Help needed for swaddling Princess Houdini

I desperately need help! DD is sooooo strong and so determined to get out of every type of wrap under the sun! She needs to be swaddled because her arms wake her up still, but she manages to pull her arms up and during the night gets at least one hand gets out which wakes her right up :wall:.

She has been like this from the beginning. I bought a Miracle Blanket when she was tiny and it really worked like a miracle LOL. It is almost like a straight jacket the way it restrained her arms :lol:. Unfortunately she grew too big for it and could get out of it. I have tried wrapping her in stretchy fabric and muslin. I've tried different wrapping techniques, but none of them work long term. Our latest is to wrap her in a muslin wrap, then in a Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe. This worked great for a few nights, but then she worked out how to get her arms out of that, grrrr! It is still our best solution atm though.

Does anyone know of a foolproof way I can keep DD's arms wrapped up? I am seriously going nuts! I jokingly told DH I'll start duct taping her arms down :rofl:.

I look forward to the day we can ditch the wrap, I'd do it now, but she won't sleep at all without being swaddled :rolleyes:.

TIA :D

Hi, I had more trouble as my kids got bigger and none of the wraps fitted. I ended up using a cot sheet sideways to make it go the distance.
Good Luck.

Thanks for your reply :D. I haven't tried a cot sheet, but I already know that won't stop her determined hands! The muslin wraps I have are super-long, so length is no barrier for her :lol:.

She is so much stronger than her brothers ever were!

I gave up agin this time...both my boys always managed to get their arms out!

I did see I swaddle thing at the baby expo where it has a zipper so there would be no way she could get out of it! Cant rememebr what it was called though?

Good luck hun xx

trish i used cot sheets, place alana on the wrap as normal bring one side down over her shoulder and place under her, so her arm is more or less pinned down, repeat on the other arm, then bring the bottom up as normal. hope that makes sense!! worked a treat here!!

When my DD got a bit bigger and could wriggle out more effectively, I stopped wrapping with her legs and just concentrated on the arms. That left not only plenty of material to wrap her with, but it allowed me to put all of my effort into figuring out the best way to keep the arms entwined. She was happily wrapped until 8 mths, when she learned to crawl.

GL!

Trish my babies wouldn't have a bar of being wrapped... they were all very strong... I never bothered. Are you sure that she might not eventually settle unwrapped?

just a question...is there anyway that she will sleep if you just wrap from under her arms down (ie leaving her arms free)? i just ask as we found this worked a miracle for our houdini...she had nothing to fight against lol.

I was shown a tresillian wrap that DH called the baby straight jacket... DS hated it, as he couldn't get out of it for love or money... Than needed a stiff cot sheet, and was nasty... DS would yell at me the minute I laid him down to start wrapping.....

DS did like the angel wrap(the one from the karitane wrap info sheet), that kept his hands up near his face so he didnt need to fight, and I was able to keep them pretty secure and only used a muslin wrap...

What about using the miracle blanket without her legs in the pouch? I used this and tried some other things, but the miracle blanket won hands down!!

The thing that someone saw at the expo with the zip is called a woombie. There is an Australian website if you want to Google it. I haven't tried it and I don't know anyone who has, but it certainly looks interesting. But I still think the miracle blanket would work better in your case!

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

AJP - I have just wrapped her in a cot sheet for her nap (I was already wrapping her as you described with a big muslin wrap :)) and pulled it up at the bottom and wrapped her again with the bottom of the sheet. We'll see if a double wrap works!

Bathsheba - I would love to not wrap her, but she gets really disturbed by her arms flailing around. I have tried a couple of times and it was a disaster!

MummyTummy - I have already tried the Miracle Blanket without putting her legs in the pouch, but she still got out of it! The flaps to hold her arms in place are too small now.

Thanks to everyone who has made a suggestion! I will give a few of them a try and let you know if I have some success :D

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The thing that someone saw at the expo with the zip is called a woombie. There is an Australian website if you want to Google it.

