Do I need to swaddle a newborn girl. Pros: A Critical Look. Why swaddle a newborn

04.06.2019

A traditional question that worries young parents is whether it is necessary to swaddle a newborn? In the maternity hospital, each mother receives a baby tightly wrapped in one or even two warm diapers. This is followed by a short course on the technique of correct swaddling. But now a happy mother crosses the threshold of her home with a priceless bundle in her hands and faces a difficult choice: whether to swaddle a month-old baby, whether to swaddle at 2 months and how often? Let's analyze these questions in parts and give reasonable answers.

Why swaddle newborn babies?

Having been born, the child does not stop moving chaotically, repeating the sharp throwing of the legs and arms. This condition is typical during his stay in the womb, where the walls of the uterus acted as a restraining and calming factor. Now the absence of any boundaries and limits can scare the baby. That is why children have been swaddled for a long time - they have created safe limits that mimic a familiar environment. The same effect can be achieved by simply laying the baby on his tummy, as a result of which he assumes a position similar to being in the womb, calms down and reduces activity. Here you should follow certain safety rules - the baby's breathing should be free and not hindered by thick pillows and a blanket.

Followers of the old views continue to believe that it is necessary to swaddle a newborn tightly for aesthetic purposes, in order to prevent the curvature of the baby's legs and arms. But it has long been established that this defect is hereditary and in no way depends on whether the infant was swaddled in the first months of his life.

Cons of swaddling a baby

Currently, there are many opponents of the need to swaddle a newborn. Their arguments are different, often not devoid of common sense:

diapers restrict the baby's natural movements, squeezing the diaphragm and causing discomfort;
blood circulation is disturbed, which affects the condition of the muscles and internal organs of the baby;
swaddling a newborn is the same as isolating him from the mother, since as a result of this there is no vital contact of the baby with her body;
the position of the toddler without diapers (with divorced legs) excludes the development of dysplasia;
the diaper interferes with freedom and full knowledge of the world;
overheating of the baby may occur, so it is especially not recommended to swaddle a newborn in summer;
diapers take up a lot of drying space and use more detergent than regular clothes.

Pros of swaddling a baby

Meanwhile, there are supporters of this process who, when asked whether it is necessary to swaddle a newborn, give a confident affirmative answer. In defense of their opinion, they cite the following arguments:

in a diaper, the baby behaves calmer, falls asleep faster and sleeps better;
the wrapped baby feels more comfortable and safer;
it is easier for inexperienced parents to swaddle a newborn, this reduces the risk of harming him;
a toddler in a diaper is easier to feed and rocking;
Due to the absence of scars and seams, so often present on ordinary clothes, diapers are ahead of children's pants and undershirts in terms of comfort and general convenience.

Should a newborn swaddle at night?

A special place in numerous disputes is occupied by the night swaddling of the baby. Often, in an attempt to find the only immutable truth, opponents forget the old rule - everything is individual. Some babies sleep peacefully all night long, without even trying to free themselves from the diaper "captivity". In such cases, you can safely swaddle the newborn before going to bed, thereby providing him with a healthy and sound sleep. Other crumbs are so violently disentangled from their cocoon that there can be no question of any serene rest. Such "fighters" should be left without a diaper overnight.

Free swaddling

The free swaddling method implies the divorced baby's legs with two diapers between them, fixed with a slider or a third diaper.

This method has enough advantages:

strengthening the immune system;
the ability to roll over on the side and tummy, which saves the baby from many dangers;
free breathing and improved blood circulation;
no skin problems (redness and diaper rash);
harmonious development of the child, due to the unlimited movement and the ability to fully cognize the world.

Tight swaddling

The method of swaddling, in which the legs and arms of the crumbs are straightened and fixed with a diaper, is called tight. Should a newborn swaddle this way? Consider the arguments of the supporters of this method and their appropriateness.

Smooth legs. It has long been proven that this factor is determined by heredity or diseases transferred in childhood.
The kid is more comfortable this way. An absurd statement, given that the usual position for a baby is the posture of an embryo with bent arms and legs.
Keeps warm. But this happens to the detriment of the natural hardening of the crumbs.
Deep sleep. Many babies cannot fall asleep until they are at least partially free from the diaper, or not completely free of it. Therefore, this argument is ambiguous and rather serves as a counterargument.

How long does it take to swaddle a newborn?

There is no definite answer here. Mom herself will intuitively understand how long it takes to swaddle a newborn baby after birth. The kid begins to show discontent and desperate protest when the time comes. You can give freedom during the waking period, and then gradually wean the child from swaddling before bedtime. If everything suits him, then it is reasonable to continue this practice for no more than 3 months, so as not to interfere with the baby in the future to actively move and fully develop.

