Swaddling

Those who have met Jake will know that he is an extremely active baby. Even when he was in the womb, Kelsey could feel him constantly moving to the extent that it took her 4 hours to get his heartbeat measured because he wouldn't lie still. This means that he likes to be on the go a lot and when he's not being moved by someone else, he will sit and flail his arms and legs like there's no tomorrow.

This is all well and good until he tries to go to sleep (or we persuade him that he's tired and wants to go to sleep). Right from day one, he will startle and flail in his sleep which often results in him hitting his face or just generally jerking himself awake.

A few weeks in, we found the Wombie which will be our gift of choice to anyone we know who has a baby in the future. It's effectively a baby strait jacket that zips from top to bottom making him feel swaddled without having to worry about swaddling technique and whether he'll fight his way out of it. After a couple of minutes of struggling, he will settle down for a good long sleep.

Recently, however, he's woken sounding frustrated and pushing against the Wombie which has led to a discussion about how long we should be swaddling him for. On the one hand, it still helps him fall asleep quickly. On the other hand, we're moving him into his room this weekend and I can't help but wonder if, with his 4 month birthday coming up on Saturday, whether we need to start getting him to sleep without his arms pinned by his side.

The books and internet are their usual mix of parents who have never swaddled their babies and think it's inhumane to those who still swaddled at almost a year. The usual advice of "what is right for your baby is right for your baby" is good, but not entirely helpful. Matters are also slightly confused by the fact that he has been waking in the night the last few weeks absolutely starving around 2am after being able to sleep through when we were in America.

It may just be a phase, but part of me wonders if it's to do with the Wombie, so tonight we're experimenting without it so we'll see how he gets on. As I type, his arms are stretched out gripping the sides of his crib but he's fast asleep and fairly peaceful. Watch this space for swaddling updates!