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Thats it! Thats one one i was thinking of Trish. x

Trish: I know the SIDS sleeping guidelines and I'm not saying you should do this.. only that I did it: My babies were so strong that they could all hold their heads up at birth. They all refused to sleep on their backs. By the time I had my third i asked a paed about it. She said that 1 in 10 babies is like (and that it runs in families) this and if I follow ALL of the other safe sleeping guidelines (DH and I don't smoke etc) that it would be ok to let my baby sleep on it's tummy. She could see how easily my baby could lift it's head while placed on his tummy. She almost whispered this... I'm not saying you should do it... BUT maybe you could ask your MCHN about how some babies refuse to back sleep or allow to be swaddled. When they tummy sleep my babies kinda tucked their arms up under their shoulders and this stopped flailing etc.

Thanks again everyone. I have seen the Woombie before, but it looks like they can still get their hands up (even if their hands are still inside)? Having her hands near her mouth, even if wrapped, disturbs her and she won't sleep. It's such a pain!

I tried the cot sheet, and as predicted she still got her hands up :wall:. They were still covered in the sheet, but as soon as they are up she sucks on them and won't sleep. She ends up cranky and I have to rewrap her and calm her down again.

Bath - I have thought about tummy sleeping because she doesn't mind being on her tummy, so I tried it after reading your post. She happily went on her tummy and sucked on her fist for a while, but eventually got fed up and cried. I spent about half an hour with her, rubbing her back, etc., but once she cracked it she wouldn't settle :(. I felt hope when she stayed happily for so long, but again, I think sucking her fist actually keeps her awake and upsets her. I wouldn't want to wrap her while on her tummy, I wouldn't think that would be safe?

I guess I'll just have to put up with things by the sounds of it! Amber PM'd me earlier with the details of a wrap with a zip that looks great (not the Woombie), but it's quite exxy and I'd hate to spend so much money on something that may not work!!

Google "The safe T sleep'

Worked for DS - Approx $85 - I think

GL

Oh the poor little sweet! No, I wouldn't swaddle and put on her tummy... I haven't heard anything offical to say that you shouldn't but intuitively it felt/feels wrong.

If she's sucking her first so much maybe she is teething?

*hugs for mama too*

i know of people who use a strip of muslin to "tie" the arms in place it goes across the back around arms then putting there arms to the side then wrapping it behing them, then using a large wrap (sheet) doing the tight normal wrap pulling the bottom up under there chin and behind them again..

:yeahthat: Ooh, that could work. Folding a muslin wide enough for the length of her arms and wrapping it in a similar style to the miracle blanket - over the arms and behind the back so she can't lift her arms due to her weight on the muslin and then wrapping her as per usual.

Or my other thought is perhaps a dummy? Maybe she needs to suck for comfort but not her hands?

Trish!! That's exactly what DD was like too!!! She would get out of the miracle blankets and everything too! It was sooo frustrating! And her startle reflex would wake her constantly... in the end, she was 11wks old when I gave up wrapping her as it was too much of a fight with her and she was too strong and it was becoming unsafe if she got out and the wrap was all over her so we just stopped wrapping her and eventually she got used to sleeping like that, even with the startle reflex. She loved sleeping with her arms up high too.
I even looked into that product Safe T Sleep (??) think it's called.... but never got it.

Good luck :hug: have you looked into the Wombie?? They look great.... I wish I'd seen it earlier. Going to get one for the next bub for sure.

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I gave up agin this time...both my boys always managed to get their arms out!

I did see I swaddle thing at the baby expo where it has a zipper so there would be no way she could get out of it! Cant rememebr what it was called though?

Good luck hun xx

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Amber, you mean the Wombie?? I think that's what it's called. I saw it too at the expo. Wish I'd seen it earlier.... would have been great for my DD..... going to get one for bub #2 for sure!!!