Do I need to swaddle a newborn - Doctor Komarovsky video:

Should a newborn baby be swaddled? Obviously, the health and well-being of the baby is in the first place for every parent. Therefore, when choosing a way of caring for him, it is important to focus on the child himself, his actions and behavior. If he is unduly restless before bed, then you can try tight swaddling, observing the reaction of the baby. But it is still wiser to give preference to a more comfortable free form of swaddling or to refuse it altogether.

Good day, dear mothers and grandmothers! Elena Bortsova is with you. Modern doctors have noted a sharp increase in the death of infants due to sudden death syndrome. Many people associate this with the fact that mothers have stopped swaddling babies. My friend recently gave birth and can't decide whether to swaddle a newborn?

They say to me: swaddling is harmful!

When my son was born, I swaddled him in the hospital and the first month at home. It was something! Diaper to the sides and in front of me lies a spider. Andrei spread his legs and arms as far as possible.

It was almost impossible to swaddle him quickly, he resisted as best he could. Even the child, wrapped up and tied with a tape for reliability, managed to stick out at least some part of the body. A pen appeared, scratching the face; in the clinic, a bare leg was shining.

I tortured the child like that until the mother-in-law said that swaddling, it turns out, is harmful! And this opinion is shared by many doctors, pediatricians, psychologists:

Tight swaddling compresses the legs, provoking the development of dysplasia.
It is difficult for a baby to breathe in diapers.
Development slows down, since the newborn cannot study the world around him, touching the surrounding objects.
And most importantly, tight twisting provokes Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

It turns out that my child was just fighting for freedom of movement and development! But why, then, are babies still swaddled in the hospital?

Opinion of doctors

Children need to be swaddled from birth so as not to injure the delicate skin with the seams of overalls, shirts.
Restricting space helps avoid stress by simulating being in the womb.
A baby sleeps better if he is not intimidated by his hands, which he sometimes throws up.

Maternity nurses use folding to save time. What do you think is faster, to automatically "roll" a dozen babies into cloths or to put on sliders for everyone?

Yes, and it is easier for a young mother to learn the basics of swaddling than to pull with shaking hands on the first-born little man, sliders, bodysuits. What about clothes that need to be worn over the head? It's just scary to bring it to the baby!

How to wrap up with benefit?

The main advisor, my mother, said that she swaddled us for only three months. At that time, the maternity hospital did not show how to properly twist the babies, so the first "bags" did not help much to cope with throwing up the arms and pulling out the legs. Already on the second child, it turned out to adhere to a certain scheme and choose a position convenient for the baby:

If the child in the sliders does not sleep well, grabs himself by the face, cries - swaddle.
Use free wrapping, allowing the legs to "jerk" calmly.
Can't stand diapers, get out? Winding is canceled.

How many months to swaddle a baby? You need to look at the behavior, if the baby falls asleep well in a slip, he likes to know the world through touch, then wrapping can be canceled already in a month.

I myself used to be a fierce opponent of swaddling (but what, a relic of the past, scoop). My daughter convinced me. How she screamed! Until you wrap it in a diaper, do not wait for peace. And you wrap it up, looks pretty and - falls asleep.

What advice to your friend? I suggested that she swaddle for the night if the baby does not sleep well, is frightened of his pens. And in general, to look at the condition of the child, which I recommend to you.

Unfortunately, it's time for us to say goodbye. I will wait for you in a new topic. Subscribe to blog updates, share useful information with your friends on social networks. Patience for mothers and healthy children!

Tight swaddling with a "soldier" has long been recognized as ineffective; it has been replaced by free swaddling. But is it necessary to swaddle newborns at all? Isn't it better to dress your child in comfortable overalls or rompers from the first days? Swaddling has both advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage of free swaddling over tight swaddling.

Pediatricians unanimously state: tight swaddling does not help to straighten the legs and create good posture. Most young mothers, noticing the curvature of the legs of the newborn, still doubt: is it not worth starting to swaddle the baby tightly?

Believe me, you don't need to do this. A slight curvature of the legs in the first months of life is the norm. The more the crumb develops, the smoother its legs will become. If in doubt, take your baby to an orthopedic surgeon and ask about swaddling. Most likely, the doctor will confirm the normal constitution of the child and dispel doubts about the twisting of the legs. The myths associated with tight swaddling, which have existed for many decades in a row, are now debunked by science.

