Settling non-wrapped baby to sleep

[bellabel]

Following on from Nikkers thread of who does/doesn't wrap.

I don't wrap, DS2 has hated it from birth.
At first it was ok as all he did was eat, get so tired, then sleep.

At 6 weeks he now has more awake time.

How do I settle a nonwrapped baby to tell him it's sleep time especially with flying arms jerking around?

[ridemum]

I didn't wrap DS2 as well. He hated it. For that period where he had the jerky arms, I just used to hold them down! He seemed to like that pressure on him and he would calm quite quickly.

Now he doesn't jerk around so much, but he does like to have something to hold onto - initially we held his hand, but now he has a square of blanket.

In saying this though, I have always fed him to sleep so he had my hand to hold.

[Naomi H-B]

Have you tried wrapping him recently? Maybe a loose wrap wont annoy him too much.

Or you can try putting him on his side and keeping one hand on him chest/belly area, use your other hand to pat/run his bum. I found that a good rhythmic patting always worked with DS. That way he is kind of pinned down and will feel secure, but his arms can't flail around.

Once he is asleep you can put him back on his back and tuck him in nice and tight.

If putting him on his side doesn't work - try him on his belly, and again flip him back over once he is asleep.

Good luck!

[Nikkers]

Bel - it is interesting, not long after I posted that thread, I began wrapping DD2 again because she was not sleeping very well or long without being wrapped. Now I use wrapping as a sleep cue, when she gets tired, I wrap her and put her in the bassinet and turn her mobile on.

To start with she definitely hated being wrapped and at times still squirms and tries to get her arms free, but on the whole she is getting a lot better and is learning pretty fast when she gets wrapped it is sleep time

Maybe you could start wrapping him again and perserve with it for a few days like I did - it seemed to work!

[Sue77]

or maybe just wrap one arm in? thats what i did for my son at one stage - good luck!

[skyblu]

bel, just a thought, L went to sleep better when in an angel wrap. he liked this because he could still suck his hands, rub his eyes, but wasnt flapping.

i used a cot sheet, folded the top down about 15cm, popped him on the sheet, put one arm under the folded part, then wrapped that over then under his body, same with the other hand. it's not tight, but he couldnt get out, and he didnt flap himself awake all of the time!

[bellabel]

Shhhhhhh I don't want to jinx things but....

I tried wrapping and got very little objection AAAAANNNNNDDDD after 5 weeks of 2 or less hourly feeds, I scored a 4.5 hourly!!!

Sky I might try the angel wrap. It's a nice compromise for him.

Tomorrow will be the real test though.

Thanks.