UPDATE: Swaddling and shoulders/arms breaking free

[catbus]

I'm not sure if anyone else would have had this problem, but the last few nights E has broken his arms out of his swaddle, and thus woken himself up. He seems to do it by wriggling up in his Pack-n-Play, and the sheet provides enough friction against the A+A blanket to pull it down. We already do an "escape-proof" double swaddle that has totally done the trick until now.
Anyone else deal with this? He's only six weeks, so we don't want to go swaddle-free yet. He likes being swaddled, and usually falls asleep during the process each night. Any tricks out there?
I'll mention that he has to sleep in a foot brace that holds his feet shoulder-width apart, so the velcro contraptions don't work... plus, even pre-brace he was too strong to be held back by a SwaddleMe.
We will be trying a Halo SwaddleSack, but I don't have high hopes.

UPDATE 11/15: The Swaddle SleepSack worked really well for us! E slept from 8:15-3:45 last night; that's 7.5 hours! He did a 7.5 hour stretch last Saturday night, too, but then Sun/Mon/Tues were more like 4 hours, with him waking himself up.
He did break an arm out of the SleepSack, but we have an idea of what happened and will avoid the issue tonight.

[Brie]

The Halo Swaddle Sack is the only thing that works for us. He can Houdini out of A&A blankets and the SwaddleMes, and he HATES the Woombie.

[niki]

SwaddleMe's weren't up to the job of holding my son in. Only the Miracle blanket and the HALO SleepSack Swaddle managed to keep him in.

[jackpackage]

DS has been swaddled in A+A muslin or swaddle me with his arms out since he was 2 or 3 weeks. He hates having his arms confined, so we went with it and haven't had a problem since.

[iheartbanjos]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOnsKlluHIg

This is the swaddle that we did.

[Deleted]

Another vote for the Halo swaddle sleep sack. Only thing that worked on DD.

[Deleted]

We did something similar to the video that iheartbanjos posted. Is that what you were already doing?

[MamaMaui24]

The Miracle Blanket was the only one that was houdini proof for us. Not sure if that would work with the brace.

Here's an option maybe that would work w/ the brace? hyenacart.com/stores/peaweebaby/index.php?c=0&p=78542

I know there's an arms only swaddle out there but I can't find it...

[catbus]

Sweet; I'm sooo glad to hear the Swaddle Sleepsack works, since that's the best option for us with his brace. It gets good reviews, but so do the SwaddleMe and the SwaddlePod, both of which E broke out of soooo quickly when we attempted them. I'm going to BRU (ugh) today to pick up a Swaddle Sleepsack. This is urgent stuff; no time to wait for Amazon!
We'll try swaddling with arms out at some point, but for now it definitely causes more problems. He's not bothered by having his arms confined, but definitely waked himself up when they are out (like by punching his face...). Can't wait until that Moro reflex is gone and the limb flailing settles down.

[pugz]

miracle blanket yo! It is a true baby straight jacket

[bunch]

Nov 14, 2012 12:00:06 GMT -5 pugz said:

miracle blanket yo! It is a true baby straight jacket

for sure. You could cut off the bottom if you need to. Way better than the halo ones.

[catbus]

Hmm, I'll look again at the Miracle Blanket, too. And as far as our double swaddle, it is similar to the one in the video, except the second (outer) swaddle is just a traditional swaddle, not a SleepSack. H pulls it pretty tight. What's happening is the swaddles are staying secure, but E is wriggling out of the top. If only he had broader shoulders...

[pugz]

yeah the miracle blanket has separate pieces of fabric that lock the arms down to their sides, then it wraps around them to secure them in place. My baby has managed to kick a leg out before, but never an arm.

[DarcyLongfellow]

The Miracle Blanket. 100%, you need the Miracle Blanket. That thing truly is miraculous. It's a real baby straight jacket -- my kid was strong and very determined to get out of swaddled, and she couldn't move that thing until something like 5 months. And even then, she couldn't get totally out of it.

The best part is that the leg part is just a little flap -- once DD got too long for it, I just left it flapped up (and before then, it was awesome for diaper changes without de-swaddling). The arm part is the only part you need.

[dcrunnergirl]

Miracle Blanket was the only thing that could keep my kids contained.

[MadamePresident]

Would it be bad to just safety pin the hanging part?

*I am not sure if there would be a safety issue related to this as my kid isn't a big fan of the swaddle and must have loose arms.

[mie]

Nov 14, 2012 14:25:29 GMT -5 c7 said:

For Miracle Blanket users: did you unswaddle for nighttime feedings? It looks difficult to put back on without waking baby up.

She was swaddled for feedings.

[pugz]

we unswaddle since she's usually awake and screaming when she wakes up to eat, we typically change her, reswaddle, and rock her back to sleep.

[badtzmaru22]

We just swaddled arms out in a halo Sleepsack Swaddle.

[GailGoldie]

sleep sack swaddles suck b/c once baby is strong enough - easy to bust out of the velcro.

Miracle blankets done properly = the BEST. We had a bunch ... all 3 of my boys were swaddled until 6mo. 2 of them were very big babies- so, at 6mo, about the size of 12mo- and still able to keep them in the miracle blankets. You just have to make sure the flaps are not tucked behind their arms - bc they can arch their back and all the weight is off the flaps--- have to wrap them lower around lower back/butt area to keep them secure.

[DarcyLongfellow]

Nov 14, 2012 14:25:29 GMT -5 c7 said:

For Miracle Blanket users: did you unswaddle for nighttime feedings? It looks difficult to put back on without waking baby up.

No way. Once she was swaddled for the night, she stayed swaddled until morning.

I would flop her legs out for diaper changes, then nurse her swaddled until she fell asleep.

[sewpinkgal]

J was too teeny and too strong for Halo sleepsacks w/swaddle/swaddleme/miracle blanket, etc. We tried them all, repeatedly and they were all disasters. :/

We just stuck with the A+A blankets, swaddled as tightly as possible. He was already angry and hungry when he woke up, so I would unswaddle to feed him/change him, then swaddle him back up. It was a pain, but nothing else ever worked for us.

I hope that one of the other contraptions will work for your little guy though. Good luck!

[catbus]

We survived BRU (I hate that place so much) and came home with a few Swaddle SleepSacks. I tested one on E for a nap, and it went well. Now he's in one for the night. One hour in and so far, so good! A good fit is definitely necessary, and the fleece one seems like it will work better than the cotton, because it's less stretchy. I'll update in the morning... Fingers crossed he stays put.

[catbus]

Update added to OP

[niki]

Yay for the update!

[catbus]

Nov 14, 2012 15:25:20 GMT -5 MadamePresident said:

Would it be bad to just safety pin the hanging part?

*I am not sure if there would be a safety issue related to this as my kid isn't a big fan of the swaddle and must have loose arms.

I thought about this at one point, but my concern would be baby wriggling and bending the pin, which could end badly. That said, we did try duct taping the swaddle Monday and Tuesday nights (Dr. Karp seriously recommends this in Happiest Baby), but it didn't solve the issue.