At the same time, tight swaddling hinders the physical development of the baby, because he cannot move his arms and legs. It is physical activity that allows children of the first months of life to learn about the capabilities of their body and get acquainted with the world around them. In addition, tight swaddling does not allow the baby take a physiological posture, to which he most often aspires.

Pay attention to how the child behaves when his movements are not constrained: he presses his arms to his chest and bends his legs at the knees. It is in this position that the baby is comfortable, he feels safe. So it is clear that free swaddling preferable. Further we will focus exclusively on him.

Several reasons for swaddling

"Should I swaddle the baby?" The little one will most likely tell the answer to this question himself. If the child cannot sleep well, throws up his arms anxiously, makes sudden movements and cries at the same time, try to swaddle him.

As practice shows, it is often swaddling helps to calm the baby... There are several explanations for this. From the moment of birth, the baby's life is filled with stress: everything that was familiar to him in the mother's womb has disappeared. He breathes in a new way, eats in a new way, the world is filled with bright light and loud sounds. In addition, the baby left his "house", in which he was, albeit cramped, but calm. It is swaddling that helps create conditions close to the intrauterine life of a child. He can move, but the space for movement is limited. So getting used to new conditions of life is more gentle.

The most compromise option is to swaddle the baby. at the time of sleep, while during the waking period he is dressed in a jumpsuit or a jersey and romper. For some babies, it is swaddling that promotes restful sleep.

The movements of a newborn baby are conditioned. For example, hearing a loud sound, he throws up the handles, and then presses them to him. Babies often make the same movements in their sleep. The wave of your own pen interrupts the baby's sleep more often than light or extraneous sounds. A child who has been swaddled will not wake himself up with hands, because his movements are limited. In addition, a child who has been swaddled will definitely not reveal itself in a dream.

Another important factor: diapers are more versatile than rompers or overalls. In the first months of life, the child grows very quickly, every 2-3 weeks he needs to buy clothes of the next size. From point of view economic benefits diapers are definitely more affordable. It is enough to have one set of diapers, which will last from birth up to 5-6 months.

Reasons to not swaddle

Again, the kid himself can tell you that he doesn't need swaddling... If the baby is worried, is struggling to get the pens, expresses his displeasure even with loose swaddling, give it up.

Swaddling is not suitable for babies who have violation of muscle tone... Unfortunately, this phenomenon occurs very often in babies in the first months of life. In this case, it is worth dressing the child in comfortable clothes so that he can move absolutely freely and feel comfortable. Since in this case, children can throw off the blanket during sleep, it is better to use a special sleeping bag with sleeves or an envelope blanket.

Swaddle or not? If you are just waiting for the birth of a baby, this question, of course, will worry you. Many people consider swaddling a baby to be out of date. Why tie a baby when there are many clothes, including “special” ones that prevent scratching or humble chaotic movements of a newborn?

Diapers, or swabies, as they were beautifully called in the old days, are designed not only to replace clothes that are unusual for a baby, but also to imitate a cozy mother's tummy, from which they recently happened to be born. The walls of the uterus limited the baby's movements, and the unlimited space around him at first can scare the baby. Have you noticed how a newborn from time to time throws up his arms and legs, after which he wakes up and cries? He wakes himself up with uncontrollable movements that drive him into panic.

Free swaddling

Diapers are designed to relieve stress and at the same time provide the child with many new tactile sensations - the main source of information for him in the first weeks of life. Soft and pleasant to the touch, the diapers will keep your baby warm if he is suddenly not in the mother's arms. In addition, numerous touches of tissue to the baby's body will contribute to the development of touch - the more intense it is, the faster and easier the baby will adapt to being in our world.

I considered myself an avid opponent of swaddling. And only later I found out: what in my vocabulary was called “making a nest from a diaper” is called free swaddling in the civilized world. It is precisely for this type of use of diapers that doctors usually advocate: the child has enough space in order to receive tactile sensations and move in the range available to him, at the same time, such movements will not frighten the baby: he will sleep peacefully, and develop actively ...

Is it “real” to swaddle?

In the maternity hospital, they teach to swaddle tightly. The legs, however, are bent, not straightened, as they usually swaddled twenty years ago, but the child can no longer move his hands. In a tightly swaddled form, the child falls asleep well and gives mom time to rest. For the sake of fairness, it is worth noting that with free swaddling, the baby sleeps no worse, so the choice of the type of swaddling is entirely yours. At the service of a nurse in a maternity hospital, who sought to teach inexperienced mothers to swaddle their babies “correctly”, ie. tight, I only ran twice, and then not for long.

