Swaddling

Baby burrito time! Swaddling is a time-tested tradition for babies. Wrapping babies up to feel all comfy and cozy in the first few months of life can help babies calm faster and sleep better. The swaddle acts as a way to simulate the all-over warm and cramped feeling of being in the womb and makes the transition to the harsh cold world a bit more gentle for the little one. However, some babies don’t like swaddles and will try to break out any chance they get. It is not necessary to swaddle every baby. Most babies also like to have their hands near their faces to help with soothing and comfort, so don’t feel like you have to swaddle baby with their arms down like a soldier at attention. Every family has their own technique, but the most common method for swaddling is as follows:

1.      Spread out a blanket and fold one corner down.

2.      Place your baby's head above the fold.

3.      Wrap one side of the blanket over the body, arms inside.

4.      Tuck the blanket underneath your baby.

5.      Fold up from the bottom.

6.      Wrap the other side of the blanket across the body and tuck it under.

Now some babies, if they could have their way, would swaddle forever, but at a certain point, we must stop the full swaddle for safety concerns. Once baby starts making efforts while awake to roll front-to-back or back-to-front, we need to make sure their arms are out and ready when they are sleeping. This allows them to help readjust their head and upper body if they roll over while sleeping. We can still swaddle their lower body with a sleep-sack style of wrap, but we need those arms and hands out and ready for action.