Comments on: Is Swaddling Your Baby Now Dangerous (and Illegal)?

By: Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site

Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 03:46:46 +0000

In reply to Hfzfy. Hi there and thanks for writing! I definitely understand what you mean, and I felt the same after my daughter was born! One thing to keep in mind is that newborns are not used to having their arms free, and have loved the comfort of their mother's belly for all of these months, and those tight quarters are all they knew! Being swaddled mimics this and helps keep them feeling safe and secure in those early weeks and months as they transition to life outside of the womb!

By: Hfzfy

Hfzfy — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 00:37:13 +0000

The idea of swaddling just makes me feel claustrophobic. What if the baby’s arms get restless but they’re confined by the swaddling *cringe* not much worse than wanting to move and being stuck there

By: Emily DeJeu

Emily DeJeu — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:35:59 +0000

@ Melissa Obilo — good point! Sometimes, it does feel like all these steps taken by organizations like the APA and the NRC are designed less to be helpful and more to be terrifying!!

Thanks for commenting, Melissa. 🙂

By: Melissa Obilo

Melissa Obilo — Wed, 08 May 2013 09:08:19 +0000

I swaddled my baby until she started moving too much at night then I had to stop, though she has never pulled the blankets over her face (she detests having her face covered). They should do comprehensive studies about swaddling so that they can offer parents concise information instead of scaring them!

By: Emily DeJeu

Emily DeJeu — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 19:43:37 +0000

@ Jennifer Everhart — that’s an insightful statement, about wanting to see more studies done before forming an opinion. That’s one of the things I found interesting when writing the article — the NRC (org. that made the recommendation to daycares to stop swaddling) cited 5 studies in support of their recommendation. Not many at all! So yes, it would see that more research needs to be done.

Thanks for commenting, Jennifer, and for sharing some of the details of your own swaddling experience. 🙂

By: Jennifer Everhart

Jennifer Everhart — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:42:54 +0000

My husband & I swaddled both of our children. I’m a huge supporter! Our son would have let us swaddle him until he was a year, if we had blankets that would have fit! LOL He’s a stomach sleeper, so once he started rolling over, we stopped swaddling him. Our daughter is still a back sleeper, however, she’s extremely wiggly. Once she started kicking off the blankets, we stopped swaddling her. We had an issue with her pulling the blanket up to her face after that, though. Scary stuff! I became even more paranoid about SIDS, then. (It’s always been a fear of mine, so I read a ton of material on how to best prevent it from happening.) I would like to see them do more studies on this before giving a definitive answer.

By: Emily DeJeu

Emily DeJeu — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:09:43 +0000

@ Heidi — thanks for sharing some of the details of your personal experience with swaddling. Glad to hear it’s been such an effective technique for your kids!

Thanks for commenting, Heidi. 🙂

By: Heidi Pfeifle

Heidi Pfeifle — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:11:32 +0000

For my daughter, I swaddled for the first few weeks as it than got hot. Our daycare provider started swaddling her again when she was around 5 months old because she would not go to sleep. When continued swaddling her until at least 18 months every night and sometimes for naps. We then would swaddle her on and off until just after her 2nd birthday. She slept on her stomach but was always able to move around. Her dad swaddled her very tightly.

With our twins, 6 months old now, we have swaddled from day one. At about 3 months old, we discovered that one of the twins slept better swaddled and on his stomach. The other twin still sleeps on his back.

Swaddling has helped all of my children to sleep better.

By: Emily DeJeu

Emily DeJeu — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:42:49 +0000

@ Harriet Watson — I understand what you’re saying, about anything we have to “do” to make baby sleep becoming a potential crutch that causes hassles down the road. And swaddling certainly can be that.

It doesn’t have to be, though. And I’d push back a little against your point about babies not being swaddled in the womb. Swaddling is an ancient and universal technique that mimics the womb, helping babies to feel as comfortable and as secure as they were in utero.

However, to each his own. 🙂 What works for some doesn’t always work for others.

Thanks for commenting, Harriet!

By: Harriett Watson

Harriett Watson — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:16:41 +0000

There are apparently pros and cons to swaddling. Personally, I did not swaddle my children and I raised seven. I/we used other means of getting them settled and sleeping through the night by about 8 to 9 weeks old. My mother taught all of us how to do it.

Just thinking out the box, are babies swaddled in the womb? I believe that once we use a “‘method with a baby they simply get used to it and yes, it’s going to be an additional task when we decide the “method” such as swaddling, is no longer good/safe, for whatever reason. One of the articles indicated that if a parent/caregiver decides to swaddle anyway, they should “check” the baby periodically, which seems to be a little more work and an additional source of anxiety for the parent. I believe self-soothing is key and learning it early is great. That may be why my babies slept through the night soon after birth. Me and my family just used a different method than swaddling so there was no need to see what was going to happen when we didn’t swaddle.