Swaddling is one of those controversial parenting topics. Some people are SUPER PRO SWADDLING because newborn babies like to feel secure, like they were in the womb, and load up the swaddling blankets so baby will stay warm. Other people are SUPER ANTI SWADDLING because baby can feel secure against mama’s chest (babywearing to the rescue!) and skin-to-skin contact is the best way to regulate a newborn’s temperature. Swaddling can also interfere with nursing, because babies use their hands and arms to find the nipple, knead the breast, and so forth. Babies also suck on their hands as an early hunger signal, but you’ll miss it if they’re swaddled.
I’m kind of in the middle… I don’t love swaddling, and wish I could get away with never swaddling my babies, but both of mine really seem to like it and/or need it. Anneliese couldn’t ever “transfer” (if she fell asleep in my arms, and I needed to put her down somewhere else) without being swaddled. Ever. Her startle reflex was super-strong and her arms would flail and wake her up. Every time. So I swaddled her out of necessity, for sleep. It was the only way I could get her to sleep away from my body during any part of the day or night.
Joseph started out without a swaddle and I thought he would miraculously never need to be wrapped up tightly. Then we had a swaddling period where no matter what, if he wasn’t swaddled, he would only sleep for about 10 minutes. But if he was swaddled he would have a nice long nap and then wake up refreshed. I decided to wean him from swaddling when he started rolling over, and he let go of it really easily, unlike Anneliese who had a more difficult transition. Then he started trying to crawl. And without a swaddle, he was up on all fours, rocking, trying to propel himself forward, even if he was completely exhausted. As soon as I would swaddle him though, he would breathe a sigh of relief, and his whole body would relax.
Just when I started to think about re-weaning him from it (after he mastered crawling), the same thing is happening because he is trying to pull up on everything. He is in constant motion and literally cannot sleep…Babywearing naps happen, and naps in the car, but other than that, he really needs to be swaddled to sleep, still. I’ll keep testing whether or not he’s ready to let go of it, but for now, that’s what we’re doing.
Meanwhile, Anneliese, my 2 year old, STILL loves to be “tucked in” tightly all around her body. If I don’t tuck the blanket super-tightly under her in a certain spot, she will demand that I do so. “Tuck my knee! Tuck my yeg! Tuck my other yeg! Tuck my feet! Tuck my shoulders! Tuck my armbs!” Everything must be tucked, like a gigantic toddler swaddle.
My bottom line is… you do what you gotta do, sometimes. I would put myself more in the anti-swaddle camp, but for a sanity-saving tool? I’ll take what I can get. How do you feel about swaddling new babies?
Check out the Huggies Mommy Answers Facebook app and find more posts from bloggers sharing their experiences of motherhood on the Huggies page on BlogHer.com.
9 Comments
Just to let you know your web-site looks a little bit different in Firefox on my laptop with Linux .
here are some hyperlinks to websites that we link to simply because we feel they may be really worth
Its superb as your other blog posts : D, thanks for posting . “A single day is enough to make us a l
I am all for “whatever works” with regards to baby care/kid care. I had all sorts of ideas (and judgements) about all the intricacies of child-rearing… And I still do. But MANY of my plans, thoughts, ideas, philosophies went OUT THE WINDOW when my uber-needy first girl arrived. Now that she’s four we’re in a good zone, but it has been a long, bumpy ride. Thank goodness I had no preconceived notions -for or against- swaddling, because it saved us! For the first 3 months anyway. Then it stopped- over night. And we needed to reinvent the wheel once again… Sigh. Oh, well. we got through it. And now we have two delicious little girls, aged two and four, and they now sleep together in one large bed and it is The.Sweetest.Thing.EVER.
#thrivin’Mama
I couldn’t agree with you more! You do what you have to do. I always tell myself the other thing I learned from you as well – each baby is unique and as parents we have to tend to those individual needs instead of others opinions.
When we discovered swaddling it was amazing for us as W’s fall reflex was bad as well, he was always flipping his arms up and startling himself. We transitioned slowly, but often found ourselves going back to it for comfort until he comfortably found how to sleep on his side.
Kennady hated being swaddled, but when she was in the NICU they swaddled her all the time. Coby liked it for awhile – some nights it was the only way we could get him to sleep. Maddox liked being swaddled as a really little baby, but quickly grew out of it. He had colic & being swaddled & carried around really helped him. Now, he can’t have any blankets on his arms or he wakes himself up trying to get out of the blanket. Coby & Kennady love being tucked in at night & sometimes I have to remove the blankets from Coby’s face (there’s always a gap so he can breathe, but I still take them off)
just wondering how your “little” joey is growing? i remember you sharing your hard work on getting him to a good weight, and not hearing much afterward! hoping you are all doing well with it!
My son wasn’t really a fan of swaddling. But I have just started swaddling my 11 month old daughter again. I’ve been finding if she is overstimulated and super tired it is one of the only ways I can get her to calm down (not even the boob helps). And now all of a sudden since the swaddling started, she wants to take naps and fall asleep on her own. I’m not complaining.
I think that swaddling is a great tool if you need it.
We joke in our house that we have to take Payson’s arm privileges away because she flaps her arms like crazy, so our Bambino Land swaddle blankets have been a life saver. Capri hated being swaddled though.