Pros & Cons of Swaddling Your Baby

Your baby will let you know if he doesn't want to be swaddled.baby image by Yvonne Bogdanski from Fotolia.com

Swaddling your baby involves wrapping him tightly in a blanket so his arms and legs are unable to move. For centuries, many cultures have swaddled babies to help them feel secure, but in recent years, swaddling has come into disfavor in Western cultures, with some people feeling babies can be harmed by it.

Pros for Swaddling Your Baby

Swaddling provides extra warmth for a newborn baby in the early weeks. It makes your baby feel secure because the pressure of the blanket wrapped around his limbs mimics the pressure he felt while still in the womb. Babies with excessive crying are often calmed down by swaddling. Swaddled babies are less at risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, perhaps because a swaddled infant is usually placed on his back to sleep, minimizing the risk of SIDS. Swaddling may have even more benefits for preterm infants, including better neuromuscular development and motor organization, as well as greater ability to self-regulate.

Swaddled babies sleep longer, and wake fewer times during sleep. Some babies keep themselves from sleeping by waving their arms and legs around, startling themselves so they can't get to sleep; swaddling limits this startling by preventing the arm and leg movement. Some swaddled babies even take the act of swaddling as a trigger for sleep, so they learn to put themselves to sleep more easily.

Swaddling is linked to hip displacement in places where an infant's legs are stretched out straight before swaddling. Swaddling can also lead to overheating, making it especially important not to cover the baby's head or face with the swaddling blanket. If a swaddled baby is placed on his face, the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome increases. Tight swaddling can lead to a greater risk of respiratory infections. Swaddling is also sometimes linked to delayed weight gain.

Some babies simply don't like swaddling, which makes them distressed. As infants get older, sometimes they like going to sleep swaddled, but don't like staying asleep in swaddling, so they kick and struggle to escape the swaddling blanket, but then want to be reswaddled to fall asleep again, which can mean the parent will be up and down a lot during the night. Swaddling a baby during non-sleep hours can inhibit motor development, since he will have less time in which to practice skills like rolling and sitting.

Swaddling a newborn infant can give the child great security and help him learn how to sleep. After about one month, you should stop swaddling your baby when he's awake, and he will probably be ready to sleep unswaddled by three to four months. Your baby will let you know when he doesn't want to be swaddled by kicking away the swaddling blankets. You should certainly stop swaddling by the time your baby is ready to start turning over.

If you choose to swaddle, watch out for overheating, and switch from a blanket to a lightweight sheet or shawl if your baby's chest feels hot to the touch, or if he starts to sweat.