I’m pretty pragmatic about swaddling. I never even considered it with my first baby, but it definitely served a purpose for a short while with my second.
If you want to swaddle, just make sure:
Not to swaddle too tight.
A thin muslin cloth is perfectly adequate.
Don’t swaddle for co-sleeping.
Make sure they don’t get too hot.
Never swaddle the head.
Wrap loosely round the hips, never tightly.
Give plenty of opportunity to roll around on the floor unrestricted, so your little one can learn how to control and organise their reflexes and voluntary movements.
Here comes the important bit:
Once your baby can roll - do not swaddle them. That’s because there’s a risk they could become stuck on their fronts and not be able to roll back.
It’s advisable to start to loosen the swaddle to gradually wean your baby off by about 12 weeks.
Now I know this can be difficult, so there are some things you can do to wean off slowly:
You could make the swaddle a little bit looser over a few nights until you get rid of it completely.
You could go for the one arm trick, release one and see how they tolerate that and then the other.
Replicate the pressure of swaddling by gently holding your little ones hands on their chest and slowly releasing so they don’t startle as easily.
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