Am I impeding her ability to self-soothe by swaddling?

DD is a hand sucker. even in utero, every sono she had her hands in her mouth. But she doesn't suck her thumb, she just kinda licks and sucks briefly on her fingers.

She tries to suck on her hands while swaddled, and she is so strong that she will usually get her hands near her mouth and chomp on the swaddle.

Should I just try getting rid of the swaddle to see if she will self-soothe at night? Right now I have to go in 2-3x to give her a binky.

But, I'm not sure I really want to encourage hand sucking. When she does it in the day, I take her hands out and give her the pacifier.

Re: Am I impeding her ability to self-soothe by swaddling?

id would try to take her out of the swaddle. she's 4 months, right? i stopped around 5. its worth a shot.

Re: Am I impeding her ability to self-soothe by swaddling?

I would keep one hand out, or just swaddle from the waist down so she feels cozy. My DD sucks her fist, like the first knuckle... I dont really like her doing it cause her fist is red by the end of it but its either that or the pacifier and I hate getting up for the pacifier at night!! So annoying!!

Re: Am I impeding her ability to self-soothe by swaddling?

This was my DS, and I decided to give him binky, and go in 2-3 times a night and give it back to him. He never took it, he wanted his hands. I swaddled him really tight, like a cast, he couldn't move his arms, but slept like a dream. So I figured its better for him to get used to sleeping long stretches than get used to waking up and looking for soothing.

But during the day, when we play, I'd give him a binky in the mouth and one in his hand and let him play with it, hang it from his reach and let him observe it. He learned to put it back around 4 months.

At around 7 months we started to take it away, and he immediately found his thumb. I hate the idea of thumb sucking, so I gave it back to him. Now i just leave them around, and I figure if he needs soothing he'll find them. He avoids his hands as long as binkie is around.

Re: Am I impeding her ability to self-soothe by swaddling?

we dropped the swaddle at 3 months and she actually slept better (I noticed she was really fighting to get out of the swaddle). give it a try and see how it goes.

Re: Am I impeding her ability to self-soothe by swaddling?

I swaddled DS in the hospital and by the 2nd night home he wasn't having it anymore. I don't think ALL babies need to be swaddled so if you think she doesn't need it then go for it.

Re: Am I impeding her ability to self-soothe by swaddling?

Ok, I'm going to try swaddling her with one arm out tonight and if I don't get any sleep, you are all in trouble!

Re: Am I impeding her ability to self-soothe by swaddling?

My pediatrician suggested we stop swaddling DS at his 3 month appointment. We stopped cold turkey the next day and he is still sleeping thru the night.. thank goodness!
The only thing I definitely noticed is that he is more fitful and restless and moves around a lot more
Good luck!