Swaddling
Bear in mind that by "swaddling" I basically mean wrapping him up tight in a sheet so that he can't move his arms, turn over or do anything other than lie flat on his back. Also bear in mind that when I don't swaddle him, he wakes up approximately every hour and needs help getting back to sleep; when I do swaddle him, he sleeps 10 to 12 hours straight with no interruption.
I started swaddling him when he was a little under 3 months old. He immediately went from sleeping 1-2 hours at a time to sleeping 4-5 hours straight, and was soon up to 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night. As he got bigger, I switched from using a receiving blanket to a crib sheet.
Swaddling is actually considered a SIDS risk - because of the possibility of the baby overheating, which is a factor in SIDS. But because I was using a light receiving blanket or a crib sheet, and no other blankets on top, and the temperature in our house automatically drops to 17 degrees Celsius (about 63 Fahrenheit) at night, I'm confident that overheating is not a problem in this case.
Around 9 or 10 months I tried putting him to bed without swaddling. He slept well for a few days, then suddenly started waking up in the night. That might have been coincidence - he was teething and going through other developmental changes at the same time - but after a week or so I started swaddling him again and the problem seemed to go away.
By 11 months he was getting out of the crib sheet regularly - he would pull his arms out almost as soon as I swaddled him, and was really just to big to effectively wrap up. I didn't worry about it while he continuned to sleep well. Then suddenly he took to turning over in the night. He would turn to his side right away, then later move right onto his stomach - which would wake him up, and he would cry, push himself up into a sitting position and sit there crying disorientedly until we laid him back down again and soothed him to sleep. Soon this was happening *every hour*. I would have been happy to let him sleep on his tummy if he wanted to - not considered a SIDS risk once the baby is able to turn himself over - but he didn't seem to be able to sleep in that position. Once he got there, he would simply wake up crying miserably.
After a week or so of this (we were also travelling at the time), I got out a twin bed flat sheet, folded it lengthwise a couple of times, and used that to swaddle him. I pulled the sheet so tight around him that even he (a big strong 11 months old) couldn't pull his arms out. And lo, he slept 10 hours that night - the first decent night's sleep either he or I had had in over a week. I've continued doing it for the last few nights and he sleeps so well (over 12 hours without interruption last night), as long as his arms are tucked in tight. (Once I didn't wrap him tight enough and he was out of the swaddle and crying within about 2 hours).
It feels cruel to effectively immobilize, or physically restrain, a baby, and I keep thinking it can't be good for his development. Yet it makes such a difference to the quality of both his and my sleep. It can't be good for a baby to wake up crying every hour all night, can it? Or is that something he just needs to go through to learn how to sleep on his own? Or is learning to sleep unswaddled something that can wait till he's a little older and better at switching positions on his own? I'm a little torn about it all."
I started swaddling him when he was a little under 3 months old. He immediately went from sleeping 1-2 hours at a time to sleeping 4-5 hours straight, and was soon up to 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night. As he got bigger, I switched from using a receiving blanket to a crib sheet.
Swaddling is actually considered a SIDS risk - because of the possibility of the baby overheating, which is a factor in SIDS. But because I was using a light receiving blanket or a crib sheet, and no other blankets on top, and the temperature in our house automatically drops to 17 degrees Celsius (about 63 Fahrenheit) at night, I'm confident that overheating is not a problem in this case.
Around 9 or 10 months I tried putting him to bed without swaddling. He slept well for a few days, then suddenly started waking up in the night. That might have been coincidence - he was teething and going through other developmental changes at the same time - but after a week or so I started swaddling him again and the problem seemed to go away.
By 11 months he was getting out of the crib sheet regularly - he would pull his arms out almost as soon as I swaddled him, and was really just to big to effectively wrap up. I didn't worry about it while he continuned to sleep well. Then suddenly he took to turning over in the night. He would turn to his side right away, then later move right onto his stomach - which would wake him up, and he would cry, push himself up into a sitting position and sit there crying disorientedly until we laid him back down again and soothed him to sleep. Soon this was happening *every hour*. I would have been happy to let him sleep on his tummy if he wanted to - not considered a SIDS risk once the baby is able to turn himself over - but he didn't seem to be able to sleep in that position. Once he got there, he would simply wake up crying miserably.
After a week or so of this (we were also travelling at the time), I got out a twin bed flat sheet, folded it lengthwise a couple of times, and used that to swaddle him. I pulled the sheet so tight around him that even he (a big strong 11 months old) couldn't pull his arms out. And lo, he slept 10 hours that night - the first decent night's sleep either he or I had had in over a week. I've continued doing it for the last few nights and he sleeps so well (over 12 hours without interruption last night), as long as his arms are tucked in tight. (Once I didn't wrap him tight enough and he was out of the swaddle and crying within about 2 hours).
It feels cruel to effectively immobilize, or physically restrain, a baby, and I keep thinking it can't be good for his development. Yet it makes such a difference to the quality of both his and my sleep. It can't be good for a baby to wake up crying every hour all night, can it? Or is that something he just needs to go through to learn how to sleep on his own? Or is learning to sleep unswaddled something that can wait till he's a little older and better at switching positions on his own? I'm a little torn about it all."