Swaddling??

[BroodyTroody]

I've seen a little bit about swaddling on here, but I just wondered if someone would be able to fill me in a bit more please?

I've seen some good value swaddle wraps, but without really knowing about it, I wasn't sure if I'd need one.

What are the pros and cons of swaddling?

Thank you!

You don't need a special wrap - any old sheet or blanket will do (baby sized).

You just wrap them up tightly, and they feel nice and safe and secure, and go off to sleep happily.

I swear by the Miracle blanket www.miracleblanket.com as I knew I couldn't get the plain old sheets or muslins secure enough.

This was my lifesaver and DS slept like a dream in it from day one until he was 5 months. Easy to use, no zippers or velcro to get full of fluff and doesn't make a noise if you need to change their bum in the middle of the night.

Highly recommend it. You don't have to swaddle but if your baby is one that likes it then it really helps.

"You just wrap them up tightly, and they feel nice and safe and secure, and go off to sleep happily."

Ha ha ha ha.

DD hated being swaddled. Maybe it was because she was a summer baby an it was too hot to swaddle her, but when the weather cooled down I tried swaddling her and she screamed and screamed the place down, so I didn't bother.

Ah thank you, it seems to be a controversial topic but I'm not really sure why!

Baby is due in May so maybe it'll be too warm!

Not necessarily! I live in the Caribbean and still swaddled, I just used less clothes.

Our house is cooled to 82oF (28oc?) and all I started off with him in a onesie and the swaddle blanket (light cotton but not muslin thin) and then got rid of the onesie when I realised it was still too warm for him. So basically all he got swaddled in was his pamper and the swaddle blanket.

I don't know why it's contraversial either, I read something about hips not developing properly but I would assume thats in the cases where the baby is swaddled for night time sleep and a lot during the day. I only ever swaddled DS at night when it was time for his long sleep, during the day I'd leave him free.

As long as you don't swaddle too restrictively (cutting off circulation etc), baby doesn't get too hot, you don't swaddle for too many hours in the day and you stop once baby can roll over you should be fine!

And yes, I would wait and see what kind of baby you get - I only knew I wanted to try swaddling because I'd seen it work successfully for my niece so bought the miracle blankets in advance and off the back of the good reviews on it.

Am pregnant with no. 2 now and I'm sure this one will be one that absolutely hates it!

We used a swaddle pod which had a zip and is only one layer thick (I think it was called that) as we couldn't work out the wraps.

Really helped us as dd used to wake herself up with her arms. She's now 17wks and we've just put her into a sleeping bag as she's started to sooth herself with her fingers.

There was a thread about swaddling a week or so ago - please forgive my copying and pasting of my post from there:

Hip dysplasia and swaddling was discussed recently on Radio 4's Inside Health programme, currently available (with transcript) at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r9crt

Paediatric orthopaedic surgeon, Professor Nicholas Clarke, who featured on the programme is on the Medical Advisory Board of the International Hip Dysplasia Institute - the Institute offers Hip-Healthy Swaddling advice, including a video.