddle and I can't seem to get it very tight so she can't move them. Am I doing it correctly? I swaddle her with a very sheer muslin wrap as it is still quite hot here.  Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
xav's mum

[teezee]

when you put the 'arm flaps' down tuck them under and behind the butt/back and then pull the 'wing' over tightly...did that make ANY sense at all??  hope so - if not - don't know if you have already come across this but here is the link for it!

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=1439.0

[xav's mum]

Thanks heaps for the link.  It showed photos of the stages of swaddling, aussie style.  They were really helpful. Will try with a bigger wrap and I think I need to get it more over the shoulder.

[Gage and Sophie's Mom]

I think it is okay that your lo moves a bit. Gage could escape anything so I had to tailor the swaddle to him. I put a few stiches in the fold where his neck would lay. this helped keep the fold from ridding up and his arms from popping out. I also safety pin the folds that come across the chest together. Gage still manages to move out of the darn thing every now and then, but these tricks help tremendously. HTH

[tylersmommy]

It helps a lot to use a bigger blanket too. I used a twin sized bedsheet cut in half for Tyler. It was gigantic and I had to wrap the excess around him like 100 times, but it worked like a charm! I've also heard of folks having success with a great big piece of muslin too.