Baby Thrashes at Night and Wakes Himself Up

I personally found the Swaddle Me to not work very well. My son wiggled out of his. I would try a receiving blanket or they have Halo Sleep Sacks with swaddlers on them now. With the cold weather coming, it would be perfect if you just dress him in a long sleeve onesie or light sleeper.

I agree that he could just be hungry. We found co-sleeping to work well, but now my son is 5 1/2 months and still doesn't sleep well unless he is being held. :(

use a blanket instead of the swaddle me. If the child is too small then swaddle me won't be tight enough. You get it tight enough and that will do the trick. You may also want to put him at the bottom of the bed, with his feet at the base, then take a blanket and bring it up to his chest (him already swaddled under this) and tuck the blanket into the mattress, so it can't be moved. Sounds so bad when written that way, lol, but this is the only way some states allow infants to use blankets in daycares.

N.

Like others, let me say to swaddle very tightly. Our little guy is a Hudini about getting out, I have to hold him snug until he falls asleep if he's in a "mood." I wanted to add though that we have had to let him cry himself to sleep on occasion. It's not fun, but as long as you know their needs are taken care of, sometimes you just have to let them cry it out. I know they have to learn how to put themselves to sleep at some point. Our 2 1/2 month old is doing better at it. Sometimes I even hear him awake in the night, just talking, so I leave him in his crib and he goes back to sleep on his own. What a wonderful milestone! :-) Good luck!

He's nursing for comfort...this is what babies do. Nursing isn't just about nutrition, it is also about holding your baby near, letting him smell you and feel/hear your heartbeat. Bring him to bed with you. This will allow a quick fix for him and the most amount of sleep for both of you...no you won't roll over on him!

Welcome to parenthood!

My daughter was a "violent" sleeper too! Luckily, she took a pacifier so we were constantly popping it back in her mouth which did calm her down temporarily. She slept in our bed until she was about 6 months old for this reason. By that time she was better able to fall back asleep without the paci. She is 4 now and still does crazy things in her sleep.

I would suggest using something tighter to swaddle him like a large receiving blanket. You can get those pretty tight, which babies love.

My baby is only 2 weeks old and does the same thing, and we swaddle him too. The only thing that I have found recently that works is to bring him into bed with us. My husband was totally against co-sleeping, but I think he has warmed up to it now seeing as how the baby is so comforted by it. May not be an option for everone, but it has worked for us. I plan on picking up a copy of The Baby Sleep Book by Dr. Sears just to make sure we are practicing safe co-sleeping, as I know there are many who are against it due to the risk of SIDS or rolling over on the baby.
Another option may be a white noise machine. My friend uses one to put her baby to sleep. It comforts them by replicating sounds in the womb.
Good luck!

My son did the same thing, and still does crazy things in his sleep, like move and even talk! The swaddle me didn't work for us either. We just got a large blanket and wrapped it over his first arm (across his body), tucked it under his opposite arm, and then put the other side of the blanket across his body in the opposite direction, and then tucked the blanket under him, so he was laying on the seam. (His arms were straight at his sides.) Then we put him in a sleep positioner, flat on his back. (We bought ours for about $15 at Babies R Us) He slept so much better! He started sleeping 7 hours a night at 8 weeks old. We swaddled him like that for a long time, and he is a really great sleeper now. Good luck!

My daughter did the same thing. It's a reflex they do when on their backs. I got a sleep positioner and that helped, I also layed my daughter on her side, though I cant suggest that as it's not the safest or recommended sleep position. I just did what worked best for me.

My nephew did the same thing as a baby. It wasn't until he was much older that they found that he had severe food allergies (dairy, wheat, gluten, barley) and eczema. My sister-in-law was nursing and the food she was eating was giving him the reaction along with just having breast milk (or any kind of dairy) in general. Just a thought.

Kim

We had the same issue with our little girl and the Miracle Blanket is the only thing that helped.
Here's the link: http://www.miracleblanket.com
Good luck!!

My son never liked the Swaddle Me Blanket. He would somehow wiggle his way out of it. I swaddled him with a recieving blanket instead and made sure it was snug, but not too tight. I hope this helps. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8FheWM83rY

I had a similar problem w/ my daughter at the same age, but found that she did not like to be bundled up anymore. So we switched her to just a sleeper (Disney or Childrens Place sleepers are the best-their feet stay put!) It took a week or two for her to figure out how to go back to sleep after the trashing would wake her, but it was all worth it! She is the BEST sleeper in the world!!

This was a problem for our daughter. We used a larger swaddle blanket ( not a swaddle me that she escaped from) and found out she had acid reflux. Laying down caused her great discomfort. I took dairy out of my diet and met with a GI doc with Children's, Dr Nelson. I would reccomend asking your ped about the possibility of reflux. It saved our sanity and her comfort! Good luck :)

Well I hate to break this to you and I'm sure someone else already has, but from my experience at 10 weeks old he's not thrashing and waking himself up....his tummy is growling and waking him up.

My son only nurses for five to ten minutes at any given time. He may nurse longer if he starts to fall asleep because he will nibble for awhile, but if he's eating it is only for five minutes or so. He's five months old now and still only nurses 10 minutes tops. He is sleeping for four to five hours the first shot now, but that's it.

Good luck!!

I'll join the chorus. Try swaddling that baby tighter. He shouldn't be able to kick out of it. My husband got to be an expert at this and learned how they do it at the hospital. You need two receiving blankets. Wrap the first tightly around in one direction. Then do the second blanket starting the other way so the last flap (of the first blanket) is being pinned down. We used to call them baby burritos.

We found swaddling was a like a miracle....when nothing else was wrong and the baby still cried this worked!

yes its a reflex all kids do it.Buy a miracle blanket it will swaddle them and keep limbs tight like in the womb
stph

I have not experienced thrashing but I did experience my son waking up at times during the night and it was hard for him to go back to sleep. I usually put him in his swing, swaddle and all, and once he was in the swing he eventually fell asleep and stayed asleep. I'm not sure if you have tried to put him in a swing but if you haven't I think it's worth a shot. Good luck:-)

Kel

for our daughter, now 23 weeks, it still means the same thing: gas! Sometimes we can get her up and burp, but sometimes it's there til the next day.

How much does he weigh? I had to nurse my son every 2 hours day or night until he weighed 10 1/2 lbs. I think it might just be his tummy growling. After they weigh 10 lbs they usually can start to go for longer intervals. Hang in there!

swaddle him. it will change everything!!! worked for our daughter!!!! good! luck

The swaddeling cloth is not working. Try a baby blanket and wrap him like you should have been shown in the hospital. Flatten blanket in rectangle, babys head should be at 1 point of blanket, wrap baby from point in blanket closest to shoulder tightly accross trunk of body and tuck in opposite side. Then pull up point of rectangle from foot area up to belly area and while holding it snuggly wrap the final corner accross the chest (that would be the opposite way the 1st corner was wrapped) snuggly. Remember that babys arms are to be straight along the sides of his body when wrapping. Hope this is helpful to you honey. You can secure blanket with a diaper pin at the point where the final corner was pulled snuggly.