My Baby Doesn’t Like Swaddling
When my eldest was born, we really struggled in the hospital to keep him in that neat, perfect bundle that the nurse wrapped him in. Seriously - why do they use those unforgiving, cloth blankets that are a little too small, anyway? It’s impossible to wrap a baby in! Unless, of course, you’re a nurse (or a doula, as I’ve gotten pretty savvy with them with my clients over the years) with a degree in origami.
As we got home and ditched the cloth blanket and switched to muslin, velcro and the miracle blanket, we started to get discouraged. Maybe our baby just didn’t LIKE to be swaddled. Every time we tried a new trick, he’d figure out a way to get his arms out. He’d wake up in a bundle of blankets, angry and jumbled, and we’d sweat trying to find the edges to unwrap him fully.
Was it that our baby didn’t like swaddling? Or were we not doing it right? Or was it something else entirely?
After examining newborn development and realizing the stages of sleep new babies cycle through, we realized a few things:
Most babies like to be swaddled TIGHT
Babies should have an additional three months in the womb, but our pelvises can’t birth a 12 month gestation baby, so out they come at 9! Subsequently, babies want to be in that uterine environment; warm, TIGHT and squished into a ball.
This is why so many babies like to be held tightly, arms at their sides. Newborns need to quiet the moro or ‘startle’ reflex that they’re innately born with, to keep calm and rested. When you place a newborn down, notice how their arms flail out to the side as if they’re falling. This reflex keeps a newborn in an alert state, and can happen even when they’re dozing if their arms have too much freedom.
The culprit with many swaddles is that we treat them too gently; newborns need to be very tightly swaddled, hands up or down, to keep those arms feeling that steady pressure at their sides. This quiets the reflex to flail and keeps them calm and sleeping.
Hands up or down, swaddling falls apart when the baby can get their arms out as a newborn. Utilizing features with velcro pockets are great, but still need to have that tightness around the arms. The more a baby can wiggle and move, the greater the swaddle will come undone.
Swaddling on its own isn’t ENOUGH
Just simply swaddling a baby won’t do the trick at keeping them asleep. Soothing techniques like swaying and adding in white noise is needed to help a baby soothe and create restful, calming cues. A newborn can’t self soothe well, so having these triggers is helpful in combination.
Are there some babies who truly DON’T like swaddling?
Perhaps. Most likely, with the right combination of comforts and techniques, a baby will adapt to using swaddling as a way to help them gain restful sleep.
Have you seen our video series on different swaddle techniques? Stop on over at our Facebook page and check some out!
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