Thursday, February 10, 2011

Rethinking Swaddling

Swaddled Nia, 8 days old

I've posted before about how we let Nia sleep on her tummy and that it works fine with us. Since then I've been packing up some of her outgrown items and came across her swaddling blanket. It worked for all of two weeks then Nia wouldn't have anything to do with it.

Now that she's in her crib she moves all around and will often suddenly flip to her back in the middle of the night and startle herself awake. We've put her to sleep on her back too but she hasn't figured out how to roll over from her back yet and tends to wake more often throughout the night when placed on her back.

Perhaps we'll use the swaddle blanket with baby #2 (again, not happening for a REALLY long time!), but I came across this article which questioned whether babies actually like swaddling or if it simply causes them to shut down. The author's main point is that skin to skin is best for a newborn as often as possible and while I agree I do think each baby is an individual and what works for some babies doesn't work for all. This is why I get so annoyed when people say if my baby doesn't like swaddling then I'm doing it wrong. Ummm no! My baby truly does not like being swaddled. I know my baby! 

One thing I am happy about is that Nia hasn't formed an attachment to being swaddled which means it's one less thing to wean her from. Same with a bottle and a binky. The transition to her crib has been easy and the last thing I'll have to wean her from is the breast which will happen when she's one year old.

{A note on the pic: I know sleep positioners have been in the news a lot due to infant deaths, but Nia slept well with hers during the first couple months and then we stopped using it not necessarily because of the warnings. The deaths that had been mentioned were far less than those that occur by babies bed-sharing and other activities. Again this goes back to knowing what works for your individual needs.}

1 comment:

  1. My son liked being swaddled for the first week and then he hated it. He refused to sleep while swaddling, so I just stopped doing it. He slept on his back for about 5 weeks for 1 hrs blocks. I was very frustrated and went to the grocery store. When I returned home hubby said that the baby had been sleep since I left and he proceeded to sleep for another 2 hours. Hubby put him on his stomach and he's been sleeping that way every since. **shrugs** Everyone has to do what works for them.

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