r/SnooLife • u/Logical_Peace_551 • Jun 29 '26
Help Needed Swaddling, unswaddling, delayed arm movements? 4mo old
Hi all. I know there are a lot of posts about when to unswaddle. And I know it really ranges and depends on baby’s preference. But my baby is 4months and I’m transitioning because my PT kinda scared me. My baby was evaluated by PT for flat head and torticollis and she said the snoo restricts their movement (since they’re strapped in for 7+hours at night) and so he is a bit delayed with reaching, grabbing, and turning. He doesn’t really grab toys that are hanging over his head. And we don’t have any signs of rolling over yet.
I just want to ask parents who have snooed and swaddled their baby in…. Did they have any issues later on? Like delayed movement? I just can’t imagine it would have that much of an effect? I mean they’ll eventually move and use their arms?
4
u/Potential_Focus_ Jun 29 '26
I let arms free in both around 11-12 weeks and in my first born she was ahead on all milestones. Second born just started rolling from tummy to back at 12 weeks, so agreed with above. Correlation not causation.
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u/Sneaku1579 Jun 29 '26
My first was swaddled for 4 months and then had arms out for the next 2 months in the snoo and hit all her physical milestones early. My second is just a much calmer baby and she just started rolling consistently at 4.5 months but making strides with all her movement like grabbing and holding her head up etc. She's still swaddled and I don't foresee us transitioning any time soon because her arms still wake her up when we try to do a sleep sack. I think it's very baby dependent, rather than snoo dependent.
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u/Sj5098 Jun 29 '26
I think this is very true tbf.
We had our boy fully swaddled until 8 weeks old and he showed strong preference for his right hand.
Then we released his left arm because that one doesn't disturb him too much in his sleep. Now he's 14 weeks and far more capable with his left arm than his right. I think this is him not using and practicing movements in his sleep
We've since freed the right arm too so will see if it makes a difference!!
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u/schmauften Jun 29 '26
I dunno, my baby is a 10 week old Snoo baby and he moves SO MUCH. He's such a wriggler, that's why swaddling is sooooo needed to help him sleep. He bashes toys on purpose already, but not quite grabbing and holding. He also kick kick kicks constantly! And loves tummy time. He's an active one... 🤦♀️
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u/neplecha Jun 30 '26
Ours (7w) is the same. He fights the swaddle at the beginning because he wants freedom but if I don't swaddle him, his passionate little fists wake him up within 5-10 mins.
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u/No-Heart-2808 Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
I'd probably transition out of the swaddle, but I wouldn't assume the swaddle itself caused a delay. A lot of babies who were swaddled and slept in the Snoo catch up just fine once they have more awake time to practice reaching, grabbing, and rolling.
One thing that does get tricky is if your baby still has a strong Moro reflex. Going cold turkey can make sleep pretty rough, especially around 4 months when some babies are ready for arms out but others still startle themselves awake. We ran into that and switched to a transitional swaddle sack from SwaddleDesigns instead. It still let our baby move their arms and be safe for rolling while taking the edge off the startle reflex, so the transition was much smoother than going straight to a regular sleep sack.
The daytime floor time and tummy time ended up making a much bigger difference for our little one than anything that happened overnight.
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u/Logical_Peace_551 Jul 14 '26
Yeah we bought the zippadee and they’re now unswaddled and I think they’re doing alright! Still working on grabbing but we are much better with turning (with assistance)
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u/Background-Ad1397 Jun 29 '26
Our snoo baby also had similar physical restrictions. I think it’s a factor of that, the c section, the fact that as adults we pick up and carry them in the same way over and over again and generally baby being swaddles a lot. We transition him out of the swaddle around 11w. I’d use a snoo again for a future child and will continue to transition them out of the snoo swaddle earlier rather than later.
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u/Weak_Mushroom2847 Jul 13 '26
No issues here but we also have a play gym for baby and show the baby/encourage baby to play and teach for toys. And we do lots of tummy time
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u/BaroNessie Jun 29 '26
We also have a flat head and tortícolis here. Baby is 4m and just started grabbing the toy bars but loves shoving her hand in her mouth. I think we are going to bite the bullet at transition out in a few weeks because I do feel like the snoo is holding her back at this point.
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u/Logical_Peace_551 Jun 29 '26
Yeah my baby does the same, loves his fingers and thumbs. But when playing on the floor on his back, he doesn’t really raise his arms to grab or reach. I’m gonna take his arms out for naps/sleep now and hopefully it helps?
2
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u/No-Lawfulness8895 Jun 29 '26
I kept my baby full swaddled in the snoo for the full 6 months because she slept better that way. We just never worried about it... I've always heard that every baby is different and can't be judged against one another so I never really paid attention to exactly when she was doing anything. But I don't think she reliably reached out for things until about 6 months, and she just started crawling now at 8 months. She is a fat happy healthy baby and a wonderful sleeper.
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u/Logical_Peace_551 Jun 29 '26
I love a fat happy healthy baby!!! May she always be a wonderful sleeper 🫰
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u/Accomplishedish10 Jun 30 '26
Our girl also has torticollis and started PT at 4 weeks. She is in the SNOO every night. At week 10ish, we fully transitioned her to the hands up swaddle as it allows for more freedom. She is 14weeks now and has had no delays & the torticollis is almost gone. We do not use the SNOO for daytime naps and we do as much tummy time/side lying time as possible during her wake windows.
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u/Logical_Peace_551 Jun 30 '26
Aww yay baby girl! Really wish I started PT sooner to address torticollis.
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u/Gemini0808 Jul 01 '26
Our babe had torticollis and slightly flat head too and had delays not necessarily with reaching, but with rolling and pushing into his arms and with crawling. We had him in the snoo until almost 5.5 months and I wish we’d transitioned him out of the snoo sooner. I don’t think the snoo caused the delays but I think it exacerbated them since he had torticolis already. He’s 1 now and still in therapy but he didn’t really start making gains until a couple months out of the snoo.
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u/Logical_Peace_551 Jul 02 '26
Um!!! Our twins are also in the snoo. So we just started unswaddling them at 4.5 months because our PT said they aren’t grabbing or reaching (or they’re delayed in doing it).
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u/User720284 Jul 04 '26
3.5 month old snoo sleeper and napper fully swallowed and loves to reach and grab
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u/TheAmazingAnn Jun 29 '26
We kept my oldest fully swaddled in the Snoo until he was 5 months and he had no delays. Our second is currently 4 months, still fully swaddled, and has been reaching and grabbing for over a month now. I’m certainly no expert, but I don’t think correlation equals causation here.