Swaddling is an age old technique for helping babies calm down and get to sleep. Imagine being a newborn infant: You’ve gone from the relative calm and warmth of the womb to the bright, noisy world, as the rest of us experience it. Quite a transition! Swaddling helps return baby to that comfort feeling they had in the womb, where they were closely encircled by Mom’s body and feeling cozy and warm.
Why swaddling helps
Swaddling helps baby to get better sleep—that is, sleep that enters the REM state, necessary for important brain development—by decreasing the startle reflex, reducing colic and general fussiness and preventing over-stimulation and as noted above, it also helps to keep baby warm.
Swaddling also decreases the risk of SIDS by helping babies to remain on their back when they are sleeping and can help with breastfeeding. How? Baby remains calmer when swaddled and can’t push away or scratch at you.
While some people worry that swaddling can interfere with proper hip development, if you select a swaddle such as the Ollie Swaddle the fabric is specially designed to offer enough give to allow the joints to move freely without interfering with the comfort benefits of the swaddle.
How to swaddle safely
Step 1 - Spread out your swaddle on a flat surface, like the bed, and smooth it out.
Step 2 - Place your baby on the fabric, with shoulders above the top of the fabric. This is important and a little counter-intuitive. You might be thinking that keeping the shoulder below the fabric line will keep baby cozier but actually, this poses the risk of fabric ending up in your baby’s face, increasing the risk of suffocation. It’s the tightness of the swaddle that soothes baby, not the fabric itself.
Step 3 - Fold the right side of the swaddle across baby’s torso, with her arms either down at her sides or folded across her chest. Pull the fabric taut across her body. Remember, it’s designed to give enough to allow some movement without breaking open the swaddle.
Step 4 - Fold the left side over now and pull the fabric taut, around your baby’s back.
How tight should the swaddle be?
You should be able to slide your hand in between the swaddle and your baby’s chest easily but without any extra ‘give’ on the fabric.
When should you stop swaddling a baby?
It’s time to stop swaddling once baby is able to roll from back-to-front on purpose or can escape from the swaddle by himself. Baby can end up getting tangled up in the swaddle, which isn’t a safe situation during sleep.
If you’ve been using swaddling consistently at night up to this point, you might find that going ‘cold turkey’ and removing the swaddle entirely is difficult for baby, so take it in stages and have them sleep with one arm out, then both arms out, until you can remove the swaddle entirely.
NEVER use a loose swaddle, thinking that this will help them to adapt, as this goes against safe sleep guidelines.
Other swaddling tips?
Swaddling is a comfort technique meant to be used for sleeping. Avoid using it too frequently during the day, and instead opt for tummy time and other methods to keep your baby’s development on track.
Hindi Zeidman is an infant mental health clinician and founder of the Ollie Swaddle, the cozy swaddling solution designed to decrease fussiness, assist in self-calming and ultimately improve baby’s quality and duration of sleep. Ollie Swaddle's elasticity allows for freedom of movement while the opening at the bottom makes it easy to change diapers. The custom developed, patented moisture wicking material reduces overheating, promoting physiological regulation. It's perfect for ages 0-4 months.
