My 4 week old bub dislikes being swaddle traditionally, he likes his hands up. I put him into the love to dream swaddle and he is ok in that but what is safe to allow him to sleep his hands up?

Dear Angela,

Thank you for contacting Red Nose with your question “My 4 week old bub dislikes being swaddle traditionally, he likes his hands up. I put him into the love to dream swaddle and he is ok in that but what is safe to allow him to sleep his hands up?”

Red Nose recognizes that swaddling/wrapping is a very important and useful tool in helping to settle and support the needs of young babies. However, just as you have described some babies dislike being swaddled. It may be useful to try swaddling your baby with one arm out as sometimes babies prefer this than having two arms wrapped in. If using a swaddle that baby has their arms up in, it is important to observe if when the baby raises their arms does the swaddle move up and cover the mouth? If so then Red Nose recommends you discontinue the use of it is a risk if the swaddle covers the mouth and or nose.
If using a swaddle that holds babies arms up in the air you may want to consider alternating this during day or night sleeps to ensure baby has a full range of movement as having arms up in the air for each sleep may impact on the shoulders of some babies if used over a long period of time.

For more information please see: https://rednose.org.au/article/is-it-safe-to-wrap-swaddle-my-baby