At home, I was forced to try to reproduce the skills I got in the hospital - once the child did not want to fall asleep and cried (as it turned out the next day, the child had a cold, felt bad). I had to swaddle. And then the two-week-old child was offended! You might argue that these feelings are not available to a 2-week-old. But I'm sure: if you saw the expression on my daughter's face at that moment, you would not doubt the choice of the interpretation of her feelings. We quickly came to a compromise: I weakened the diaper as much as possible, leaving only the appearance of swaddling, and my daughter pulled out her arms, pretended to be swaddled, and, as a baby at her age should be in such a situation, fell asleep.

When and how much to swaddle?

If the child is almost constantly on your arms, then you do not need to swaddle him: mother's hugs sufficiently give the baby a feeling of security and warmth. But if a sleeping child is transferred to a crib or stroller, then it will be comfortable for him to sleep in a nest from a warm diaper. Most often, babies are swaddled during the first month of life. If the chaos of movements persists longer, and the child still wakes himself up with uncontrolled movements of the arms and legs, then the swaddling can be saved for the required period.

My personal opinion is that you need to look closely at the child. If throwing up the handles-legs even in the first days of life does not cause fear, then it is not necessary to wrap the baby in a diaper. Ask your baby what he likes best: swaddled or not. You, of course, will not hear words from him now, but you will know the child's answer for sure. As a mother, you cannot help but smell it.

The question "Whether to swaddle a newborn" before our grandmothers and even more so great-grandmothers did not stand. They could not even think that swaddling can be canceled.
The diaper for newborns came to us from the distant past. And its appearance was influenced by territories with a cool climate. In such areas, you will not be able to flaunt a minimum of clothing all the time. And also, the mother could not hold the newborn in her arms around the clock, the diaper made it possible to leave the newborn for some time, go to eat, for example, work a little or just sleep. And then there was not much choice. It was a time of scarcity and sliders were only released for crawling kids.
And now, when in our world there is an alternative to almost everything and everyone, we make a decision - to follow the long-tried and proven swaddling party, or to keep up with the times and refuse to swaddle newborns. Actually, whatever you choose, everything has its pros and cons (pros and cons).

Whether to Swaddle a Newborn - Pros of Swaddling
In a newborn baby, movements are not yet coordinated at all. The child is often frightened by the spontaneous movement of his arms and legs. Therefore, the child needs to feel the surface next to his body. Of course, it is best if this surface is mom. But the mother cannot always hold the newborn in her arms, for example, during sleep, and then the mother can change the diaper.
At small stages of pregnancy, the fetus is still very small and it "floats" in the amniotic fluid without touching the walls of the uterus. But as the child grows, every month more and more comes into contact with the walls of the uterus, and in recent months it is pressed against them quite tightly. But a child perceives this not as a restriction of freedom, but as knowledge of his body. Therefore, now the newborn feels comfortable curled up in a “ball” in a diaper, his legs are bent to his chin, and his arms are crossed on his chest. This position reminds him of the position in the mother's tummy. With such a swaddling, the baby is not clamped by the diaper, but loosely wrapped around it. This swaddling is called “Free”. Gradually, the newborn baby gets used to it and is no longer afraid of its arms and legs. So it's time to give up swaddling.
Throughout the post-Soviet space, people used to learn to swaddle a child with outstretched arms and legs. This type of swaddling is called “tight”. But such swaddling was most likely used to simplify the work of medical personnel in maternity hospitals. The legs from such swaddling will not become smoother and the hypertonicity will not subside. Children used to be placed separately from their mothers in the nursery, and they themselves had to look after a large number of newborns, and the children swaddled in a column behaved quietly. And it is much easier to sterilize diapers than small baby clothes. Now, even in the clan houses, such swaddling is not practiced.

Relatively recently, a new fashion of rejection of diapers has breathed. And she found a large number of supporters. But even now there are quite a few experts who are convinced that swaddling is necessary for newborns in the first month of life.

Whether to swaddle a newborn - Pros of not swaddling
Now many parents, having returned from home, put on rompers, overalls and blouses on their child. And they have scientifically sound reasons for it. Chief among these reasons is the faster development of a diaper-free baby. As soon as the baby learns to coordinate them, a more rapid development of motor skills and, accordingly, thinking will go. And as they say in the movement of life. The child moves his arms and legs - this is a kind of charging and muscle training, which only positively affects the further development and ability to control his body. They say that children who are not swaddled begin to crawl faster and even walk faster.

But in the first month (or maybe less), parents who refuse to swaddle will have to very often hold it in their arms so that the baby is calmer and needs to be prepared for this.