swaddleing?

[knitlove]

do you swaddle your co sleeping baby?

thus far early bird has been sleeping swaddled in a 'safe and secure co sleeper' -one of those little beds tat sits on our mattress. she is now too long for it. so yesterday i ordered the bedbug bed rails and am now trying to figure out how to make it work. she sleeps much better swaddled - actually she doesn't really sleep unsaddled unless she ids being held.

[SortaCrunchy]

Well, mine aren't babies anymore, but we co-slept/bed-shared, and yes, we would swaddle each of them. We transitioned DD1 to her crib part-time (started out in her crib, came to bed with us around 2 AM) when she was 4 months old, but she continued to need to be swaddled in order to sleep until she was six months.

[amyhntr2]

I was just going to post the same question. DD scratches her face and keeps herself awake with her flailing arms usually if she isn't swaddled. It scares me with her in bed though because if something fellover her face somehow she couldn't react and knock it off. Do you cover up with a blanket when you co sleep? DH keeps it so cold that I need one but it scares me she will get the blanket over her face somehow too.

[klpmommy]

R is just now not wanting to be swaddled all the time. E was swaddled until she was nearly a year old. And we cosleep.

I don't really use blankets much. I have a lightweight wool blanket from Ecuador that I cover with as needed, but that is about it. I sleep in long sleeves & so I really don't need anything else. (I can't stand the feel of skin peeling from skin in the middle of the night with a baby head on my bare arms, so long sleeves year round).

[Kiwi Mama]

I swaddled my daughter until she was about 4 months old and we co-slept. I slept with the blankets around my waist and warm clothes on so they didn't come up very far on her when she was little. On colder nights when I wanted to pull the blankets up a little further I'd make sure my hand would rest on her chest (her head in my armpit, IYKWIM) and kind of on the covers at the same time so they didn't creep up.

[rosesnsnails]

I stopped with my second because she did roll into me without her arms to stop her. With the newest baby, I swaddle her legs, but leave her arms free. It keeps her stable.

[knitlove]

:ty this was my worry as well

It scares me with her in bed though because if something fellover her face somehow she couldn't react and knock it off. Do you cover up with a blanket when you co sleep? DH keeps it so cold that I need one but it scares me she will get the blanket over her face somehow too.

it is summer so I don't sleep with covers, I'm hoping that by the time it cools off she will be enough bigger that covers won't scare me as much.

[DragonfliiMama]

We are swaddling Gabriel and using a snuggle nest right now, too, but he is also going to be too long for it soon. We swaddle him with his arms free - if we don't, he just squirms until he frees them himself anyway. In fact, he sometimes squirms his toes free too. :giggle I can't sleep without a blanket and I'm discovering it has to be up over my shoulder, so when I'm nursing or have him out of the nest, I'm pretty nervous. So far I've been able to just arrange it very carefully so it's not in his face and it's been ok, but we don't sleep most of the night like that either.

[knitlove]

We swaddle him with his arms free - if we don't, he just squirms until he frees them himself anyway.

I find it interesting how different all babies are, we must swaddle arms, once both arms are out she is awake.

I started working on sleeping with out covers over my solders when I was pregnant so that I could do it once we had a baby in bed with us.

[amyhntr2]

I started working on sleeping with out covers over my solders when I was pregnant so that I could do it once we had a baby in bed with us.

I wish I had thought to do that! So new question, if you wear heavier clothes ( or even a T-shirt really) and you fall asleep while nursing do you worry about the shirt coming down over her face? Will a baby just unlatch and turn their face to breathe?

[Kiwi Mama]

With the blankets covering the shoulders thing, I like to do that when it's cold now too. What I do is nurse baby high up in the bed (a little more uncomfortable for me admittedly) and then leave her up there and scoot down myself so my face is level with hers. My husband sleeps at that level too.

[DragonfliiMama]

T-shirt nothin, I'm scared I'm gonna smother him myself. My boobs are bigger than his head and I can hear his breathing get all whistle-y while he's nursing because he's got his nose smushed into me so much. I try to not hold him so close but we are having a hard time getting our positions just right while we're laying down.

[knitlove]

T-shirt nothin, I'm scared I'm gonna smother him myself. My boobs are bigger than his head and I can hear his breathing get all whistle-y while he's nursing because he's got his nose smushed into me so much. I try to not hold him so close but we are having a hard time getting our positions just right while we're laying down.

Early Bird is 10+lb and we have just mastered nursing laying down, it is hard when they are so little and you are so big.

[DragonfliiMama]

:yes I'm sure we'll get better at it as he gets bigger and we get more practice. But it still makes me nervous in the mean time, you know?

[Kiwi Mama]

I only started nursing lying down and then sleeping like that when dd was 8 weeks old (so about 10 pounds) - before that I was a bit worried as she was pretty tiny, so I sat up in bed to nurse her and then put her back in the snuggle nest.

[DragonfliiMama]

Yeah, we do that sometimes too.

[AmyWA]

My dd LOVED being swaddled. We swaddled her until he was over 10 months old. My mom had to keep making bigger and bigger blankets for her. LOL To this day (she is 7.5 now) she STILL loves to be all bundled up in blankets - even when it's hot outside!!! Our son was swaddled until he was around 4 or 5 months old. We co-slept with both of them.

[mamakven]

very timely post... I'm semi-cosleeping my twins, we have a pack and play, actually a cosleeper that we've not yet pushed up against the bed (!!) but we bring each twin to the bed to nurse and then usually just leave him there, but yes, mine MUST be swaddled to sleep well and we have a memory foam bed, and both dh and i are pretty BIG people, and for the first time EVER i'm scared i'm going to smoosh someone.. one thing that's helped is pushing the baby more UP, like by our heads, not our bodies, so that helps, when i remember to do that! i'm eager to hear what others have to say about this.