Bath - I guess it's possible she's teething, but it seems a bit early for that? Her neck has issues atm and our paediatric chiro is working on it, maybe the sucking is a comfort thing while she is in pain?

Doudou - That's a great idea, thanks! I'll be trying that for her next nap :D

MummyTummy - I could only WISH she'd take a dummy LOL! I have been trying to get her to take one since birth, but she isn't interested. Sometimes I can get her to take one for a few minutes to help her settle, but this is rare and she won't keep it in.

Shanti - How long did it take your DD to get used to not being wrapped? I am too scared to try it because if it keeps her up all night, I can't just nap during the day to make up for it!

The Woombie really looks good, but I can see that she'd still be able to pull her arms up to her mouth, even if they are still wrapped. I'll give Doudou's idea a go and let you all know if it works!

Sorry for now making it a dummy thread, but did you try different styles of dummy Trish? I know Jett just wouldn't take the cherry style, but the orthodontic ones worked for him, while I know other people have the opposite problem, and then of course there could be a preference for silicone or latex..... lots of choices!!

I hold great hopes for Doudou's suggestion. I think it could be the answer.......:pray:

Oh Trish I wish I could remember but everything is a blur now :lol:.... I'd say it took 3 or 4 weeks of her getting used to it but it wasn't too bad.... we used a sleeping bag instead as it was getting cooler at nights then and that became her sleep association I guess... as for the startle reflex she just got used to that and it wouldn't bother her after a while.
Sorry not much help I guess. She just was never big on the wrapping I think....

I don't want to necessarily advocate for dummy use, but sometimes if you try gently pulling the dummy out of bub's mouth she will learn to suck it in and keep it in. My DD was an obsessive fist/hand sucker from birth (she was born with blisters from sucking in utero). The dummy worked, thank goodness, or wrapping certainly wouldn't have!

MummyTummy - I have tried the cherry dummies and the Avent silicone ones. She prefers the silicone one, but as I said, she rarely takes it. Both my boys loved their dummies, they were such a godsend, it's disappointing that DD won't take one!

Shanti - Thanks for that :D.

Jennifer - I have tried for SO long to get her to take a dummy, I tried all the methods that worked for my DSs, but she just refuses. She's not too much of a comfort feeder either, if she is really upset, I can't feed her to calm her down, she won't have a bar of me. It's awful not being able to soothe your own bub :(

How does she go falling asleep in a sling or the pram? It really does sound like you've tried everything! :hug:

Yeah, it does sound like you have tried everything. Jett wasn't a comfort feeder either. If there was little or no milk involved he wouldn't have a bar of me. And then the only other things we did was a sling (pouch style) which he just adored and pram and car seat. Oh and co-sleeping. I could then tuck him in close to me and hold his arms tight. AFter the initial frustration and thrashing about he would just calm down and go to sleep. But in saying that Jett has always been a good sleeper so I think I may have just been lucky with these methods.

Oh I really hope you find a solution soon!

Jennifer - She sometimes sleeps in the pram and in a sling. She's just hit an unsettle patch recently because her neck was out, hopefully it passes soon!

MummyTummy - DD has been a good sleeper too up until recently, I'm pretty sure the wrapping issue explains at least part of why she has been waking up!

Well, I've tried Doudou's suggestion for three naps (I folded up a muslin wrap to wrap her arms like Doudou described and wrapped her in her SwaddleMe) and she hasn't been able to get her arms up!! The big test will be overnight tonight, fingers crossed it still works! Thanks Doudou :hug:.

:hooray:

:leap:

Oh yay!! :crossfingers:

Good luck Trish, hope it works!! I don't have any suggestions because I've never really had issues with mine getting out of their wraps until much older and by then I was able to ditch it all together. Even when D manages to get a hand out it doesn't wake him.

Sounds like you're having a rough trot atm, hope it passes soon :hug: