Hi. I’m Dana. Welcome to this week’s video. Today I want to talk about the swaddle, how to use it, and when to stop. I found the swaddle very useful. All three of my babies loved to be swaddled. We used to call it little baby burritos. We’d wrap them up and they looked so adorable. It tended to calm them down. Now the whole reason for swaddling in the first place is to sort of remind a new born baby of what it was like in the womb. You have to imagine for a new born baby there’s a lot of big changes that occur when they emerge into this world, and they’re not used to having so much open space around them. Wrapping them up fairly tightly gives them a sense of security, a little bit of a reminder about the womb experience, and it tends to calm a lot of new born babies down.

Now there has been some talk as of late about the safety around the swaddle. You definitely want to look into some of the precautions you need to take. One of the main concerns is that it will overheat your baby if they’re swaddled for too long and too tightly. A good rule of thumb around swaddling would be, you know what, maybe us it for nap, or use it for those afternoon naps that are a little trickier than some. Also, too, you want to get your baby in the habit of learning how to sleep when they’re not tightly wrapped because that can become a prop.

I’ve had many a client who’ve come to me with a eight, ten month old baby and they show me this giant receiving blanket that they’ve fashioned themselves to still swaddle up this little person. The trouble is that a child will kick free of the swaddle. It doesn’t matter how tightly you wrapped it or what kind of magic blanket you’ve been using to get your baby to stay in there, they just won’t. It’s almost as if they develop a bit of a love/hate relationship with the swaddle. They feel like they need to be tightly wrapped in order to sleep, but they are also very motivated to move and explore and figure out how to work their limbs, so they kick free. “I’m not swaddled anymore.” That usually stimulates a wake up. They’re crying. Now you need to come back in and re-swaddle.

My rule of thumb around swaddle use is just start moving away from it at about the tenth week. That can be a gradual thing at this point because we don’t have a really bad habit in place or a prop in place yet. Just try leaving one arm out. First nap of the day is usually the best nap. That might be a good place to start experimenting with letting baby figure this out a little bit more independently without that swaddle. One arm out, then after a week or so of that, you leave both arms out and just swaddle from the waist down. After a week of that, you would go just abandon the swaddle period.

Now, a good transition object is something called the Zipadee Zip. You might have seen it. It’s a little sleep sack and it’s kind of got some arms to it. It’s not total freedom, but it is more so than a swaddle. That can be a good next step if you’re trying to break a swaddle prop problem.

Now, some newborn babies do not like the swaddle. I’m not sure what that looks like, but I’m imagining that they cry and get squirmy and very fussy and frustrated when they’re in it. If they don’t like it, then don’t use it. I mean, that’s just common sense. We’re not going to force a baby into a swaddle situation if they’re not enjoying it. Sometimes it does take a time or two. Don’t just try it once, think your baby doesn’t like it, and abandon it. Try it a few times before you make that call. I do find that it helps a baby sleep a little bit longer than they might without it. That is simply because of the reflex of the sort of falling reflex, they call it, where the baby throws their arms out spontaneously. That will wake them. Then it’s a little trickier to get them back to sleep. They’ll often do it several times in that process of falling asleep. Having the arms wrapped or down can prevent that and stop them from doing it and then encourage a longer nap time.

A few things to keep in mind around the swaddle. Definitely give it a try. Think about not using it all of the time, though. Make sure that you don’t have your baby too bundled. If they’ve got a heavy fleece onesie on and a big heavy blanket and they’re tightly wrapped up, that might be too much, and you’re going to over heat this little person and they’re going to be uncomfortable. It might also be a bit of a safety concern. Just keep a few precautions in mind. Definitely try it out. Thanks so much for watching today. Sleep well.