To swaddle or not to swaddle?

[greenmountainmomma]

Jamie is a fussy guy. After a few weeks of screaming, a friend came over with a swaddling blanket (it's thin and stretchy) and showed us how to burrito-fy him. At first he hated it, but now as soon as he starts to get wrapped, he quiets immediately -- hooray!

But... I was reading today that you shouldn't swaddle babies (in the Dr. Sears Baby book) much after birth because of their developing hip joints. Something about how they should be able to move their legs freely.

Has anyone heard about this? I do feel a little wierd about keeping the LO in a straight jacket for much of the day, but he digs it, and he doesn't scream, so I'm happy too. Anyone else swaddling?

[scheelimama]

Well, he's only a month old. I think it would be fine to keep swaddling him. But what do I know? I never heard that you shouldn't swaddle them much after birth. But Dr. Sears is the expert. I still swaddle Piper and she's only a few days younger than your LO. I dont' wrap her up too tight. I use a swaddling blanket, and there's a little wiggle room for her feet.

[GinaRae]

I'm thinking about all those babies swaddled onto their mom's backs for grueling periods of time... and they're okay.

I say go for the swaddle now and as he wakes up and gets happy, begin giving him time out of swaddling blanket until it's gone completely. Right now I WISH Lach would swaddle for a few minutes!

[Curlita]

Conrad is swaddled very snugly at night. We swaddled the bejesus out of Dylan and he seems fine. I think we asked our pede about it with Dylan because my MIL thought it was cruel and unusual. Dylan really needed to be swaddled to sleep well -- otherwise he would flap his arms around in his sleep and wake himself up.

[lisalulu]

I remember reading that in the Dr. Sears book too. I asked around about it when pg with ds1 and no one else had ever heard of any problems with it.

[LittleLlama]

Originally Posted by Curlita

....because my MIL thought it was cruel and unusual.

Why is it always the MIL's?

Don't worry about it getting in the way of development. DS was either swaddled or stuffed into a sling for the first year and he started RUNNING at 9 months, perfect physical fitness.

[Googy]

Well, developmentally speaking it depends how much you are swaddling them. In the past people would keep their babies swaddled all day long so that they could strap them on and work, and it was found that the babies' bones, muscles, and joints did not develop well because the babies were never able to exercise them. If swaddling is comforting to your child, then definitely do it, but only for part of the day--make sure they also have plenty of time to kick around.

[renaissanceed]

If you're really only swaddling him when he needs to sleep (which is a lot for a baby) or relax then I don't see a problem. Just give him a few 10 minute breaks through the day to kick his feet and wave his arms.

[greenmountainmomma]

Thanks for all the reassurance. I really just wanted to keep on swaddling without thinking that I'm crippling my child. We have one really good swaddling blanket, and I'm ashamed to admit that it gets pretty darn dirty before I'll put it in the wash and be without it for a couple hours.

He spends lots of time doing his punching and kicking when he's awake, so I'm not too worried about him moving around enough.

In the majority of photos I have of him, he looks like a little caterpillar in a cocoon. My neighbor came over the other night when I had him wrapped up and asked "is that normal?" Wish I could have thought of some smart alec answer about my abnormal parenting.

[Curlita]

Originally Posted by greenmountainmomma

In the majority of photos I have of him, he looks like a little caterpillar in a cocoon. My neighbor came over the other night when I had him wrapped up and asked "is that normal?"

: Geez!

We have a lot of what we call burrito-baby pictures of Dylan.