swaddling..

noelle umur 9 jam

in the hospital you may have been encouraged to swaddle your newborn. if you think about it, it makes sense as they feel snug and secure, as they had been in the womb. in my experience, swaddling kept my newborn feeling safe and secure up until she began to understand that her hands belonged to her and we had evidence that she was trying to struggle out of the swaddle. her face goes red in effort to get her hands out of the swaddle.

noelle 7wx, turn to
tummy sleeping
position by herself.. scare me..

we then swaddled under the arms from 2 months onwards, when the startle reflex had reduced and it became impossible to keep noelle's arms in the swaddle. this left her arms free and the swadlling blanket acted like a light sleeping bag. we stopped swaddling completely at around just under 3 months and moved to blanket. from my experience, swaddling under the arms is a good idea to do once they have lost the "startle reflex" (noelle's paediatrician said that babies outgrow startle reflex at about 6months), that way they don't wake themselves up all the time. another idea is put the baby on her belly to sleep, but only do this when you able to watch your baby..

safe and securely swaddled

it is believed that the art of swaddling was adapted from the 'Comanche Indians', who developed ways to transport their young and swaddle them to help them sleep. it appears to be an age old parenting technique, which worked wonders for my baby noelle.

free from
facial scratching

once the baby sleeping with her/his hands freely, its important to keep an eye on the hands because baby tends to protest before and after sleep, more likely touching/scratching the face with their super soft but sharp nails. i prefer mittens to prevent terrible facial scratches. in my experience noelle would eventually work out how to pull these off, thankfully she started rolled on way and sleeping on the tummy so the hands not becoming an issue anymore.

now, noelle is almost 5 months, i learn that she does not like being tuck on a blanket. she would kick her both legs up in the air just to get rid of her one and only snoopy blankie which i brought from jakarta. i searched on the internet and i found the solution, Sleeping bag (Gro Bag). especially now when the autumn is coming and temperature falls to 8 degrees at night. i put her jumpers and socks, plus minyak telon on her belly, back and feet. but i think thats not enough.. so im gonna buy a sleeping bag for her.

baby sleeping bags, nicknamed 'Gro Bags' (turns out the brand becoming a huge hit), are all the rage nowadays with many mothers swearing by them. babies don't get cold as they can't kick off the covers and are designed based on the same principals as swaddling but not as tight as swaddling. they come in different types according to the temperature in the room or weather.

i've found that fleece baby sleeping bag is not recomended due to overheating, but they are great for people living in extreme cold conditions. i would make sure i researched the most appropriate baby sleeping bags for my noelle because the primary goal of swaddling and baby sleeping bags is a 'sound and safe nights sleep'.

i followed my instincts and learn about my baby sleeping. she felt secure when somebody accompany her in the bed, before until after her sleeping. i found out about this when she was 4wx old, she sleeps and sometimes open her eye and inspecting her surrounds to check on me or her grandma, and when she found what she was looking for, she'll fall asleep again just in 3 secs after inspection haha but she outgrow that, and now she falls asleep whether im in her room or not.

thankfully she's been a night sound sleeper, and when night time feeding, she never bother to open her eyes but keep sucking and then drifted off to sleep when she finished. she developed this pattern since she was 8 days old.. wow, mommy and daddy always having a blissful nite.

but, in the past 3 weeks three friends of mine gave birth to their firstborn.. they posted cute pictures on their profile pages and i couldnt helped my self to feel the same motherly instinct, craddle your baby safe and securely.. and look, i swaddled noelle once again when she cant sleep on her own. she's more than15cm taller than her birth height, and more than twice her birth weight, thats why my hubby said she looked like a bolster haha

noelle didnt refuse being swaddled and snug in my arms until i put her on her bed 10 minutes later in a sleeping state. she sleep comfortably until her supper time.